THE HELPLESS

3.5 stars, really. I heard about this new polish band only recently. And I was instantly curious, because of its name. As anyone might know, this is the title of Marillion´s first great epic. So i presumed they were heavily influenced by that band. Not so much so, as I ended up finding out when I heard The Helpless. Ok, the band is obviously influenced by a number of neo prog acts like Pendragon, Jadis and, of course, Marillion (the beautiful emotional guitars are indeed very good and convincing). But the songs also lean towards the alternative/pop of modern groups like Riverside, Coldplay and the like. That´s not bad per se, but really the band will have to decide if they are a prog group or a pop outfit one day.

Because they do have a great potencial. They are all excellent musicians and the guitar parts are really outstanding. And they have the additional advantage of having an extraordinaire singer in the person of guitarrist Sebastian Kowgier. He has a nice voice and a convincing way of delivering the emotions of the lyrics. The Helpless is a concept album concerning the loneliness of man in the modern world. It has no fillers. All songs are at least good ones. Production is also top notch. As Imentioned before, the guitar parts are brilliant all the way through the CD, and the rest of the band is not too far behind, proving they are a tight unity already.

Conclusion: very good debut. If you like emotional music with fine melodies, you should check this out. I was tempeted to give them a four star rating, but since this is their first, I believe they have lots of room to improve yet. 3.5 stars is more fitting. I´m looking forward to hear their next works.

A band to watch for, no doubt about it.