NEW FAUST

"New Faust" is symphonic prog album which can compete with contemporary albums by The Flower Kings, Karmakanic, Neal Morse and other famous prog bands. Imagine Emerson- oriented keyboard-playing, almost prog-metal guitar riffs, very complicated and sophisticated compositions, cool melodies, presence of both bombastic and mellow elements, strong vocals in Russian, and... and nevetheless you should listen "New Faust" in order to get relevant understanding. Yes, to a some extent, I agree with Erik Neuteboom, "Little Tragedies" can be treated as "progrock sensation". But I recommend to listen also more early releases (for example, "Porcelain Pavilion") which contain, perhaps, even more original ideas. I imply that "sensation" is rather old. "New Faust" sounds better and more aggressively, development of compositions is (very) much more complex. The only minus for me is some similarity with Prog-Rock Mainstream. Sometimes "New Faust" creates impression that I listen young Emerson playing in a contemporary ("soft") prog- metal band. However, I would like to note that impression is created only by some excerpts from Disc One. Disc Two does not generate such impressions and is much more original (and almost masterpiece). In conclusion: composing talent of Gennady Ilyin is very great, and performance is excellent. Perhaps, it is one of the best prog-rock releases in 2006.