THE HELPLESS

Grendel is Polish neo-prog band, founded in 2002. And The Helpless, their debut album, is released in 2008 only!

I am not a big fan of neo-progressive, but I 'd read some great reviews on this album in Polish press. So, at the first possibility I just made a spin to this CD.

The music there is very melodic, intelligent and tasteful! Vocalist's voice is really pleasant and remind Mariusz Duda (Riverside) vocals. Music is classic neo-prog, mostly influenced by Genesis and Marillion, so not big surprises there. Ingredients added are pop-rock and few metal moments. Possibly, you can think about Grendel as about neo-prog Riverside.

The album is conceptual one, and lyrics is in English. Compositions are all great played and arranged. Then, if you're not afraid in some melodic pop-rock elements in your music, and would like to listen not very original but quality mixture of Riverside and Marillion in one - this album is for you.

My rating - 3+.

3.5 stars, really. I heard about this new polish band only recently. And I was instantly curious, because of its name. As anyone might know, this is the title of Marillion´s first great epic. So i presumed they were heavily influenced by that band. Not so much so, as I ended up finding out when I heard The Helpless. Ok, the band is obviously influenced by a number of neo prog acts like Pendragon, Jadis and, of course, Marillion (the beautiful emotional guitars are indeed very good and convincing). But the songs also lean towards the alternative/pop of modern groups like Riverside, Coldplay and the like. That´s not bad per se, but really the band will have to decide if they are a prog group or a pop outfit one day.

Because they do have a great potencial. They are all excellent musicians and the guitar parts are really outstanding. And they have the additional advantage of having an extraordinaire singer in the person of guitarrist Sebastian Kowgier. He has a nice voice and a convincing way of delivering the emotions of the lyrics. The Helpless is a concept album concerning the loneliness of man in the modern world. It has no fillers. All songs are at least good ones. Production is also top notch. As Imentioned before, the guitar parts are brilliant all the way through the CD, and the rest of the band is not too far behind, proving they are a tight unity already.

Conclusion: very good debut. If you like emotional music with fine melodies, you should check this out. I was tempeted to give them a four star rating, but since this is their first, I believe they have lots of room to improve yet. 3.5 stars is more fitting. I´m looking forward to hear their next works.

A band to watch for, no doubt about it.

According to LastFM, there are nine bands with the name Grendel:- 1) Grendel is a harsh ebm artist from Netherlands. 2) Grendel is a melodic death metal band from Finland. 3) Grendel is a Polish progressive rock band. 4) Grendel is a black metal band from Italy. 5) Grendel is a black metal band from the UK. 6) Grendel is a power metal band from Spain. 7) Grendel is a black metal band from Germany. 8) Grendel is a split-up folk metal band from Estonia. 9) Grendel is a hardcore/avant-garde metal band from France. Now, I think it is safe to say that eight of these acts are probably inspired by the monster of the same name from the saga 'Beowulf', and that the other took their inspiration from Marillion's song of the same name (which was about the monster ? and still their finest work). So can this Polish band bear comparison with Marillion, or any of the other prog greats?

I first played this album after listening to Glass Hammer ? which was a really bad idea as I found myself comparing the two and it really is chalk and cheese. It is not that this is a poor album, and I have found more to like in it the more I have played it, but rather that it is rather uninspiring and a pale washed out imitation of what prog can be like. That the guys can play, especially guitarist Sebastian Kowgier (who also provides vocals ? in English) is never in doubt, but is this something to which I will be returning to time and again? The answer to that is sadly no. These guys concentrate on providing atmospheric prog but miss the mark and come out as Marillion-lite, and there are many more Polish bands that I would rather listen to (SBB, Millenium, Satelite, Votum, Quidam, Collage, Riverside etc). www.lynxmusic.pl