The industrial cover artwork prepare my ears for something close to MINISTRY or WHITE ZOMBIE as totally unaware of ROOTWATER whereabouts. The pompous intro also 'said' nothing to my brain that became even more confused after the guitars have entered. But, "Venture" -the first song of the album- came to clear all my thoughts and kind of made interested to ROOTWATER.

ROOTWATER comes from Poland featuring most experienced musicians who have already cut their teeth with different bands. "Visionism" is the band's third album released just before the singer's health problem that forced ROOTWATER to go inactive. Musically, "Venture" comes with a SLIPKNOT approach without the turntable work but with fruitful vocals that dominate the music. Indeed, "Living In The Cage" welcomes some really catchy vocal melodies digging deeper into ROOTWATER's potentials that without a single doubt have more to offer. While listening to this album you will find yourself thinking of the late PARADISE LOST, the gothic approach of AMORPHIS and eventually lose your mind with the SLIPKNOT heavy breaks. You may find my description confusing but you have to trust me; these are exactly the thoughts you will encountered while listening to "Visionism". These guys have no boundaries to their creativity and hence, have created an album that doesn't have to search for a specific music identity. Things become even more 'insane' when the band throws some folk elements introducing non-metal instruments like the sitar sounds in the Eastern looking "Follow The Spirit". Maciej Taff has impressive vocal range and a timbre so distinct that pushes on the side all the influences and underlines the term 'originality'.

The down-tuned guitars flirt with SOULFLY's heaviness introducing an almost tribal feeling in songs like "Steiner" or "Under The Mask". The album closes with the atmospheric self-titled track where the melodic lines become addictive and the minor classic orchestrations add the term 'symphonic' in the long catalogue describing ROOTWATER's music.

ROOTWATER introduce their music with an impressive album blending many Metal and non-Metal music themes and on top of that go folk-ish with the bonus track "Haydamaka". This song has something from Goran Bregovic attitude with dancing grooves, insane accordion and brass instrument melodies that leading to the Polish lyrics that close this track and the album in the best way. My advice to you is not to be frightened by the many and different references in 's music since this album has a lot to offer provided that you will give additional time to grow inside you. Watch the "Living In The Cage" video below to get an idea...