IN SEARCH FOR

The band is found in 2008 by Yann Zhenchak, a talented composer and singer, who also plays keys and strings on the record. Yann had a tremendous music school with the famous in Eastern Europe pop-folk band Pesniary from Minsk. Playing with Pesniary is for a Byelorussian musician like having Frank Zappa on his Curriculum Vitae. Only crème de la crème could get into this outrageously successful PR-machine, having radio play at least one time every day on at least one Russian station during the last 30 years. Another example of a talented musician who went through this school is the gifted guitarist Victor Smolski, who now plays with the German metal band Rage.

So, Yann also did the pop folk theatre together with Pesniary, and also left them, in search for? his own music. To my part, the search is not over yet. The debut album "Faith" has some really good composing and is played with passion and fine technique. Yann's singing is impressive and some tunes will get into your mind and stay there forever. The POS-like rock ballads really blow my mind. Alas, there are some less successful components in this record. I find some of the texts a little naïve, however convincingly sung in a very good English, no disturbing accent to perceive here. Especially the epic "In Search for Faith" seems a little too long, and the parts with a dialogue between the last human and his saviour are a bit superfluous. If I could have my word, I will make from this, over the 70 minutes record with some weak points, a really strong 50 minutes record, that will have a potential to become an instant rock classic.

The band has obviously an enormous potential. If prog rock or heavy rock mean something to you, try this one, you won't be disappointed

This is a nice offering that Byelorussian metal band In Search For released last year (2010), one year after their debut album entitled "Faith". Though they have not reached yet the success they would like to, I am sure that more people from the entire world are listening to them, and one reason is that this EP named "Soul Inside" is free-to-download, so people like me who are not really into progressive metal can try something new.

And I tried it, and liked it. This is a five-song EP with a total time of 21 minutes, as I said, it is a metal band, but with some folk tendencies that can be noticed by the use of violin and other elements. This EP opens with "Moving On", a five-minute piece that has an extraordinary power inherent in the music, with the addition of the folkish violin and the symphonic keyboards, all together creating a strong and interesting track. The vocals are also good and there is a good guitar solo. Nice opener! "Soul Inside" starts with a soft keyboard sound for some seconds, and later drums, bass and guitars appear, the latter with a first solo. Then they fade out and vocals enter like a hidden element that all of a sudden will explode. The track shows some changes which do not harm it, on the other hand, make it better. The guitar solo and some other moments remind me a bit of Ayreon, which as I previously read, is a favorite band of Yann Zhenchak, leader of In Search For.

"Home" is a shorter composition, with a dark sound and angry vocals that scream out loud, while some backing vocals sing the kind of chorus. There are pretty interesting elements in this song, the guitar and keyboard work is pretty good, and I do like the death vocals combined with those backing voices, cool.

"The Best from the Rest" is an interesting track that starts with an electronic sound, later morphed into a powerful metal one. This song reminds me once again to Ayreon, actually the very beginning takes me to some The Human Equation moments. There are (as usual) guitar solos, and some nice changes like at minute four when acoustic guitar appears in a softer moment.

And finally the shortest track: "Outro" which seems to be the continuation of the previous track, that softer moment with acoustic guitar I previously mentioned is used here, but in an even softer style, and with the addition of a beautiful violin sound, complemented with nice backing voices.

Not the best metal EP I have ever listened to, but it is interesting and worth checking, so I recommend it to all progressive metal fans. My final grade will be three stars.

Enjoy it!

"Faith" is a sincere and honest album that offers quite a lot of diversity, but for me it is found lacking in terms of finesse and identity. The flawed centerpiece aside, the songs are competently performed by competent musicians, and while the compositional aspect of this disc isn't too impressive according to my standards, there's nothing really wrong with them either, other than the fact that none of them manage to make a great impression. Personally, I'd suspect that young metal fans who would like to explore a metal act keen on adding in art rock-inspired motifs might be a key audience for this band. But they as well as others should take the time to sample this material prior to a possible purchase.