Newest release
Tracklist:
1. The Road To Nowhere (5:03)
2. The Wheels Of Time (4:39)
3. In The Deep (4:17)
4. M.A.D. (11:39)
5. Digital Slave (7:18)
6. Universum (4:43)
7. Empire’s Fall (6:42)
8. Agartha (11:18)
Sic Mundus:
Andrzej Sesiuk - music, arrangement, keyboards, programming
Artur Placzyński - lyrics, bass guitars
Michał Kaszczyszyn - guitars
Mikołaj Krzaczek - vocals
Torsten Bugiel - drums
Guests:
Iga Kałuża – backing vocals (1, 3, 5)
Mykhailo Kobets – trumpet (4)
Sunday Bayode Emmanuel – trumpet (8)
Mixed by Andrzej Sesiuk & Artur Placzyński
Mastered by Andrzej Sesiuk
Cover artwork – “Spojrzenie do wnętrza siebie” („A Look Into The Inner Self”) by Jarosław Jaśnikowski
All paintings by Jarosław Jaśnikowski
Graphic design – Grzegorz Gruszecki
Tracklist:
A (18:44)
1. The Road To Nowhere (05:04)
2. The Wheels Of Time (04:39)
3. In The Deep (04:18)
4. Universum (04:43)
B (18:59)
5. M.A.D. (11:40)
6. Digital Slave (07:19)
C (18:02)
7. Empire’s Fall (06:43)
8. Agartha (11:19)
D
9. A Look Into The Inner Self (18:16)
Sic Mundus:
Andrzej Sesiuk - music, arrangement, keyboards, programming
Artur Placzyński - lyrics, bass guitars
Michał Kaszczyszyn - guitars
Mikołaj Krzaczek - vocals
Torsten Bugiel - drums
Guests:
Iga Kałuża – backing vocals (1, 3, 6)
Mykhailo Kobets – trumpet (5)
Sunday Bayode Emmanuel – trumpet (8)
Greg Davies – guitar (9)
Alessio Castaldi – saxophones (9)
Mixed by Andrzej Sesiuk & Artur Placzyński
Mastered by Andrzej Sesiuk
Cover artwork – “Spojrzenie do wnętrza siebie” („A Look Into The Inner Self”) by Jarosław Jaśnikowski
All paintings by Jarosław Jaśnikowski
Graphic design – Grzegorz Gruszecki
Less than two years after the release of “Illusions” - an album that was very well received in the circles of progressive rock and metal aficionados - the next album of the Sic Mundus project, titled “Universum,” will be released. While the recording and release of “Illusions” was more the result of a fortunate combination of circumstances than the effect of pre-planned activities (more on this in the debut album note), in the case of “Universum” we are dealing with the most conscious and thoughtful continuation. Many elements have remained “the same old way” - the tandem Andrzej Sesiuk (keyboard instruments, music, arrangements) / Artur Placzynski (bass guitar, words) is responsible for the whole material, and Mikołaj Krzaczek, known from the first album, performs the singing, thanks to which the band's style remains recognizable from the very first sounds.
At the same time, the band has made many changes on their second album. First of all, we are dealing with a homogeneous lineup in all songs - in addition to the aforementioned musicians, the regular lineup was joined by Michal Kaszczyszyn on guitars and Torsten Bugiel on drums. This makes the material sound more cohesive than “Illusions,” which was recorded with several guitarists.
Also, this time the band did not attempt to recruit any well-known musician for guest appearances (recall that on the first album one of the tracks was embellished with guitar parts by Maciej Meller of Riverside) - the solo parts recorded by Michal Kaszczyszyn sounded so good that the band decided not to replace any of them.
Another significant change is the vocals, which this time are featured on all eight tracks of the basic material. With such an excellent vocalist in the lineup, it would have been a sin not to take the opportunity to introduce more singing and upbeat themes. However, all fans of long instrumental parts should be reassured that there is no shortage of them on “Universum” as well. In the case of two tracks, their duration exceeds 11 minutes, and there really is a lot going on.
And if even this is not enough for some, the band offers a bonus track ( on the CD released as an extra disc) - a fully instrumental track, lasting over 18 minutes, in a style far beyond what the band has offered so far. Some will love Sic Mundus for this track - others will hate it 😉.
The album will be released on September 5 as a two-disc CD and two-disc vinyl. As with the first album, the publisher is Ambient Media House, and the release is decorated with the amazing works of post-punk painter Jaroslaw Jasnikowski.
Highly recommended to all fans of modern rock and progressive metal.
2023
Tracklist:
1. Awakening
2. Free Like A Bird
3. Time Machine
4. Night And Day
5. Victory Of The Light
6. Intergalactic Journey
7. This Is An Illusion (feat. Maciej Meller)
8. Two Moons
9. Enchanted Island
10. F.L.A.B.
Sic Mundus:
Andrzej Sesiuk - music, arrangement, keyboards, programming
Artur Placzyński - lyrics, bass guitars
With:
Mikołaj Krzaczek - vocals (1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10)
Lucas Emidio - drums (1-9)
Scott Wright – rhythm, solo & lead guitars (1-3), rhythm guitars (7, 9)
Adrian Weiss - rhythm, solo & lead guitars (4)
Greg Davies – solo & lead guitars (5, 6, 8, 9)
Adam Cisowski - rhythm guitars (5, 6, 9)
Iga Kałuża – backing vocals (4)
Special guest:
Maciej Meller (Riverside) – solo & lead guitars (7)
Mixed by A. Sesiuk & A. Placzyński
Mastered by Robert Szydło
Cover artwork – “Czas Przełamany” („Time Broken”) by Jarosław Jaśnikowski
Graphic design – Łukasz “Pachu” Pach
Band photos - Bokaphoto
Linguistic consultations – Paul Evers
Tracklist:
1A (17:11)
1 Awakening
2 Free Like A Bird
3 Time Machine
4 Night And Day
1B (20:27)
5 Victory Of The Light
6 This Is An Illusion (feat. Maciej Meller)
7 Enchanted Island
8 F.L.A.B.
2A (18:50)
9 Intergalactic Journey
10 Two Moons
11 This Is An Illusion (alternative vocal version)
2B (18:12)
12 Awakening (instrumental)
13 Free Like A Bird (instrumental)
14 Night And Day (instrumental)
15 Enchanted Island (instrumental)
16 F.L.A.B. (instrumental)
Sic Mundus:
Andrzej Sesiuk - music, arrangement, keyboards, programming
Artur Placzyński - lyrics, bass guitars
With:
Mikołaj Krzaczek - vocals (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8)
Théodore Rondeau - vocals (11)
Lucas Emidio - drums (1-7, 9-15)
Scott Wright – rhythm, solo & lead guitars (1-3, 12, 13), rhythm guitars (6, 7, 11, 15)
Adrian Weiss - rhythm, solo & lead guitars (4, 14)
Greg Davies – solo & lead guitars (5, 7, 9, 10, 15)
Adam Cisowski - rhythm guitars (5, 7, 9, 15)
Iga Kałuża – backing vocals (4)
Special guest:
Maciej Meller (Riverside) – solo & lead guitars (6, 11)
Mixed by A. Sesiuk & A. Placzyński
Mastered by Robert Szydło
Cover artwork – “Czas Przełamany” („Time Broken”) by Jarosław Jaśnikowski
Graphic design – Łukasz “Pachu” Pach
Band photos - Bokaphoto
Linguistic consultations – Paul Evers
The fact that this record came into being is undoubtedly the result of a happy coincidence. Initially, the album "Illusions" was recorded by Andrzej using only virtual instruments, in a purely instrumental version - and according to the original intention it was supposed to remain so. For some time this original version of the album was available on one of the streaming platforms, but - like many other albums - it was lost among the mass of recordings uploaded to the web every day. However, it happened that one of the few people who discovered the beauty of this album was me.
It seemed obvious to me that it was appropriate to give this work its proper shape by inviting "live" musicians to the recordings. It took a long time before we were able to reach the right people, fortunately, thanks to the Internet, borders and distances didn’t matter. The final line-up is therefore strongly international, with Lucas Emidio from Brazil on drums, along with Scott Wright from Australia, Greg Davies from the UK, Adrian Weiss from Germany and our compatriot Adam Cisowski on guitars. We also managed to convince Maciej Meller from the band Riverside to play solo parts in one of the songs.
From the very beginning, I felt that at least two songs on this album should be vocal tracks. Finding the right voice was not easy, attempts with foreign vocalists have not been entirely successful, but in the end an extremely talented Polish musician and producer - Mikołaj Krzaczek - took on the task. Mikołaj performed his parts so brilliantly that we realised that ending up with just two songs from this talented artist, would simply not be enough – so, in the final balance, the advantage of vocal to instrumental tracks on the CD is 6:4. Interestingly, we kept all the original titles of the compositions - it's around them that the narratives in the lyrics were built.
We also knew from the beginning that we would mix the album ourselves - like Andrzej, I believe that mixing is an integral part of the creative process, during it many great ideas are born, and on the other hand - in this process, you can detect and correct the weak points of the compositions and arrangements. It is almost unbelievable how strongly the songs evolved in the mixing process. The final sonic touch, however, was given to the album by Robert Szydło - one of the best sound engineers in the business. The mastering he performed brought out the best in the sound of Sic Mundus, without losing any detail or dynamics - which is a true art.
The whole album is complemented by a superb illustration by the extraordinary artist Jarosław Jaśnikowski, titled "Time Broken." This image, together with the artwork prepared by Łukasz Pach, takes us straight into the world of "Illusions".