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Pandora Snail - War and Peace CD (album) cover

WAR AND PEACE

Pandora Snail

 

Eclectic Prog

3.88 | 130 ratings

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tszirmay
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars From Russia with love comes this interesting release, Pandora Snail's "War and Peace". I always wondered why the prog world has not yet yielded more acts from the land of the big bear. After all progressive rock in Poland and Hungary certainly bloomed and there were always some kind of activity in neighbouring lands, so why not Moscow or St-Petersburg? Outside of very recent productions (I am the Morning, The Gourishankar, Roz Vitalis), there has been preciously little to amaze. This from a land that brought you Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich. Perhaps the notion of 'market' was something hard to comprehend after decades of tyrannical control by the CPSU, after all it was considered to be taboo and worse, a capitalist adventurist disease, as jazz was once described by a party official. No shortage of talented musicians either, so the mystery remains.

The title may seem vaguely familiar, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, a cornerstone not only of Russian literature but an outright global classic, 'Newsweek' magazine in 2009 ranked it first in its list of the Top 100 Books, so the prog premise is certainly intact though there does not seem to be any direct correlation to the famous novel (slick western style marketing?). The band members are from St-Petersburg and all are exhilarating musicians with both style and technique, led by keyboardist Ulyana Gor's rather unselfish style on elegant piano, harpsichord, organ and synths. The overall style is certainly quite eclectic, a heady concoction of classical (the violin is the main soloing instrument here and played skillfully by Artem Gareev), progressive rock in the structure as well as obvious jazz influences, namely from the slippery slick drum work of Igor Cheridnik. The guitars of Oleg Gorgadze are both acoustic and heavy buzz saw electric and show off both Georgian influences as well as some nods at Robert Fripp. The main focus for me remains on Kyril Klushin's sensational bass guitar, an incredible onslaught of buzzed sound and deep foundation. There are also gritty characteristics that are particular to the Russian character, each track has plenty of melancholia, tons of drama, shifting emotions that can turn on a dime, a certain sense of fatalism and yet unending drive.

On the opener "Dilemna", I could not help referencing "the Endless Enigma" by ELP for whatever reason. It just overcame my thoughts as I was grooving to the music. On the swervy "Submarine", the mood felt more like some obscure Jean-Luc Ponty tune that had been reworked by some modern musicians. Russian music can be crushingly sad at times, as expressed on "Mother's Tears", a moving violin-led lament with sleek piano and tic-toc percussion in accompaniment. The all too brief harpsichord solo is utterly gorgeous, as the gritty guitar kicks in its barely contained pain. All the tracks are instrumental and serve the purpose with both undisputed variety and sharp vision but the highlight must be the 16 minute+ "James Pont", a clever little innuendo on the 007 theme, a highly cinematographic chase scene that would fit quite well on a Bond film actually, a bit like Pierce driving a T-55 down a Moscow boulevard in "Golden Eye" (though it was actually filmed in the UK). There are unending swerves and loops, veering, careening and screeching to go around the block a few times.

A sublime track like "Stone Names" evoke a heady mixture of folk, classical and baroque, while the snoring bass ruffles along, just precious, something Curved Air would come up with. "After the War" has all kinds of sombre sparks emanating from the grooves, the violin mournful and almost morose, the overall impression is more cautious than euphoric. Again, a trait that remains very ingrained in the Russian spirit. A friend of mine who travelled to St-Petersburg said that the famed city was unbelievably beautiful but that he did not see many people laugh or even smile. "Satori" is an 8 minute long piece led by a romantic and rolling bass line straight out of dreamland, a sultry violin playing classical paradigms and then suddenly, jaunty piano poundings that are straight out free jazz, fueled by a blistering guitar solo. The complex tempo vacillates between 'war and peace' (lol) quite stupendously, offering up a series of musical cavalcades that keep the heart racing and the mind busy.

Hopefully, this debut will be just the beginning of a great and long career and many more albums will appear in the future. The children can listen to this comfortably as there is no Sax but a lot of Violins, befitting a war epic. The cover art is evocative and my gold coloured CD is impressive.

Спасибо

4 conflict reconciliations

tszirmay | 4/5 |

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