{"id":31096,"date":"2013-07-30T22:05:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T03:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=31096"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:36:52","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:36:52","slug":"andrzej-citowicz-ace-of-hearts-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/andrzej-citowicz-ace-of-hearts-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrzej Citowicz | Ace of Hearts<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"AndrzejNot to rest on one\u2019s laurels is definitely a motto of Andrzej Citowicz, the Polish guitarist who has released his first EP Shot Down? Get Up<\/em> just a few months ago now comes back with a package of twelve guitar-driven compositions which altogether comprise his first full studio album Ace of Hearts (to be released on Aug. 8.) As emphasized by Citowicz, the idea of recording such an album appeared circa 15 years ago. Now, having enjoyed no limits to his artistic freedom, he picks up his six-string again. Off starts a journey through the world of his musical inspirations and ideas he has been collecting throughout all these years preceding the release of Ace of Hearts; while tracks off his previous musical effort \u2013 Shot Down? Get Up \u2013 referred to the present, now Citowicz takes a step back as an artist and a person, offering a listener a sentimental journey which is definitely one of a kind.<\/p>\n

There are many highlights of this journey back in time. \u201cBe Brave Be Proud or Be Dead\u201d is a brilliant opener, a track in vein of medieval stylistics fathomed thoroughly by such acts as Blackmore\u2019s Night or Heaven & Earth (if anyone remembers the brilliant collaboration of Stuart Smith and Joe Lynn Turner on \u201cThe Shadow of a Tyburn Tree\u201d off the eponymous Heaven & Earth record). There is no doubt that guitar part of this track is one of Citowicz\u2019s finest work to date, reaching a consensus between dynamism and sense of melody. \u201cA Different Kind of \u201880s\u201d finds Citowicz channeling the tradition of 1980\u2019s AOR\/melodic hard rock (yet, having been accustomed with Polish acts of this genre, one could find in it some traces of early 1990\u2019s IRA, Hetman or Kama-X). Ace of Hearts delivers a solid dose of instrumental ballads composed in vein of power ballad tradition (\u201cHeart Rock\u201d, \u201cPicture This\u201d, \u201cTouch the Wind\u201d) while some other tracks, were vocals and maybe some additional arrangement added, could serve as well-crafted and fairly catchy melodic rock\/AOR anthems (\u201cRoad to Heaven\u201d, \u201cSummer\u2019s End\u201d). The two last compositions off the album, \u201cWe All Fall Down\u201d and \u201cBleeding Heart\u201d are far from being classified as yet another instrumental \u201cpower ballads\u201d. Dark and gloomy, these songs are definitely the album\u2019s masterpieces, sequence of notes so telling in detail that they could easily build up a lyrical verse themselves. <\/p>\n

Again, some obvious traces of Citowicz\u2019s inspirations are to be heard throughout the record. \u201cLuvmageddon\u201d is a wink and nod to stylistics characteristic to bands such as Def Leppard or, more recently, Grand Design, following the pattern of massive (but not repetitive!) sound and powerful riffs. The aforementioned \u201cRoad to Heaven\u201d could have as well been a Casanova or Mitch Malloy track once lost in the studio recording process and now resurfacing, whereas the eponymous composition off the album in a way probes and extends the patterns of, for example, Richie Sambora\u2019s 1998 Undiscovered Soul<\/em> record (not copying it, though). And since the golden formula of any recording is, basically, to let the traces and shades of musical inspirations shine through, yet not overshadow the artist\u2019s own style \u2013 Ace of Hearts<\/em> is not to be accused neither of too eager borrowing nor the lack of artistic individualism. <\/p>\n

Since Ace of Hearts<\/em> is, as was Citowicz\u2019s previous EP, an instrumental album, one can only think of many possible ways in which the album\u2019s undoubted potential could be taken even further if there was a vocalist on board. If with accordance with Citowicz\u2019s initial plans, this record was supposed to feature vocals and one can only regret such an idea was dropped for whatever reason. And although Dirk Arnicke\u2019s brilliant production and arrangement evokes obvious associations with such masters of sound engineering and production as, for instance, Mutt Lange \u2013 the sound as massive and powerful as it used to be under the auspices of the best – surprising is the lack of any \u201creal\u201d instruments, except for the guitar and the bass, on the record (the rest consists of high quality samples and sample players, a technique commonly used nowadays). While the music\u2019s quality does not suffer from this, one could only suppose that the \u201creal\u201d band behind the music is what Citowicz definitely wishes he had.<\/p>\n

Future plans aside, Andrzej Citowicz remains one of the unknown artists definitely worth taking a closer look at, especially at the breakthrough moment of releasing his first full-length studio album. Ace of Hearts<\/em> is, according to the guitarist himself, \u201cthe recording made inside of his heart and mind only to be transferred into notes and riffs much later\u201d \u2013 and, simultaneously, an album of extraordinary quality. Definitely worth being recommended. <\/p>\n

Genre: Instrumental<\/p>\n

Band:
\nAndrzej Citowicz (g)
\nDirk Arnicke (b)(d)(k)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Be Brave Be Proud or Be Dead
\n2. A Different Kind of 80ies
\n3. Heart Rock
\n4. Road 2 Heaven (At the Outskirts of the Forest)
\n5. Picture This
\n6. Ace of Hearts
\n7. Luvmageddon
\n8. Touch the Wind
\n9. Without Warning
\n10. Summer’s End
\n11. We All Fall Down
\n12. Bleeding Heart<\/p>\n

Web: http:\/\/www.citowicz.net\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — Not to rest on one\u2019s laurels is definitely a motto of Andrzej Citowicz, the Polish guitarist who has released his first EP Shot Down? Get Up just a few […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,2385,334,7098],"class_list":{"0":"post-31096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd","9":"tag-instrumental","10":"tag-review","11":"tag-shot-down-get-up"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}