...CYKL OBRACA SIę, NARODZINY, DZIECIńSTWO PEłNE DUSZY, UśMIECHÓW NIEWINNYCH I ZDRADY...

When listening to the world ''Abraxas'' it is reasonable for your mind to think about Carlos Santanas' eponymous legendary album.But let me tell you that this is the same name of a band from Poland almost as legendary as Carlos Santana IMHO for progressive rock.ABRAXAS were founded at late 80's in a very difficult time for a progressive rock band to survive and after several changes in the line-up and some really bad moments (original guitarist Radek Kaminski was killed in a car accident) ) they managed to stabilize a basic line-up in 1994.Heavily influenced by 70's progressive rock giants such as GENESIS and YES,as well as MARILLION,the band released their debut in 1996 simply called ''Abraxas'' but the cover contained also the enigmatic phrase ''Cykl obraca sie.Narodziny,dziecinstwo pelne duszy, usmiechow niewinnych i zdrady'' which means ''Eveything comes full circle.Birth,childhood full of souls,innocent smiles and treachery.''...

The excellent music of the album is centered around the amazing performance of the talented vocalist and one of ABRAXAS' founders Adam Lassa.The tracks go undoubtfully the neo prog/art rock way but this album defines exactly how neo prog should be played.The music alternates between complex keyboard and guitar themes,melodic solos,an overall dramatic/emotional atmosphere and there is also much space for Lassa to sing in his own style.Lassa can be dramatic,melodic,angry,operatic,emotional at the same time,he is very much influenced by Fish,Peter Hammill or even some french prog rock bands singers like Francis Decamps of ANGE or Dominique LeGuennec of MONA LISA and in general he expresses the lyrics in an awesome way,a really talented frontman and of course the main figure of the band.Bassist Rafal Ratajczak completes his role perfectly sometimes with aggresive heavy bass playing and some others just fullfilling the sound.Marcin Mak is a great drummer with complex and rhythmic drum playing alternating all the time.Szymon Brzezinski is another great musician with great guitar solos,dramatic heavy passages and nice acoustic guitar work.Last but not least comes the keyboardist Marcin Blaszczik who handles also the beautiful flutes we listen throughout the album.He is obviously influenced by Mark Kelly and fills the sound of the band with some excellent solos and atmospheric grandiose passages.

The production of the album is simply fantastic.All the instruments and the voice are mixed in the same range resulting a great effort.There isn't a weak track in the album,we have to deal with rich compositions here,which have to offer dramatic and thrilling emotions to the listener.

This isn't just a very good album,this is a masterpiece of progressive rock from the finest neo prog scene of the world,Poland,which MUST stand next to the greatest albums of YES,GENESIS,KING CRIMSON,VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR and RUSH in your collection.A must for everyone who considres himself a prog rock lover...5 full stars for this polish legend!