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Keeping touch with discography three years in a row isn’t the easiest thing one can do. Especially if he/she keeps stable and do not make any discounts in the quality of the albums he/she delivers, if not progressing. Osada Vida, the Polish progressive rock band, has given us at the end of 2009 their third album after "Three Seats Behind a Triangle" (2007) and "The Body Parts Party" (2008). "Uninvited Dreams" is certainly the darkest album they have created and without changing dramatically their formulas this album is - probably - the most interesting one. Maybe it’s the atmosphere, because objectively their sound has not improved or changed directions. The album deals with concepts around night, sleep, dreams and nightmares, and in terms of styles it is an amalgam of progressive rock, metal and jazz. In fact, the album is flirting intensively with some jazz fusion styles, while some ethnic-jazz moments come in the front in the case of "Is That Devil from Spain?" and "Is That Devil from Spain Too?" tracks (with the second becoming a bit verbose). On the other tracks, "My Nightmare is Scared of Me" kick offs very spooky before unveiling a "grandiose" and pompous part, while the following one, "Childmare (A Goodnight Story)", could be characterized as Dark Funk. "Lack of Dreams" with the dual vocals, male and female, crowns the jazzy attitude of the band and the closing track, "Neverending Dream", is gifted by a nice keyboard work. The performance stands on high levels, but the truth is that I was puzzled sometimes by the drumming of Adam Podzimski. I guess that this is part of the play in a progressive release, isn’t it? Production wise this album is carefully crafted by Marcin Chlebowski and the artwork breathes the air of the lyrics. It’s dark and "nocturnal". In a nutshell, "Uninvited Dreams" is a very good album, like anything else Osada Vida has given us. Personally I liked it more than the previous two, but if I want to be objective it stands on the same level. |
