THIS BREAD IS MINE

Just over a year after releasing their superb second album "Yesterday is a friend", talented Polish band Believe return with their third offering. For this album, they call upon the services of back room staff with impressive credentials, including noted Polish producer Włodek Kowalczyk and British sound engineer Andy Jackson. More obvious perhaps though is the arrival of vocalist/flautist/keyboards player Karol Wróblewski in place of Tomek Rozycki. Wróblewski fits in well, his occasional contributions on flute adding an extra dimension to tracks such as "Darkness".

The overall mood here tends to be mellower than on previous albums, the atmospheric violin of Satomi (now fully installed as a band member) emphasising the at times almost melancholy feel.

The 11 tracks are carefully crafted affairs, with non-band member Robert Sieradzki once again writing the English language lyrics. The songs tend to merge together to form a greater whole in a similar way to that of Hogarth era Marillion on albums such as "Brave" and on albums such as "The wall". The lead guitar of Mirek Gil is less obvious overall this time, but his solos on tracks such as "Problems rise" are as captivating as ever.

The rather oddly named "Aa" features more fine violin from Satomi, who enjoys here first co-credit for the song writing. Her playing is reminiscent of some of Daryll Way's work with Curved Air, which in itself is surely a strong recommendation. The title track on the other hand is in some ways quite at odds with the rest of the album, especially in view of the disturbed/disturbing spoken word section.

The move away from the lush neo-prog of Collage and indeed of previous Believe albums may be considered brave by some. With "This bread is mine", Believe are making a clear effort to create and album of moods and atmospheres. For me the album is an unqualified success, which continues to grow with successive plays. Undoubtedly, new fans will be drawn to the band through this release, but there may also be some who find themselves unwilling to believe in the change of direction it represents.

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