THE MYSTERY OF THE COSMIC SORROW

This is the third album from this Russian group. Led by the sisters Elena and Tatyana Kanevskaya, the former doing lead vocals and keyboards and the latter guitars and backing vocals. The vocals are in English but this is a mostly instrumental album. Basically you could describe the music as being 'Neo-Prog' but there is so much more going on, specifically the large amount of electronica. This is a double album and is jam packed with diverse music. Disc One opens with "Message From Space" which is a spacey, electronic piece with some spoken word. The title track starts out more typical Neo with the soaring guitar and orchestral drumming. Settles into an easy going midpaced tempo with guitar and keyboards complimenting each other. Then it goes into an electronic beat with some nice guitar that goes well with it. In the middle is lots of traffic sounds as the music builds in intensity. Goes back to the beginning parts again.

"Methane Rain" has another spacey opening. This is the third track but is the first with actual singing. A midpaced symph rocker with some shred-like guitar soloing at one point. After a spacey/electronic interlude goes into faster paced symph rock territory. More soaring guitar and symphonic keys brings us back to the vocal section. Some saxophone soloing by a guest at the end. "Gamma Waves" features some aggressive sounding bass work which is in contrast to the lovely part that follows it. Really nice jazz guitar at one point. An almost Chinese sounding melody briefly. One of the more diverse and interesting tracks on the album. "Born To Suffer" is another vocal track. Almost noisy and avant-garde beginning. Then a more modern sounding Neo style. The longest track on Disc One. Over halfway gets jazzy with a funky synth solo, followed by a soaring symph rock style guitar solo.

Some news reports (in English) play as the guitar does some more shred-like soloing. Very prog metal ending. "Silent World" is a Neo/Symph track for the most part. I really like the instrumental section in the middle. Lots going on there. Now we move on to Disc Two, which features just three tracks but one of them is an epic over 23 minutes long. "Following A Neutrino's Flight" opens Disc Two with some moody and suspenseful electronica. Later a kind of slow paced groove with some spacey synth soloing. In the middle it switches to sequencers and vocals with a reverb/echo type of effect. "The End Of The Satellite Age" is the epic of the album, divided into five parts. Everything starts off very electronic with sequencers and string-synth. Gets very orchestral and symphonic but without an orchestra; all keyboards and guitars.

Stays symphonic but gets more electronic sounding. Later gets more traditionally orchestral sounding with some military style snare drum rolls. Halfway gets electronic with a funky yet menacing atmosphere. Continues in a orchestra-meets-techno kind of way with the music getting more uplifting and melodic. Lots to absorb on this album and it deserves repeated listens. The sound and production is superb. The only real complaint I would have is that the last track on both discs are also the two weakest tracks overall. Great prog for 2016 and this comes highly recommended to those who enjoy the more melodic side of modern prog, or Neo and Prog Metal fans who are not against electronica. I will give this 4 stars.