PUZZLES

I have to admit that I didn't came to this album with great expectations. I am not a huge neo-prog fan, and in fact I tend to dislike a good deal of contemporary bands falling under this label. Having listened to this album a few times (thanks to the fantastic service provided by progstreaming.com), I am pleased to report that Millenium are a positive and welcomed surprise for me.

Don't get me wrong, Millenium are certainly neo-prog and at places they do not seem to do much to differentiate themselves from the dozens of neo-prog bands out there, nor do they make great efforts to innovate or expand their sound much beyond the boundaries of the genre. In this sense, I am afraid that their new double-album, 'Puzzles', won't make it to my personal top-10 list for album of the year. Nevertheless, the quality of the music across the 14 songs on Puzzles is really good. The musicianship is amazing, and each song has its great guitar/bass/synth moments, that keep them interesting and elevate them above mediocrity. And I am not only talking about the excellent technical abilities of the musicians involved: the melodies these guys came up with are often really really good, and a pleasure to listen to. In this sense, my favourite song on the album is the instrumental 'Broken Rule', with its great Warr guitar and sinth solos. On the negative side, the vocals do not do much for me on this album - in fact I tend to dislike most of the singing here. There's nothing wrong with the signging per se. Actually vocalist Łukasz Gall has a good voice. But the (very neo-prog) melodies he sings and his 'surgical', cold approach are just not appealing to me. Another problem I have with this release is its length, but again this might be because I am not a great fan of the genre and 90 minutes of neo-prog are a bit too much for my taste.

Overall, this is a good album, with some very good moments - give Millenium a chance and you won't be disappointed. Especially recommended if you are into neo-prog.