Date: March 23rd, 2022
Label: Prog Metal Rock Promotion
“Somewhere there is a place called Coelum. Everyone dreams about it, believers and atheists. You can stay there during your lifetime and also after your death. Not all roads lead there, but there is a mysterious passage called Purgatorium.”
Reading this and watching the art cover, in my always busy, extra sensitive and imaginative brain cells, there is a complete pandemonium. Before I even started listening to this album, for the moment I thought: this must be a crazy mixture of Biblical beliefs and Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Coleum (heaven) is utopian thought for everyone: believers or unbelievers, saints and sinners… It seems all of them want to reach the place where deities, angels, souls, and saints reside. The album contains eight songs, let’s say, medium length songs. Only the last one, “Nebula”, is around 10 minutes long. The whole album has some dreamy atmosphere, it is delicate and relaxing. The whole story is well known: if you want to go to heaven, the holiest place, you have to pass the Purgatory first. There you will face the demons.
Lyrically, this is the perfect album for me. Musically, I will be honest, not my cup of tea. But put my personal taste aside…
“Odium” (hatred) is a song in which guitar dominates with a piano in the background, pleasant saxophone parts and backing vocals by Filoska. The second song is “Incestus” or incest. This is the song where Mariusz Rutka and Roman Simiński took the lead role. In translation, saxophone and bass guitar dominate over guitar and piano. A female trio, Swing Sisters, supports the singer and brings a fine touch to the overall composition. The third one is “Lilith”. Apart from the fantastic piano part, Filosek stands out with his singing, which even turns into a falsetto. After this subtle song (aren’t they all?), we went to the “Superbia” (pride), which slowly develops, with a saxophone that stands out. Only here Filosek sings without the support of a female trio. It is also the shortest song on the album. The next one, “Sine Sono Doloris”, also does not impress with its length, because it lasts less than 3 minutes. It keeps going in slow tempo with Rutka’s masterful saxophone parts. The next track, “Piger”, brings a bit of life to the overall sound, the bass dominates perfectly harmonizing with the drums, and finally the band offers some melody. Jazzy piece “Nihil” follows. This is a bit more vivid song with a swinging vibe and another fantastic performance by Rutka and Walczyk. And slowly we came to the end, the longest song, entitled “Nebula”. Over 10 minutes of acoustic playing is very impressive. Here I would stand out delicate choirs. And again, my saxophone hero, Rutka, did a great job.
It would be weird writing in the beginning of a review that I am amazed by the art cover signed by Dariusz Wojtowicz. But, yes, I am. Burning sky, devils or angels holding a band’s logo, this game with symbols and colors for acoustic album could easily trick you to think you have a heavy metal album in your hands. But instead, you will have colorful jazzy piece of art.
