Religionnaire I

I have a problem with this album. The artist seems to be a professional, so there is not much to criticize in terms of the sound or the performance. The songs are quite catchy. I have only one complaint (but a big one). These songs are so unoriginal that it spoils all the fun one could have from listining to it.

The artist himself sings in "Leave Me, Let Me Die" that he would like to live in the 70s. It is of course clear to anyone after listening to any of these songs, so he couldn't deny it. I feel sympathy for him that he was born too late, I understand (no, wait - I try to...) that music from different periods is a crap for him. But... That's not a reason to judge his work differently than works of others artists, who don't claim to be misfits.

I'm not an originality freak and I like many artists who draw their inspirations from the past. I find it perfectly acceptable for any band to adopt the 60s, 70s etc. sound in their music. But "inspiration" has its limits. And beyond them is only a wasteland of copycats. And unfortunately, there are apparently no such limits for Religionnaire. Each song sounds like an outtake from recording sessions of The Beatles, ELO, Pink Floyd, ELP and so on and so on...

Had this album appeared in 1967 it would have been a huge success probably. But forty years later it's only a death wail after the passing of "good old times".

So, to sum up, if you love 70s beyond anything but you listened to your Electric Light Orchestra albums so many times that you feel sick even thinking of doing it once again AND you like to hear the same joke told with different words - give it a try.

Everyone who is not satisfied with imitations - stay away.

The best track for me is no. 8 "Escape From Madness". This one (and only this) doesn't sound like a shameless copy. Unfortunately, sound distribution in this track is faulty with hi-hat constantly banging loudly in the left channel, which is extremely annoying.