HOPE TO SEE ANOTHER DAY

With the imminent release of Believe's fifth album "The warmest sun in winter" (due in April 2013), this would seem an opportune time to investigate the roots of this fine Polish band. It is fortuitous then that their début album "Hope to see another day" has just been remastered and re-released, complete with a couple of bonus tracks.

Founded by Mirek Gil (Collage, Satellite, Mr Gil), Believe's foundations in symphonic and neo-prog are augmented by the unique sounds of Satomi 's violin contributions. Looking back on the album, Gil notes that it was recorded after he had taken a lengthy break from music, returning with an "extreme hunger" for playing the guitar. Consequently, the album is structured around his legendary talents with many fine solos and some deliciously heavy riffs. The songwriting is dominated by Mirek Gil, with Robert Sieradzki providing the lyrics throughout (all in English). The only other writing credit goes to lead singer Tomek Rozycki for his contribution to ""Don't tell me".

Tracks such as the back to back "Needles in my brain" and "Liar" offer fine examples of Gil's highly melodic lead guitar style, the latter building to a magnificent crescendo. "Pain" highlights a different side of the band, with acoustic guitar and lush keyboards combining in a relatively sparser but highly atmospheric slower number. The closing (title) track is also the longest at around 12 minutes, the song remaining in the band's live set to this day.

The two bonus tracks on the 2013 remaster are live versions of "Liar " and "Pain" recorded in Konin, Poland in 2006, not long after the album's release. Even so, both have noticeably different arrangements, primarily in respect of the lead guitar and the violin.

At the time of its release in 2006, some who had followed Gil's career felt that this album was a bit too different for their tastes. Subsequent albums have proved beyond doubt that Believe was a natural progression for the man, and that the prog tenets to which he subscribes remain firmly in place. Looking at this album in retrospect, there is much to recommend it, both in a prog context and simply in terms of what an excellent album it is.

Share this BELIEVE review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Easy Livin
• Report this review (#934768)
• Buy BELIEVE music online with PA partners
• Show all BELIEVE MP3/Stream
• Go to BELIEVE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Hope To See Another Day page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for BELIEVE related discussions