SKELLIG

When I saw this new new CD by former Collage and Satellite guitarrist legend Mirek Gil I was not sure if I should get it. After all his solo output was not really what we should expect from someone responsible for defining the sounds of two of the best polish bands ever. Mr Gil´s debut was nice but a little too bland. His other band Believe had its moments, but recently released the disapponting This Bread Is Mine, so I was not expecting much. However, when I noticed that all the titles in Skellig were in polish I immediatly sensed a kind of ´back to roots´ feeling on it. And, fortunatly, I was right. This new CD brings Mirek Gil doing what he does best, great prog guitar stuff.

So what does it sound like? Think of early Collage with a much better production and without the keyboards. Instead Gil makes a complete CD using only guitars as solo and harmonic instruments (usually the acoustic guitar as the basic guide and the electric guitar for soloing and harmonies). For the rhythm section he is accompanied by his old colleagues of original Collage and Satellite times: leader, songwriter and founder member Wojtek Szadkowski on drums and Przemas Zawadzki on bass. For the vocals he called Believe´s newest recruit Karol Wroblewski. You may feel (like me) that some keyboards lines could add a little color here and there. But, really, this a guitar genius solo album and he proves his point very well here. You won´t miss anything.

All songs are of very good quality, if not too varied. Wroblewski´s vocals are just great and he is sounding much better here than on This Bread Is Mine. He truly deserved another chance with a more progressive work and he is the best singer ever to appear on one of Gil´s projects thus far.

Forget all the grunge/alternative/pop experiments Mirek Gil was doing on his various solo projects before. This is the truly prog guitar album we all waited to hear for so long. His guitar is all over the place and full with his melodic, tasteful, trademark solos and licks. But there is room for others to do their part very well. Everything works here and there are no fillers.

If you like a good guitar driven prog album in the vein of Steve Hackett´s best stuff you should not miss this one.

Fans of Collage, Satellite and melodic prog in general, rejoyce!