Polish progressive fusion-rock project RSM struts a creative, momentum-filled sound across Life is…, their new album. Led by Rafal Szewczyk and recorded live in Lodz, the album blends jazz, prog-rock, and metal influences into an eclectic, human-created narrative of life’s complex transitions.
Album opener “The time is running out” begins aptly with the sound of a clock ticking, capturing the steady state of evolving time as solemn strings and twangy guitar expressions enter gradually. A lovely cohesion of free-flowing guitar tones and consistent rhythms, with synth-touched reflections, build with momentum — arriving to a jazzy prog-rock feeling as thunderous waves of distortion complement the hypnotic rhythm section.
The project’s dynamic range furthers on ensuing track “Are we all in abuse,” where a whispered title-touting questioning moves into heavy guitar pulses and a clanging bass line. The main refrain hooks with its impassioned vocals and glistening, spacey keys, while the other sections enamor in range between scorching psych-rock guitar solos and glimmering vocal-fronted emotion. This is an especially eclectic, climactic tour-de-force of a track.
The highlights continue across the tracklist, spanning the electronic-to-prog-rock fervor of “Chasing the truth” and the resonating title track finale, which is book-ended by ghostly piano. Life is… is an excellent, creative full-length output from RSM.
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“Are we all in abuse” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
