Poland has a blooming progressive rock scene. Personally I think that Riverside is the flagship of the Polish progressive rock marine. Loonypark is also a Polish band which has a history. Perpetual is the fourth album of the band, which was formed in 2007. In my humble opinion the quality of the former three albums is slightly precarious. Most of the albums have some very interesting tracks, but also tracks which don't affect me as much. The album cover of Perpetual is a change in artwork to the first three albums. On these albums a rather strange face was the eye catcher. On the fourth album the face is replaced by a big eyed bird. Is this some sort of omen? Has Loonypark changed their course in a more steady way? On this album Loonypark has the following line up: Sabina Godula- Zając (vocals), Krzysztof Lepiarczyk (keyboards), Piotr Grodecki (guitar, contrabass, banjo), Piotr Lipka (bass guitar) and Grzegorz Fieber (drums). Sylwia Majka Maya plays additional violin. So far, so good, I would say. But is it really so good? Loonypark is a band which could never convince me in the past. Their cross over- or neo progressive rock didn't touch me. Most of the songs are incoherent and don't have tension in it. This is my humble opinion! Perpetual has the same problem. When you listen to the album carefully you sense that all the musicians have great skills but they fall into the trap of collaboration. The album opens with Something To Forget, a typical Loonypark track. It's a low tempo track with beautiful vocals which linger through the song. The violin intermezzo is of great beauty and puts the song in another dimension. Further on the keyboard lines are catchy. Face In The Mirror, the second track of the album, is also a great song. Once more it's a low tempo song, as in all songs keyboards are the most important instruments. Nothing wrong with that, but the short guitar solo in this song could be longer, in my opinion. The rest of the tracks are more of the same. The tempo stays mainly low and I must confess that much of the songs sound monotone. All songs have some sort of dramatic- and depressive sound. I miss the tension in the music. Tension and variety make music interesting and doesn't make the listener bored. Once again, the music of Loonypark is not bad! It's the monotone compositions that make this album mean. I will end positive. December, the last track of the album, is a very special one. In this song Loonypark honors Piotr Grudzinski. Piotr was the guitarist of the Polish progressive rock band Riverside. He died last year suddenly at the age of 40 years. The song is quite modest, but has a great guitar solo at the end. Nice song and great to honor such a legend! *** Aad Bannink (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
