DAYS

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This polish quartet is a project by drummer Wojtek Szadowski, known from Collage and Satellite.

The sound on their debut CD entitled Days sounds as heavy melodic rock with interesting progressive tendencies in which the drummer with his powerful and lush sound and the guitarist with his propulsive riffs and lots of fiery and biting soli (somewhere between Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore and Joe Satriani) are omnipresent. The vocals by Peter (who is very grateful to the inventor of beer on the back sleeve) are strong with frequent emotional undertones, from warm and dreamy to raw and expressive, especially in the final track Cold As Stone (captivating combination of percussion and fiery guitar runs). The keyboards sound a bit on the background but I enjoyed the tender Grand piano work and some spectacular synthesizer soli. My highlights on this CD are I Am The One (fiery and propulsive with a Red-King Crimson-like rhythm-section and sensational work on guitar and keyboards), Flying Over Paradise (breathtaking, very varied guitarplay), Living On Your Own (spectacular duel between guitar and synthesizer) and the varied Island (from dreamy to compelling with a great grand finale featuring howling electric guitar and heavy drumming).

This is an exciting album for the prog fans who are into more heavy prog and who love heavy guitarwork!My rating 3,5 stars.

Wojtek Szadkowski was the virtuoso drummer for Polish prog phenomenon Collage ("Moonshine" is a classic) , then started up Satellite with immense success (the 3rd installment is already drawing praise as I await its arrival with intense trepidation) as drummer/composer and in order to satisfy his wilder musical demons , he now unleashes this frenzied form of "frantic Prog" illustrating three new major elements while keeping the Satellite bass-drum combo intact : first a zipping keyboardist a la Jordan Rudess by the name of Konrad Bilinski, secondly , a simply manic lead guitarist , Radek Chwieralski, who just loves to bleed ultra melodic lead forays that are seemingly laser guided billows of smoke and finally, a vocalist (Peter Pan) who profusely thanks the creator of beer in the credits , which explains the somewhat hysterical delivery (a drunken combination of Waters-Fish with a thick heavy metal Polish accent! Where is the Wodka when you need it? ). It is alleged that this mysterious singer is none other then Wojtek the jolly drummer! The art work is simply superb in a "Batteries not Included" style that oddly fits the contents quite effectively. There are some great songs: "We are Invincible" is not a Pat Benatar cover but a brash neo-proggy workout with all the fixins', the title track "Days" almost veers into Iron Maiden territory, a blistering and infectious rave-up that has some sizzling "phasers on stun" lead guitar runs, the serenely attractive "Flying over Paradise", the grandiose "Island" and the "howling" freeze of "Cold as Stone" . A masterpiece you ask? No, this is no way near the magnificence of the Satellite material but is an amusing and worthy addition to any collection, cradling the abyss between prog and metal with absolute fun. Wojtek is blessed to have worked with some amazing six-stringers (Mirek Gil, Sirhan Kubeisi and now this Radek fellow!!!) but he consistently writes prolific material, head and shoulders above most neo-prog releases. 4 Pans .

I must say I was really glad I tried this album out. Even though it´s in the Neo Progressive genre which is not my favorite. I think there are some things that makes this album more than just another Neo Progressive album.

The keyboards are of course omnipresent throughout the whole album, but surprisingly enough it´s the guitar from Radek Chwieralski that controls the songs. This could in some places be considered a hard rock album if it wasn´t for the wall of keyboards. Radek Chwieralski plays many exciting solos on Days, and even though I just wrote a wall of keyboards, I think the keyboards are a little more subtle than on other neo prog albums. In my eyes the music on this album deserves 4 stars. But there are problems that devaluates the album.

First of all the vocals. I find them a real turn off. I don´t think the man can sing, at least not very nice. It´s enough for me to take away one star. I guess I can get used to the vocals since the music is so strong, but I will never really like them.

The production is not the best either. You can hear every instrument clearly, but the drums have a very artificial sound. I thought the drums was programmed until I read there was a drummer involved on the album.

So all in all this is a good neo prog album where especially guitar and keyboards stand out as being excellent while vocals and drums are not so good. 3 stars.

It would seem that Wojtek Szadkowski is incapable of being involved in a bad album. While he tried to re-energize the Satellite saga with their latest offering, my preference is his Peter Pan offshoot, which really is something different, without any history or a particular sound to live up to. Wojtek's fascination with Peter Pan (the story) is already documented in the "Never Never" track of Satellite's "Evening Games", but here he dedicates an entire album to the idea that even aging rockers can play hard prog with a metallic sheen.

The CD is flawed to be sure, as the sound is about as synthesized as you can get, the vocals, by the front man himself (PP, or WS) are a bit odd, and the lyrics are minimalist both in quality and quantity. But the star is Radek Chwieralski on lead guitar who manages to bleed every drop out of his muse in frenetic fashion. Several hearings reveal heartfelt melodies underneath the raucous exterior, especially in the verses of the two openers, as well as the bluesy instrumental "Flying Over Paradise" which follows seamlessly from "Smiling in the Rain". While the album is not uniformly heavy, that is the prevailing quality, though it manages to transition brilliantly between moods (especially in "Island"), which is an area where the last Satellite album failed badly.

If you are really expecting and demanding something in the neo progressive genre, this may disappoint you on first or fifth listen, and it is not for every mood, but it works really well when you are having one of those Days.

Well, the excellent band description on our site says it all really. In fact there's not too much more to add except for my personal feelings. Peter Pan is a band strongly related to Satellite (and indeed therefore also to Collage) and if I go through that bands discography I notice much similarity with their Into the Night studio effort. This third release by the Polish band has the same metal edge as this one by PP from the same birth year. It makes you wonder if these are left over tracks from Into the Night and whether Wojtek got the idea to form this side project Peter Pan around them. Creative guy, this Wojtek Szadkowski.

The only complaint I can think of is the length of the album which is way too short for a 2007 release. But this deficit is strongly compensated by some excellent (almost masterpiece level for my taste) music like third (title) track Days. This sounds just about like 100% my cup of tea and it secures a four star rating definitely. Other more than excellent tracks are the instrumental Flying over Paradise and the compact Living on your Own.

Four stars because the rest is not as great I have to admit. But most songs are worth at least 3,5 stars so that makes the final rating pretty easy. Extremely recommended for fans of Satellite unless you dislike their harder edge. But if you enjoyed Into the Night this is a must have !