NIGHT SHADOW

Daniel Eliseev is a prolific guitar player, a demanded session musician in Bulgaria. Due to his fine contributions to some projects around keyboarder Kalin Tonev I already was aware of him beforehand. And, real surprise, Tonev strikes back here. He's present on the album's most ambitious piece Pandora And Epimetheus with some dramatic Atomic Rooster ambiance. All in one. As it is his project first and foremost, Eliseev is composer, arranger, producer, of course. And, besides some bass, keyboard and programming input, he predominantly cares for the multiple guitar duties, taken for granted.

The DANIEL ELISEEV PROJECT is also focussed on the vocals, unmistakably, where Konstantin Djambazov takes the lead. And so some may be reminded of the band Yes here and there, because his high pitched voice is a bit Jon Anderson reminiscent. The acoustic guitar dominated ballad A Song For You though also brings a stunning female voice to the fore. Emphasis on vocals also means a bunch of lyrics to explore, well, rather encrypted, always a hurdle for a non-English native like me.

The project's debut delivers modern, well produced songs which generally feature a rather heavy rocking attitude. The album comes like an authentic affair. There's a lot to explore when thinking in melodic prog terms, tricky, varied, catchy, charming, and overly rrrrrrrocking in parts, yeah! Alter Ego and the album title track are standing for an excellent lift-off. The epic The Journey Along showcases another clever composition featuring twists and turns in mood, highly emotional. 'Night Shadow' should be part of every assorted prog rock collection. Absolutely recommended!