Short Reviews [ProAge - 2019 - "MPD"]

ProAge trace their roots back to 1985 when drummer and Arek Grybek and singer Mariusz Filosek were in a band called Czwarty Wymiar. That band lasted until 1990, but then broke up without releasing anything. Fast forward to 2007 and the guys decided to form a new band under the name ProAge, since when there has been a fairly fluid line-up. They released their debut album, ‘A Different State of Reality’, in 2017 and followed it up with this in 2019. Here they have been joined by Slawomir Jelonek (guitar), Krzysztof Walczyk (piano) and Roman Siminski (bass) [;us a couple of guests in Malgorzata Lydka (flute) and Grzegorz Hankus (clarinet). This is a concept album based around a person suffering from multiple personality disorder, and all the lyrics (at least for the one I have, I believe there may also be a Polish edition) are in English. This is neo-prog straight down the middle, yet with little in the way of the charm and naivety which made the movement so important in the Nineties. It all feels rather laboured, and at times almost formulaic, with little in the way of string ideas. Just when one feels a passage has promise with nice swathes of keyboards and some pleasant guitar it is ruined by the vocals, which are definitely the weak point for me. They just don’t fit with the music, and I wonder if in concert they are more direct and rocky as Mariusz may well be a powerful frontman, but when singing in a more reflective and gentle manner he is definitely suffering. Not one to which I will be often returning.