Polish heavy progressive artists, Osada Vida, return from a hiatus and member changes with a new line up and a new album (in fact since this was launched they have had a new release The Body Parts Party). The musical style is fairly heavy progressive, bordering at times on melodic prog-metal (for example on "Unlimited Mind") with plenty of colourful guitar and, less obviously, keyboard solo spots to brighten proceedings. This album appears to be based on a dark concept of personal torment and trial, trying to find fulfilment and purpose. The album title itself suggests that our hero has even less purpose than the guy who waits for his time to play the triangle in an orchestra!
"The Passion" is an intro track in reality to 3 consecutive suites ('seats' – they like their plays on words these guys) although the poor translation into English, in which the words are sung, makes it less than clear what each is about, even in the titles which contain such lyrical mysteries as "constant rhythm of the routine makes all dreams unaware". Musically though, this is a well constructed album with plenty of rhythm and metre changes as well as intelligent variations in pace, melody and dissonance. Powerful driving beats are interspersed with gentler instrumental sections, rather like Indukti's approach. There is a fine set of keyboard layers over the prominent grinding bass with Hammond and Mellotron beefing them up. The band is also capable of delicacy such as the tasteful piano and nylon guitar solo in "Devotion part 3" although even here you can't keep Lukasz Lisiak's hammering bass out of it.
The band go after their desperate theme with gusto in "Tension Blossoms" with some caustic epithets in the background narrative and this is further developed in "Everyday Ltd" (limited?) which has an intriguing mix of doomy bass, reflective vocal lines , tense keyboards, sudden guitar shrieks and a brilliant melodic riff which emerges every so often. Half way through it morphs into guitar and Hammond solos played over a repeated bass figure which is a great contrast before again shifting mood to a really powerful Iron Maiden like metal vamp for a brief spell. The most well developed of all the tracks on the album and one worth several repeat listens to fully appreciate. "Boiling Point" starts like a heavy Queensryche (circa Promised Land) number with pounding bass lines and sharp injections of guitar and piano. It slows down eventually to a series of well played bluesy guitar runs and is joined by Hammond in a section quite at odds with the style of the rest of the album, demonstrating that the band are capable of a much wider repertoire than they may appear to have.
"Bitterly Disappointed" is the final track of the 3 "seats" before the outro where our hero discovers its actually all his own fault that he's such a loser and he just has to choose to get a grip and move on. A pretty decent melodic symph-prog-metal album overall which would have been better if they had stuck to their native language (and it has to be said that the rather frail and distorted vocals are the weakest part of the album) or at least allowed their counterparts in a band like Riverside, who aren't too far from this style, to critique it for them before committing it to CD. Two bonus tracks are added to this re-release, one, guitar dominated, instrumental as the clumsy pun implies and a new song with some neat guitar and synth solos, but spoiled by the dreadful vocal.
Track Listing
1. The Passion
Seat 1 – driving desires to become the aim
2. Pictures from inside part 2 – Colours and notes
3. Pictures from inside part 3 – Unlimited Mind
4. The decision
Seat 2 – and desires are the most delicious thing of routine
5. Devotion part 2 – after hours
6. Devotion part 3 – flying time
7. Tension blossoms
Seat 3 - constant rhythm of the routine makes all dreams unaware
8. Everyday Ltd
9. Boiling point
10. Bitterly disappointed
11. The rebirth of passion
12. In thru mental (bonus)
13. And don't shut the door (bonus)
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