Polis: Weltklang

Six years on from their Sein release East German prog traditionalists Polis return with Weltklang, an album where the band’s desire to sound like a vintage 70s prog rock behemoth knows few bounds. Having spent those intervening years not just writing and recording the eight tracks presented here, Polis have dedicated themselves to building a retro studio crammed with analogue equipment and old recording desks. And all this in order to fulfil the dream of not just sounding like a band from their favoured era, but actually feeling as though they have somehow just arrived from that time. Cleverly, however, Peter Gabriel’s Real World studio was utilised to mix and master the results, leaving a pleasing feel that Weltklang is a 70s album that’s just had the most sumptuous of remasters!

Admittedly these intentions come across as being a little ‘grand’ in the CD booklet, with talk of attempts ‘to get rid of the garments of this all too fashionable little era and drop the seeds of a bigger one into the hearts of its listeners’, coming across as being slightly little pompous. However, when you contextualise that against a long history fighting against the constraints that being a band from eastern Germany still place on acts like Polis, then maybe it’s a little easier to understand the objectives they are working towards.

Cornering this act into a prog situation is both right and wrong, for while some of the more readily welcoming sections in the opening trio of “Tropfen�, “Gedanken� and “Leben� delve deep into a vintage prog sound that skirts around the big boys of that era, everything this lot do is also informed by a more psychedelic bent and maybe even the merest hint of Krautrock. However the chiming guitars of “Gebet�, while nodding to a certain Mr Rothery, do also add a deeper intent, whereas the ever growing atmospheres of the tribal drum inspired “Mantra� closes the album out in quite heady style. With the vocals from Christian Roscher both engaging and enigmatic, he does an excellent job of drawing you ever further into the world being created here and while you couldn’t imagine this German language album spawning any hits, there is a certain stick in the mind quality that his singing provides.

Weltklang is a bit of a slow grower, with little twists and turns within the likes of “Abendlied� providing new aspects with every listen. That high dividend illustrates that the unwillingness of Polis to compromise not only rewards the band themselves, but it also makes for an engaging and at times exhilarating experience for the listener. They maybe aren’t quite reinventing prog in the way they think they are, but the individual take on the wider aspects of that genre displayed here are impressive nonetheless.

Track Listing
1. Tropfen
2. Gedanken
3. Leben
4. Abendlied
5. Sehnsucht
6. Gebet
7. Steig Herab
8. Mantra

Added: May 19th 2020
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Progressive Promotions online
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Language: english

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