Tożsamość

Some people consider the classical metal fans to be living in the past. So what? Rock is rock, it has to have guitars, solos and a strong voice, and heavy metal has to have the feeling that makes it metal, and which most modern bands have forgotten. Here we've got it once again, as in the eighties!

It doesn't at all mean the CD is repetitive to older bands, not at all! The riffs are classical, but still something new, original compositions which sound fresh - but at the same time they sound heavy metal. All songs, especially "Paranoja", "Legenda Thora", have THAT fell, like all good records of the 80s have, they make the listener imagine old times, medieval armies, dark places... One of the best pieces here is "Eneida", an instrumental based on Virgil's work.

Now the vocals... Grzegorz Kupczyk is considered a "Polish Bruce Dickinson" by some fans, but I do not completely agree. The influence of the legend is obvious in Kupczyk's vocal style, but his own voice is slightly different. He's got his own vocal style, which also is important because makes the music sound original. His own lyrics are quite good, I think. They are all in Polish, the English versions aren't as good. And aren't as straightly Christian as my preceeder thinks, I find them rather good for consideration. But surely they won't satisfy an "aarrggh" black metal fan.

I find this CD one of the new, good metal records, that should shape the sound of the modern bands - along with Halford's "Resurrection", Mekong Delta's "Lurking Fear" and Venom's "Metal Black". They all sound modern, are recorded with all the equipment used now... But still don't lack the heavy-metalness, they are still slabs of metal.

The album’s title, ‘To¿samoœæ’, can be translated as ‘Identity’.
Turbo, one of the oldest Polish metal bands, seems to be struggling for years for its own identity, which results in their style ranging from traditional heavy metal in the early eighties, through thrash in the late eighties, through death and more modern metal later in their career.
On ‘To¿samoœæ’ the band performs a ‘return to roots’, for the music is 100% maiden-ish heavy metal, to the joy of most fans.
The performance is competent, especially in the guitar department – there’s a lot of long, stylish solos. The riffing is also strong, and the overall songwriting is satisfying, though not especially outstanding. The vocalist Grzegorz Kupczyk has a powerful mid-ranged voice, but most Polish listeners are instantly put off by the heavily christian, and terribly unskillful lyrics, never practiced before by this band.
The best track is the multi-part epic instrumental ‘Eneida’, bringing to mind Maiden’s ‘Losfer Words’. The dramatic half-ballad ‘Cz³owiek i Bóg’ (Man and God) also leaves a lasting impression. ‘Maqmra’ (whatever it means) is an inspired speed metal track, sounding like later day Running Wild. The rest maintains decent quality, but isn’t all that memorable.
Ironically, with this record the band still fails to establish its own identity. ‘To¿samoœæ’ is enjoyable while it spins, but forgotten soon afterwards. Nonetheless, traditional metal fans may find something to like here.