THROUGH SHADED WOODS

1. "Navvie" (4:03) powerful and deeply engaging in a FAUN kind of way. My favorite song on the album. (9.5/10)

2. "The Passage" (8:57) dull and boring. (17/20)

3. "Through Shaded Woods" (5:51) a little too repetitive and drawn out (8.75/10)

4. "Oblivion" (5:03) That voice! Great use of zither, synths, and hand percussives. A top three song from me. (9/10)

5. "Summoning Dance" (9:52) nice start but, as is often the case with Mariuz Duda's Lunatic Soul songs, it fails to deviate from the foundation, only adding pretty and interesting incidentals here and there. Nice vocal melody and performance(s)--especially in the choruses. (There is an uncredited female voice singing background harmonies in the choruses). I like the use of piano, mandolin, and synths. When it goes slightly house/disco in the sixth minute, it's an interesting distraction, but then it goes rock with the fuzzy electric guitars and THIN LIZZY-like multiple guitar riffing. At the 8-minute mark there is a gap of stillness before returning to a full soundscape of all that has occurred before while synth strings lead over the top. (17.5/20)

6. "The Fountain" (6:04) a beautiful and very different song, vocal. Reminds me a little of a modern version of the 1970s band BREAD--or of something from Andrew Lloyd-Weber's Phantom of the Opera. (9/10)

Total Time 39:50

First disc: 4.5 stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection. Special Ltd Edition Bonus CD: 1. "Vyraj" (5:32) a lively pagan folk romper in the vein of many of the more recent circle dances of FAUN. Mostly instrumental but some nice shifts in the soundscape along the way. (9/10)

2. "Hylophobia" (3:20) the heavier, almost rockin' side of mariuz cannot be denied (he's done it for far too long with Riverside). Add the folk percussion instruments and you have an aggressive almost folk music similar to that of Ivar Bhørnson and Einar Selvik on their 2018 Viking folk masterpiece, Hugsjá. (A little more drum reliant than Ivar and Einar's work.) (8.5/10)

3. "Transition II" (27:45) opens with the very familiar breathy synth sounds from the opeing of Marius' 2010 epic "Transitions" from Lunatic Soul's second album, II. Added intstruments and sounds show early on that Mariuz is definitely developing this version quite differently than the original. At the four-minute mark the addition of a fuzzy guitar to the layers signals a completely new direction and, within the minute, we have moved completely into the territory made familiar by MIKE OLDFIELD. Is this further confirmation that Mariuz has caught the Mike Oldfield Syndrome in which an artist gets lured into the pattern of going back and redoing, remixing, or refreshing old songs/ideas? The section here from the seven-minute mark sounds exactly like something from the mind (and discography) of Mike Oldfield. At 12:30 we begin to move out of Mike Oldfield territory as two guitars, bass and synth wash enter a more New Age soundscape. (I know one of Mariuz' heroes is Vangelis.) In the eighteenth minute, then, we move over into the more relaxing, bluesy side of the 21st Century New Age psychedelia--like a cross of old Pink Floyd with At 20:50 Mariuz starts a whole new song with vocalise, and a catchy multi-chord progression strummed by his electric guitar. This is cool. This is a difficult song to rate because of its multiple themes and palette choices. In the 26th minute, Mellotron like vocal banks introduce a kind of Gregorian-chant version of the original sound scape complete with a long decaying synth finish. (47.5/55)

Total Time 36:37

With bonus material = B+/four stars; still an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection--especially if you are A) a lover of Mariuz Duda's voice and B) you like the pagan folk vibe á la FAUN and WARDRUNA.

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