Short Reviews [It's.True.Mentality - 2008 - "Insomnia"]

IT'S.TRUE.MENTALITY (ITM hereinafter) is a young Polish act that was formed in 2005. "Insomnia" is their first formal release, following three years after an initial 7-track demo. On this latest venture of the quartet, we're served five compositions exploring a creative variety of progressive metal: more creative than original overall, but the stylistic explorations made on this effort show promise of a band on the right track in developing a distinct sound. Quirky, wandering and constantly evolving riff patterns are the dominating trait of these excursions. Unlike many other acts exploring this genre, ITM has opted for the use of a less distorted guitar than is commonly done and generally a lighter and cleaner guitar sound overall. Guitarist Lebek balances quite nicely between staccato riff patterns, echoing drawn out riffs and free flowing riff patterns, and also offers up a few segments in between riffs and guitar soloing in expression which is a nice feature. Synths and organ add some finer details to these excursions and the latter adds a vintage sounding atmosphere to the compositions which should be familiar to fans of vintage art rock – another intriguing feature on this effort. Influences from other bands, Iron Maiden in particular, shine through from time to time, though, and the transitional parts between different sounding segments could use some further development on occasion, but overall this is a nice release by a talented act – one that should find an audience amongst fans of sophisticated instrumental progressive metal.

OMB: July 10, 2009