AUGUST IN THE URALS

This band went out to create a fusion between symphonic prog and fusion/jazz. In this process, they touched base with some other genres too. Did they suceed ? Yes, is my answer.

I have been listening to prog for all my life. But I have only educated myself on prog rock and all it's genres for the last two-three years. So please take this review as one from a relative newbie and with a limited intellect too. I am writing this because this album is so complex that it requires far more experience and knowledge than I currently possess.

The first song Inaugural Bash, make that a twenty six minutes long epic, is a pretty heady mix of symphonic prog (ELP and Genesis), King Crimson like fiendish music, even Magma like Zeuhl, jazz and a lot of baroque music. This song ends like a funeral dirge and it is heavy, but not as in heavy metal, throughout. A truly superb piece of music.

The second song August in the Urals, make that a fifteen minutes long epic, also touch base with David Bowie and folk rock in addition to jazz, King Crimson and symphonic prog. The vocals here is pretty dominant and they are David Bowie like. Which is not everyone's cup of tea. It is fair to point out that the weakest point of this album is the vocals. They are not bad, but on an album full of brilliant stuff, the vocals stands out as merely good. Anyway, this song too is superb.

I feel this review is now turning into a book. So just let me point out that the other three songs, make that epics, have a lot of symphonic prog, prog folk, jazz and eclectic prog going for it. Fans of neo-prog will also find a lot of interesting stuff here.

One of the interesting things about this album is that though it is heavy as a tonne of bricks, it is nowhere near progressive metal or even heavy metal. I think the essence of the music here is baroque music from the 16th century. The superb artwork also gives that vibe.

The sound is still contemporary, based on keyboards as it is. There is also a lot of accoustic guitars here on the top of the keyboards. Some electric guitars can also be found. But keyboards is the main instruments here. As per usual, I am missing a real killer track and one star has been deducted for that. But this is still a very impressive album from a band I hope we will hear more from in the future. I guess I need to order their second album, then. But I also hope we will get a third and a fourth and a fifth album from them. This band is most definate onto something here.

4 stars

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