Votum-Metafiction

Armoury/Mystic
2010



This is the sophomore release from Poland's Votum. There are definite similarities to Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard as they play heavy progressive rock. Although it's instantly obvious that Votum fall into the dark side of the spectrum with a moody approach to their music. They often ride forth on massive waves of gothic blasts or they frequently mix in jazzy bursts. Their songs rarely overwhelm you, but instead they creep up on you at a steady pace. The talent is certainly there as far knowing their instruments, but for my tastes I like a bit more fire and yes, more rock in progressive rock. Votum often get their music up to simmer, but they never push to get it to a boil. I am sure this is intentional and fits in with what they aiming for, but I couldn't help but feel let down and even a little bored at times. They are capable of setting up a mood, but they never beyond it. It's normally just one mood as well, they never get very far beyond one central feeling. I kept expecting them to reach out more and their musical abilities had me thinking they would burst forth any moment and transcend how the songs began. Yet that moment never happened at least not to my satisfaction. To me that makes this album somewhat one dimensional. I admire their skills, but feel like the writing was stuck on one level and that is something will prevent me from remembering this disc very and likely it's not I'll revisit that often. Perhaps in the future they'll explore a little more and push forward.