Pospolite Ruszenie – ‘Pospolite Ruszenie’ (2014)
Rating: 7/10
Release: 29 November 2014
Label: Independent
Pospolite Ruszenie is an Polish band blending old Polish music with solid rock, but there’s a difference, they don’t use the old folkmusic for this purpose, but medieval theme’s. There aren’t of lot of bands blending these genre’s, what makes the sound of Pospolite Ruszenie quite unique.
The first song starts with nice catchy solid guitars, joined by nice authentic instruments after a little while. A very nice sound.
The songs have Old-Polish lyrics and Polish titles, but the band has made a nice translation of these titles and there’s you will notice this isn’t a pagan band, on the contrary, they songs have christian themes.
And while this is the same as on their previous EP, Pospolite Ruszenie has changed their sound a bit. On this album the Medieval elements are much stronger, which is a nice thing. The drums and guitars are quite solid, but singer Jan takes all the sharp edges of the music with his voice. In my opinion the band could have given it all a bit more strenght by not sticking to the psalm-like way of singing these lyrics. The mix has put the vocal very much in front as well, this cuts away a lot of the strength.
When you like the medieval music put in a more solid rock coating, Pospolite Ruszenie is a band to check out for sure. I’m glad they have chosen to give these old tunes a more prominent place in their music.
Tracklist
- Nieście chwałę, mocarze (Psalm XXIX) / Ascribe unto the Lord, O Ye Mighty (Psalm XXIX) 04:52
- Dobranoc Ci, Anusieńku / Good night, Annie 04:30
- Błogosławiony człowiek (Psalm I) / Blessed is the man (Psalm I) 05:06
- Do Kasie / To Kathy 04:44
- Kleszczmy rękoma wszyscy zgodliwie (Psalm XLVII) / Let us clap our hands in harmony (Psalm XLVII) 05:01
- Pan Bóg Wszechmogący / Lord God, the Almighty 05:05
- Nie złodziejem / Not a thief 03:05
- Pieśń o Narodzeniu Pańskim / A Song of the Nativity 04:37
- Sławne potomstwo Lechowe / The Renowned Offspring of Lech 04:24
- Żołtarz Jezusów / Lament over Jesus 05:12