SVITANIE

This is my second album by Modry Efekt and I am pleasently surprised, yet again. It is a step forward, in some ways, from the previous effort. The previous album was in many ways very hard rock or heavy prog in it's sound and composition, while "Svitanie" is more symphonic and in some respecs more elaborate and complex.

My favorite track is "Ej, pad', pad' rosenka". I have no idea what it means but I do understand the music. Excellent playing, great organ and a guitar solo to die for. The track mixes heavier sounds with great subtlety and sensibility. It is a track I cannot stop listening to.

The first four tracks are all great and provides the listener with symphonic, complex yet instant prog. The jazz rock of the album before is almost gone, giving way for the sound of the last years of Modry Efekt. I do hear echoes of Yes but also other bands of the genre, like Exodus. Great stuff, retaining a true personality of it's own.

The title track begins really interesting but grows into a blues workout which I do not approve of. I am not impartial to blues. On the contrary. It is simply so that blues performed in this way, although it is the roots of the band, belongs somewhere else. The track becomes a blues number dressed in a framework of prog. It hides the brilliance that so obviously is there. Shame, really. I may change my mind but at the moment I am not amused.

Overall, though, "Svitanie" is yet again a great album from a great band. Easily four stars. More symphonic than the previous, which shows just how progressive this band was. Amazing stuff!