SEEING IS BELIEVING

While Believe's first DVD was released in 2008, it actually captured a gig from the previous year and thus featured almost exclusively songs from the band's début album. Since then, Believe have released three further albums, the latest being last year's "World is round". The set list for this DVD therefore consists entirely of songs from the bands second, third and fourth albums, with none of the songs which appeared on the "Hope to see another day" DVD being repeated here.

This performance took place in November 2011 at the Wyspianski Theatre in Katowice, Poland, a venue which is rapidly establishing a reputation as the home of live prog thanks in no small part to the sponsorship of gigs there by Metal Mind Productions. Since the previous DVD was recorded, lead vocal duties have moved on from Tomek Rozycki to current vocalist Karol Wróblewski but the line up is otherwise unchanged.

With a much greater catalogue of music to chose from this time, the opportunity is taken to present a nicely balanced set, drawing in what are arguably the best songs from the three most recent releases. That said, the majority of the songs come from "World is round" with four from "The bread is mine" and just one from "Yesterday is a friend".

Once again, it is the wonderful diversity of sounds offered by the triple attack of guitars, keyboards and violins (and and combination thereof) which gives this set its identity. Wróblewski's often emotional vocals are excellent throughout, but it is the exploitation of a highly talented instrumental line up which places Believe in the top tier of the current prog bands.

The renditions of the songs are faithful to their studio counterparts, the music being melodic neo-prog, with an emphasis on the atmospheric and the symphonic. Comparisons with Hogarth era Marillion are probably the fairest way of giving the uninformed an outline idea of what to expect.

As we have come to expect from this production company the audio and video quality is exceptional, the latter being devoid of the artistic intrusions which so often detract from the experience on live DVDs. The extras run for longer than the concert itself, including a further concert recording of a gig in Warsaw. The quality here is inferior to the main presentation (hence the "bonus" tag) but it does offer an interesting alternative view of the band playing live. In addition, we have a documentary about the mono-pod drummer and interviews with two of the band in Polish with full English sub-titles. There is also footage of Believe's participation in a tribute concert to Robert Rosak, a noted Polish rock dignitary, where they end with a cover of "Chelsea Monday" by his favourite band Marillion.

Overall, a superb DVD which captures Believe at their very best. The enhanced catalogue now available to the band is exploited to the full, resulting in a finely balanced and performed set. Recommended.