ABRAXAS

“Centurie”  
(Metal Mind Records, 1998)

Members:
Adam Lassa (voice), Szymon Brzezinski (guitars), Marcin Blaszczyk (keys and flute),
Rafal Ratajczak (bass) and Marcin Mak (drums and percussions).

For their second disk, Abraxas continues exploring its melodic creativity and expressive energy, enhancing the romantic tone and light and shade that of for yes it was already clearly present in its disk premiere. The material of “Centurie” it exhibits more openly moving melodies, framed in contained arrangements, in general. The guitar parts sound particularly rough in many passages, even continuing in occasions the pattern of the crimsonian textures. As for the singer's vocal function, it is perceived clearly that Adam Lassa continues capturing emotions and expressing them with a genuine although never exaggerated dramatic sense; on the other hand, Blaszczyk directs to the perfection the melodic factor of the disk with its orchestral and environmental curtains of keyboard, as well as with its opportune ones alone. Finally, the rhythmic section sustains very well in way secured the foundations of each track. 

One of the novelties that more they get the attention it is the employment of resources technological sequenzed in some tracks, that which is able to give a marked air of dynamism and modern vanguard to the repertoire. Such they are the cases of the opening track “Spiritus Flat Ubi Vult” and “Kuznia” (this last, quite brief, but with a high level of force and hook). The progressive edges come out to glitter more flagrantly in “Michel de Nostredame” and “Excalibur” whose very inspired and structured melodies, in complicity with the vocalist's charisma, they assimilate to the perfection the dark Gothic tone that you trasluce for work and grace of fairly rough and dark arrangements–especially it highlights “Excalibur”, for their very armed succession of melodies and textures. On the other hand, the ballad “Velvet”, at the same time that it exhibits a transparent simplicity in their melody and structure, it wraps the listener with their subtle moving force. 

The two longer topics are “Czakramy” and “Pokuszenie” (they have 10 and 12 minutes of duration, respectively), and they have enough space to allow the musicians to extend in the handling of the musical reasons of shift, playing with rhythm changes and atmospheres and ideas: the band exercises the enough lucidity like to conserve the sense of the cohesion through the typically progressive diversity exposed in these topics. This good symphonic occupation stays intact in the closing track, “Nantalomba” that exhibits with full radiance an epic frenzy characteristic of the successful closings of the old heroic movies. Alone I have left to conclude pointing out that this is my favorite disk of Abraxas whose integral trajectory of for yes I find magnificent. 

César Inca