Для тех, кто видит сны. VOL.1 / DLYA TEH, KTO VIDIT SNY VOL.1

I was wondered when found this album (and band) on PA! During my 40+ experience with Russian rock-music I never thought about this team as about progressive one.

But.... maybe I'm wrong. Let see, what we have on their newest album.

Not a big surprise - they play same parody-rock, combining Russian folk epos, Soviet patriotic songs, some citation from classic Russian prog bands (as Aquarium), bombastic symphonic elements and headbanger's metal. Vocals (singing) is in a good Soviet official youth band's tradition, and vocals (spoken) tell you some child tales!

I believe that not many listeners there could understand lyrics, and there is their lucky moment! Unhappily, I perfectly understand this language.... Don't want to destroy your psychic health with detail translation, but believe me, there are plenty of pseudo-heroic knight-ballads imitation ( with birds of sunrise, small and big suns and stars (!?),etc), plenty of God's thankful speeches and even hymn to vodka!

If you can't imagine, what is this band, just think about Monty Python musical side-project. Possibly, their better place on PA should be ZART?

Whenever I can't look on this project as on musical one, better to look on it as on joke. But my sense of humor isn't so flexible, so I will hardly laugh on this.

Recommendations? .... I will better save them for myself.

Orgia Pravednikov is one of my favorite bands since I've discovered them in 2005/2006 with their debut album Оглашенные, изыдите (Oglashennye Izydite) from 2001.

Для тех, кто видит сны. Vol.1 (For Those Who Sees Dreams Vol.1) (2010) is their latest studio album so far and thought you can see their changing their style to a more heavy oriented kinda of rock you still have all the elements that made this Russian a great band.

Sergey Kalugin is like a bard singing in a band Metal and his acoustic guitar (even if not that present in this album) makes a big difference in their sound. Their weird combination of Metal, Folk and whatever else comes to their mind will be always great to my ears. On this album they even use wind instruments (on 'The Catcher In The Rye').

You can notice that the band was looking for a new sound with this album. Their original sound continues here but now added with new elements. This is for sure their less Prog Rock album, but still great. Not to mention the great artwork on the package, outstanding!

Despite their playfully oxymoronic name, Orgy of the Righteous take themselves and their spirituality very seriously, with just one exception, a russian musketeers/vodka anthem, showing that it's sometimes beneficial not to be too somber. This is russian epic folk/hard rock, enriched with flute, strings and even some ska sounds. And is that a death growl I'm hearing? What I like is that songs are not repetitive, with only things repeated are usually the things worth repeating. Production is loud and clear. Compared to previous album, there is more of an effort to write some catchy melodies, but a lot of this still sounds like dramatic verses recited over a background melody. Little instrumental fanfare.

This isn't exactly a staple of russian prog - a genre not quite booming, I'm afraid. But it could of some interest for those interested how rock sounds with a russian flavor. Not the silly balalaikas and gypsies stuff, but with an existential bent.

The fourth full-length album from Orgy of the Righteous, 'For Those Who See Dreams Vol.1', finds themselves treading a fine line between bombast, Russian folk, metal, prog and pronk and when it works it comes off very well indeed, but there are also times when it feels more of a parody and that it is being played with tongues firmly in cheek. In some ways this is their most accessible album, and the way they throw in elements such as female operatic vocals, humming, and complex drumming is a delight and the use of a whistle makes one almost think of Horslips. But there are also elements when one can imagine asking a Western comedy rock band to play some Russian music, without doing any research, and it could end up like some of this.

It is their least balanced album, and consequently their least successful to my ears, which is a shame as when they get it right as with the trumpet on "The Catcher In The Rye", then their ideas and approach definitely shine. Certainly one of the most interesting bands to come out of Russia, this is not the album to start with when investigating their canon but one to turn to having already come to terms with their music.