CONTEMPLATION OF INFINITY

This Russian plays some instrumental heavy prog rock that can go to the Progressive Metal in his most heavy parts. The music is driven mostly by the guitars of Dmitriy Kshanovskiy and Alexandr Mutin with viola parts and occasional piano, and it's never too heavy which gives to the music a nice atmosphere. There is a sense of uniformity throughout the songs, so it makes it difficult to choose a favorite track. The drums are also well recorded to go along with all others instruments. The compositions seem to have been constructed with repeated jams sessions just like the band wanted to let the music "take them far away". 3.5 stars

This is the debut album from Russian band Take Me Far Away. The band is a quartet featuring two guitarists. On this release there is also a guest viola player and a guest keyboardist as well. This is an instrumental album and the music can be described as a mix of prog metal, symphonic prog and post-rock. "Rising" sounds like post-rock meets symphonic rock. Gets more metal sounding around halfway. "Shuttle Ride" begins very blues-rock/"classic rock" sounding. When the viola arrives it goes more into prog metal territory. Becomes more symphonic with piano towards the middle. Symphonic post-rock and then symphonic prog metal to finish it. "Flying With A Parachute" has good production values. Basically prog metal throughout, from the more jazzy to the more symphonic.

"Path Of Life" is the longest song. Generally on the symphonic side of things with lots of guitar soloing. Has heavier moments as well. I would recommend this album to fans of guitar-oriented instrumental prog. For the most part I enjoy the sound of the drums here. A good first effort with good sound and performances. I will give this one a 3.5 but will round it up to 4 stars.

Here we have yet another Russian progressive rock band who were unknown to me until I received this debut album which was released towards the end of 2016. This is a four-piece with two guitars, bass and drums, and for the most part they play psychedelic- influenced hard rock with progressive tendencies. Where they really shine though is when the two guests (who provide viola and keyboards respectively) are more to the fore. When that happens the music takes on a new life and vitality, and is infinitely more interesting than when it is the two guitarists crunching out riffs and using some distortion pedals. Overall this is a good album, but not great, and the guys need to give some serious thought as to how they move forward with the next one.