WIDEK

Outside the Universe is an excellent work by the Polish Maciej Dawidek, where he develops with great solvency both heavy guitar riffs and deep atmospheric passages, a whole sonic journey through the universe that is well worth listening to and letting yourself go.

The songs are short but full of a cosmic charge that will surely delight those who like instrumental themes, such as the melancholic and powerful Above the Sky and Orion, the magnificent and brief guitar solo by Tomas Raclavsky in Cosmic Ocean, or the restful Celestial . The only sung piece on the album, performed by Matthieu Romarin from the extreme metal prog Uneven Structure, is the powerful Enter Through The Sun.

In summary, Outside The Universe is an album of a very good level and highly recommended, especially for those who enjoy the post metal genre.

Widek's second full-length album, Journey to the Stars, is a twelve-track journey of sonic dynamics and contrasts set against a generally spacey atmosphere that runs throughout the album.

Being almost entirely instrumental album (except for the closing song), Journey to the Stars naturally relies heavily on guitars to drive the album. Though this may sound a bit limiting, Widek and the team of guest contributors he invited are able to work their way around this and create something cohesive and interesting that keeps the audience engaged.

Widek constantly plays with structures and dynamics in songs, not only to try to keep things fresh, but also to create new moods and atmospheres to further develop each individual track and give it more character.

One thing that knows how to be pretty annoying about instrumental albums is the lack of control and restrain, as the guitarists often try to put more zeros into their riffs or more notes into their solos. However, Widek doesn't fall into this pit. He demonstrates tasteful restrain and knows when to play melodic passages of riffs. The guest appearances from Chris Letchford, Plini, Gru, Sithu Aye, Owane and Per Nilsson show two things: 1) how quality this album is, and 2) Widek has a damn good taste and knowledge when it comes to pick soloists. All of these guys are top notch performers, and they add another dimension to Journey to the Stars. Together with Widek, they are also able to belt out solid riffs and tasteful lead-guitar playing, often placing the two together to create more interesting colors of mood.

Fans of guitar-driven instrumental music should definitely consider checking this release out. There is a lot of going on, and after his 2014 debut, Widek is proving that the genre's destiny is in good hands.

A neat piece of atmospheric post-metal with light elements of the better side of djent. Widek is a one man music machine like Sithu Aye, and this debut from him is great, all things considered. The atmospheric parts and backings here are the best parts, and Widek clearly has talent towards making them. There is also variance in the particular moods those parts convey. The first, sixth, and seventh tracks are the cream of the crop as far as the ethereal bits go. As far as the metal goes, it's not the best, but is a working style that mixes in various ideas into something worthy enough of the lulls. The fact that Widek has a handle on how to do djent well is also commendable. A good album, worthy of listening, but I would love Widek to do ambient records more than more like this.