PROPHECIES

Abraxas is one of an interesting line-up of Polish neo progressive bands. The one they come closest to in my opinion is Believe, a band that appeared on the scene after the break up of Collage. I feel both bands are somewhat less romantic sounding than Collage, Satellite, Albion and Quidam and both have a rougher edge on their music at times. Biggest difference with Believe is the more frequently appearing guitar solos by Abraxas. But there is one thing all these Polish bands have in common and that is the highly melodic element in their music.

In fact Abraxas is a versatile band because they mix all kinds of emotions in the music, they play ballads (Velvet) just as easily as pretty heavy tracks (Kuznia). Like Quidam they can play flute in a beautiful way (Excalibur !) and even the oboe is used. This album has songs in all sorts also where length is concerned (just about everything in between 1 and 12 minutes) and almost all songs are worthwhile. Highlight is probably Pokuszenie where beautiful passages are alternated with progressive moments, here the band really shows what they are capable of.

This makes the choice for the rating pretty easy this time. Four stars is the only logical outcome even though this isn't even their best album (3,8).