Dear Kalle, First and foremost, I would like to thank you and your friends from RPWL for a very nice gig you played on Progrock Festival 2009 in Katowice. It was the third time I’ve seen your band playing live, but your concert in Teatr Śląski was probably the most beautiful, the most magical and best-thought-over. I wonder whether the DVD recording will manage to reflect this fantastic atmosphere, which you managed to create on stage. I’ve heard that there is a chance that RPWL will come to Poland with “Pink Floyd stuff” concerts in autumn, but I also know that before you actually release your new studio album next year, each of you will want to focus on his solo project.
You have the greatest experience in this field. Your side project Blind Ego is known to basically every progressive rock fan. Since you had given to me the disc of the new Blind Ego album (which release is scheduled for April) after the RPWL’s gig in Katowice, my heart beats faster, and I also remember many a happy moment that I had spent listening to “Mirror” which was released two years ago. Giving me “Numb” disc, you asked me to listen to it thoroughly and then to write what I think about your new music. You also added: “but honestly…”. So now, having listened to it a couple of times, I am writing to you to share my thoughts. Most honestly of course…
You wanted me to be frank so I’ll be so – I would tell you straight from the start that I like “Numb” very much. It is tight, coherent, well-played and… heavy. Damn heavy. I can see that you have directed your compositions into the very heavy metal area. And you know what? Although I am not a big fan of metal albums in general, all the tracks I found on “Numb” (maybe with one or two exceptions) quite quickly matched my taste.
I’m glad that your solo project is stylistically so far from what you usually play with RPWL. All in all, it is what one makes solo albums for, to show one’s fans what one’s current musical interests are. In the band, one is always forced to compromise, which is natural. But it is completely different on a solo album. One can realize one’s ideas practically without limits – and you did it flawlessly on “Numb”. Probably it was even more effective than on the previous Blind Ego album, which was not as homogeneous as “Numb”, even though you recorded it with almost the same musicians – the only change is that apart from Paul Wrightson and John Jowitt, there are Sebastian Harnack (bg, Sylvan), Iggor Cavalera (dr, Sepultura) and Michael Schwager (dr, Dreamscape) in the current line-up. With such names on board, Blind Ego was destined to record a good, powerful album. But to fully succeed, apart from good musicians, you have to have good compositions and on “Numb” there are 10 of them, and counting a 5-minute reprise of one of them at the end, there are even 11.
Opening track “Lost” gives something to think of. I think that it is a summary of what we would be listening to for the subsequent hour. It marks out the way in which the album develops, it’s a centerpiece of the style of the whole album. It’s a good, dynamic and very rock opening. I won’t hide it, “Lost” is not really my favourite piece on this album, but the second track “Guilt” is definitely among my favourite ones. I know that what I’m gonna say now is not the most appropriate description of Blind Ego’s music, but to me “Guilt” is one of the most “hit” tracks on the album. It has a dark beginning, a’la Pain Of Salvation style, nice melodic line and heavy, rock playing. Very bold and distinguishable. Is it just an impression that apart from Paul Wrightson I can hear some other vocals there? Could it be Yogi Lang?
It’s even heavier on number 3, title composition “Numb”. Strong riff, pompous but melodic chorus and your breathtaking guitar solo. Yummy!
Fourth track is entitled “Leave”. It begins with innocently sounding, separate guitar notes and there is drums rhythm in the background and a moment later your another phenomenal solo lightens this gloomy and dense atmosphere. It’s the beginning I could only dream of. After this great start, there is a more peaceful moment and here it starts the inspired Paul Wrigthson’s vocal, which matches the music ideally. A great idea. And yes, there is this chorus which really stays in mind from first listening. “Leave” makes me think of the most interesting Threshold’s achievements. Do you know them? There plays Karl Groom, one of two most prominent prog metal guitarists in Europe. Who is the other one? Well, I can only tell that his initials are K.W.
Vibrating bass begins the fifth and the longest (almost 10 minutes) recording – “Death”. The title makes shivers go down my spine. And it is so during listening to this song too. Pleasant shivers of emotion. At first, there is an unsteady rhythm and disturbing Paul’s vocal introduce a feeling of anxiety, but after three minutes a real prog rock rollercoaster ride begins. This melodic vocal line is fantastic and so are three or even four guitar solos. What a wonderful stuff. Congratulations. And this phenomenal bass... Who plays here? John or Sebastian?
A strong bass line is also in the foreground in the next track, “Change”. In the background there are your space rock guitar soundscapes, and then, after very energizing percussion entrance, there is guitar crescendo (again, here comes back the dark moody Pain Of Salvation sound), which turns into a heavy metal riff. In my opinion it is definitely the heaviest track on the album (maybe except for the instrumental “Torn”), but I have to admit that somewhere in the middle you decided to steady the music a little. This tempo break gives a very interesting effect. It reinforces the power of finale of this composition. Paul Wrightson’s voice is wonderful again – both in the heavy and lyrical moods.
Next composition, “Seek” initially was not easy to listen – you go the whole hog from the very first sound and note. But what’s important, in this metal commotion you didn’t forget about the melody. It’s a great thing. I like the vocal part here, Paul Wrightson achieves the heights of his talent. And again, thanks to “Seek” some Threshold’s compositions come to my mind. Very similar climates.
In “Risk” there is a total mood change. It is the only from-the-beginning-to-the-end lyrical track. The only thing one hears is your acoustic guitar and Paul’s voice, singing a very pleasant melody. “Risk” is a breathing space before what is going to happen on the album afterwards. After this four minutes track of peacefulness, there is instrumental “Torn”, which I mentioned earlier. It is a metal extravaganza in its extreme. It demonstrates the power of sound of Blind Ego, the spectacular show of metal playing with exposed mad rhythm section and your excellent guitar part, effective as always. It sounds good, but at first I had a lot of problems with this recording. Couldn’t get used to its intensive heavy atmosphere. Only after a couple of listens did I realize that this track is a quintessence of the new Blind Ego’s music. Love it.
Then, there is „Vow” with index 10. Once more, a very dynamic beginning prepares ground for a mellow piece, when your band slows down for a moment. This middle part makes me think of the instrumental section from RPWL’s track “New Stars Are Born”. There are a couple of similarities and if somebody had to draw some parallels between Blind Ego and RPWL, this piece of music would be the only example of these on “Numb”. In the finale of “Vow” you return to the heavy sounds which close your album in a wonderful way. At the very end you put the reprise of “Change”. Bonus, coda, happy ending?... There are mainly instrumental parts there, but Paul’s voice, somehow hidden in the background also appears in this track, which is mixed differently than the first version of the recording. “Change-reprise” is an icing on the cake which name is “Numb”.
What else can I say about the new Blind Ego album? Probably only that you impressed me with the fact that although you composed much heavier material than on “Mirror”, you did not forget about melodies. Surely I should mention about beautiful instrumental solo parts and pleasant vocal lines. Thanks to that, the music on “Numb” despite its metal firmness seems quite accessible to me. You recorded this album without keyboards. I wish they were included here and there, but you achieved the effect you wanted to achieve, which was to make your music more rock sounding and more rough.
Last but not least, I would like to emphasize the great job that Paul Wrightson did. You didn’t rent other vocalists to sing (I remember that on “Mirror” John Mitchell sang some vocal parts), which gave the album more coherent character. I would say: very coherent. Much tighter than on “Mirror”. This is why „Numb” is even much more convincing for me.
And one last thing: I haven’t heard such a big number of wonderfully-played guitar solos on one album for a long time. Good job, Kalle! I like this album very much!
Sorry for this lengthy letter. Long album (68+’) so you get to write for a long time. A lot of good music, so you think of a lot of comments. Take care and see you in September on RPWL concerts. Or maybe you will manage to come over with Blind Ego gig prior to them…?
Artur
Translated: Katarzyna Chachlowska
