AND NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT: VOTUM

Rarely if ever do I get through an entire CD sent to the Mansion by a band I’ve never heard of before, but Metafiction, the latest from Polish prog/atmospheric outfit Votum, put me into a trance and I just couldn’t turn it off.

Votum aren’t what you’re expecting; they’re certainly not “prog” by modern standards of the word, and they’re really not even that heavy. They’re prog in the way Porcupine Tree are;  pretty long songs that meander about, and vocalist Maciej Kosinski’s voice isn’t too far off from Steven Wilson’s, but the comparisons end there. This band is all about the atmospherics, and they use slow tempos and layered, effects-laden guitars to convey a subdued mood that had me transfixed through all of Metafiction. And there’s just enough heavy to keep me interested.

Not sure if this is for everyone, but if you like bands like P Tree, Oceansize, maybe even Devin Townsend’s solo stuff or King’s X, give it a shot. The first song on their MySpace page is kind of a sleeper… so I’d start with “Glassy Essence,” the second track in the player.

-VN