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It's True Mentality: Insomnia

It's True Mentality (snappy band name!) are a Polish band formed in 2005. They are unsigned to a record company and Insomnia is a demo disc of totally instrumental progressive rock that they have issued themselves. It's good, but I fear may not land them the record deal that they seek. The band comprise Anna Weyna (kjeyboards), Andrzej Lebek (guitar), Arkadiusz Doroszuk (bass) and Grzegorz Haasa (drums).

It's True Mentality's brand of instrumental progressive rock is fairly "straight", by which I mean that it approximates closely compositionally to conventional rock. It's pleasant but the music really cries out for some vocals; it feels like a backing track, like an unfinished product. In a sense it reminds me of British band Combination Head: although their music is keyboards-driven as opposed to It's True Mentality's, which is guitar-driven, Combination Head's compositional approach is not hugely dissimilar. Their first CD was also totally instrumental but by the time of their second, 2008's Progress?, a mix of instrumental, sung and vocalised numbers helped to improve the enjoyment from the music. For me, this is the way that It's True Mentality have to go or they will flounder.

As for Insomnia itself, the 5-track EP is a good showcase for the band's technical and compositional skills. There are good guitar riffs as early as on "Intro", there's some good guitar-keyboard duelling on "Daily Nightmares" but the stand-out track is "Fear of a Sleep", with its heavier guitar and Doors-ish keyboards. Put some vocals on that and you have a seriously good song!

As it stands though, Insomnia speaks of promise as yet unfulfilled: let's hope the band develop further in the right direction because the result will be worth listening to.

Track Listing:-
1) Intro (3:18)
2) Daily Nightmares (5:42)
3) The Night Is a Day (7:42)
4) Fear of a Sleep (5:45)
5) Mistificated Paranoia (6:45)

Added: December 14th 2009
Reviewer: Alex Torres
Score:
Related Link: Band's MySapce page
Hits: 2139
Language: english

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It's True Mentality: Insomnia
Posted by Duncan Glenday, SoT Staff Writer on 2009-12-14 15:03:09
My Score:

Oddly-named Polish act It's.True.Mentality plays hard-edged all-instrumental jam rock with progressive tendencies.

Four of the five songs are energetic guitar-dominant pieces, without much variation in the dynamics, the pace or the tone. The structures hang together quite comfortably, and although the overriding impression is of a jam band, the underlying compositions are well constructed. Some of the pieces develop a nice groove, though repetition and groove aren't always synonymous.

There are a few pleasing organ solos, but the keys are usually far back in the mix – which is a pity because they're melodic, tightly coupled with the guitar lines and ought to feature more prominently.

Fifth track "Mistificated Paranoia" is clearly the standout piece on this short 30-or-so minute EP. It starts with a dark, brooding tone, and its mood and structure evolve over its seven minutes – and is a welcome break in an otherwise monochromatic pace.

It's.True.Mentality has been in business since 2005 and the current lineup has been in place since 2007 – and this first demo-release shows promise.




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