It's True Mentality (snappy band name!) are a Polish band formed in 2005. They are unsigned to a record company and Insomnia is a demo disc of totally instrumental progressive rock that they have issued themselves. It's good, but I fear may not land them the record deal that they seek. The band comprise Anna Weyna (kjeyboards), Andrzej Lebek (guitar), Arkadiusz Doroszuk (bass) and Grzegorz Haasa (drums).
It's True Mentality's brand of instrumental progressive rock is fairly "straight", by which I mean that it approximates closely compositionally to conventional rock. It's pleasant but the music really cries out for some vocals; it feels like a backing track, like an unfinished product. In a sense it reminds me of British band Combination Head: although their music is keyboards-driven as opposed to It's True Mentality's, which is guitar-driven, Combination Head's compositional approach is not hugely dissimilar. Their first CD was also totally instrumental but by the time of their second, 2008's Progress?, a mix of instrumental, sung and vocalised numbers helped to improve the enjoyment from the music. For me, this is the way that It's True Mentality have to go or they will flounder.
As for Insomnia itself, the 5-track EP is a good showcase for the band's technical and compositional skills. There are good guitar riffs as early as on "Intro", there's some good guitar-keyboard duelling on "Daily Nightmares" but the stand-out track is "Fear of a Sleep", with its heavier guitar and Doors-ish keyboards. Put some vocals on that and you have a seriously good song!
As it stands though, Insomnia speaks of promise as yet unfulfilled: let's hope the band develop further in the right direction because the result will be worth listening to.
Track Listing:-
1) Intro (3:18)
2) Daily Nightmares (5:42)
3) The Night Is a Day (7:42)
4) Fear of a Sleep (5:45)
5) Mistificated Paranoia (6:45)
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