Three months later, the group performed at the festival ProgLive '97 in Corbigny (France). Two nights in April that same year, Derkowska and Smarzynska were invited to perform the overture of Harbour of Tears on-stage with Camel. The group made its first international appearance in Holland in January 1997, building a following there and in France. It featured guest appearances and songwriting credits from members of Collage. In April 1996, at the first festival of Polish prog rock, the group unveiled its eponymous debut, featuring its now classic tracks "Sanktuarium" and "Ptone." Released by the local label Ars Mundi, the album slowly trickled out of Poland and garnered favorable reviews. Quidam's live shows, fronted by the charismatic Derkowska, gained local fame. At this point the name was changed to Quidam, a Latin word meaning "someone" but here making specific reference to a poem by Kamil Norwid. Songs grew slightly more complex, but the group still wanted to appeal to wide audiences and thus the music developed around the neo-prog axis of IQ, Camel, and late-period Pink Floyd. The arrival of flutist Ewa Smarzynska provided the impetus to shift the musical direction toward a more symphonic sound. They were soon joined by keyboardist Zbyszek Florek and cycled through a number of singers until they found Emila Derkowska in 1993. In 1991, guitarist Maciek Meller, bassist Radek Scholl, and drummer Rafal Jermakow, then all 18 and 19 years old, formed the hard rock/blues trio Deep River and began to play bars all around Poland. The angelic voice of singer Emila Derkowska and the group's ample use of flute in its arrangements secured it a respectable place alongside Collage and Abraxas in what has been called the '90s Polish contingent of neo-proggers. Quidam is available in Transparent Blue / Clear "Flamed" Orange Vinyl LP 12".Hailing from Poland, the neo-prog group Quidam released its first album in 1996 and quickly won both specialized press and audiences over. A characteristic of this song, and of the whole album too, is the sheer elegance of the atmospheric post-rock sound that makes Quidam a great and enjoyable album. Quidam ends with 'Nadir' and it's a great way to close the journey through the Portuguese landscapes painted by the quartet of Catacombe. 'Mental Confusion' kicks off with a simple grooving bass line and the track moves and builds to a crescendo of a whirlwind of sublime thunderous drums and riffs. The complex exchanges and guitar interplay, rooted by a tight yet fluid rhythm section is a characteristic of the whole album whether in the quieter tunes as 'Lolita' or in the heavier as 'Shroud'. It has in it a perfect mix of strong and soft rock with some very effective chord sequences and a rather snazzy interlude that are really notable. Listening to this track again and again, you'll agree with me that this could be the soundtrack to a night drive along the Ocean coast or across the region of Alentejo. Eight minutes of this song led me wondering what happens in the middle of the night on the streets of Portugal. Soft post rock is the protagonist of 'Ninho de Vespas' that is the longest track of the the record.
'Zenith' is really a standout track that set the album mood. Quidam starts off with ‘Zenith’, with its rich modulated arpeggiated guitars transcend into spiraling riffs. Quidam gets loud at times but the Portuguese band don't lose the occasion to show their softer post-rock side. What Catacombe offer is a fine balancing act of the two.
The album isn’t 100% post rock or 100% post-metal. The 6 songs on show here offer some truly haunting post-rock/post-metal riffs. Listening to the 6-song album and its 36 minutes running time, you'll notice that the songs have complex structures and dynamics that are typical loud-quite-loud, which in the case of Quidam never become tedious or repetitive. Pedro, Gil, Filipe and Pedro just released Quidam, their 3rd record that was recorded at Caos Armado and mixed/mastered by Roland Wiegner (Long Distance Calling, Omega Massif) at Die Tonmeisterei, Oldenburg, Germany. In 2010 the band released their first full-length album entitled Kinetic, and they have never stopped writing music. The band born in 2007 by the hand of Pedro Sobast when he self-released the EP Memoirs, and thanks to the interest of many fans that desired to see the songs live! He set up a band with some friends with the shared love for music. They are a quartet from Portugal coming from the post-rock, instrumental and post-metal area but they also show signs of progressive rock in a number of places.
Catacome is what happens when “Post-Rock meets Fado”.
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