Record Reviews

VOTUM ~ TIME MUST HAVE A STOP PROGROCK 670 (Barcode: 837792009924) ~ POLAND ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 2007 Released: 2008 This is the debut album by Polish Prog Metal band VotumFind albums by this artist, one of several bands arriving on the scene, which tried to follow in the steps of the international success achieved by the Polish band RiversideFind albums by this artist. The lineup, which recorded this album, includes vocalist Maciej KosinskiFind albums by this artist, guitarists Alek SalamonikFind albums by this artist and Adam KaczmarekFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Zbigniew SzatkowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Bartek TurkowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Adam LukaszekFind albums by this artist. The album was released in US and Europe by indie labels, probably hoping to achieve success similar to that of Riverside releases. The album comprises of eight original songs, with all music credited to the entire group and the lyrics written by the vocalist. However, although Riverside has its heavy and even somewhat metallic elements, it is very much a Prog ensemble, whereas Votum simply takes things much more aggressively towards Prog Metal, which makes listening to this album a real trial for the listeners ears. Some of the songs have a real melody at its core, but soon after the intro it gets completely bashed out by the heavy guitar riffs, repeated ad nauseam. All these riffs have been already perfected by many bands all over the world decades earlier and playing them again simply adds nothing remotely innovative or ambitious to the result, hence no progress is achieved whatsoever. Of course the band uses English lyrics, which are a deadly trap for most bans originating outside the native English zone. The vocalist struggles with the language, rather than expressing his feelings in his native language, which would have only benefited the overall result. With the racket around nobody can hear the lyrics most of the time anyhow. In the quieter passages the English does sound pretty ridiculous. Kosinski has a great voice and a theatrical ability, qualities that make vocalist stand out, but he should stick to his mother tongue. All in all this could have been a much better album if the band simply applied some moderation on the volume and repetition of "old tricks", trying to be truly progressive and innovative. They are talented players and have a great lead singer, and they write some sweet tunes, but nobody can actually hear the beauty of their music behind all that mayhem. I have read many enthusiastic reviews of this album, which if truth be told means most people are deaf or terribly biased or both. My votum seperatum in the meantime is: "make it better next time". Hopefully their next release will be much more mature and they´ll manage to overcome all that aggression.

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