Своими руками / CREATED WITH OUR OWN HANDS

Three year forward and Alexey Kozlov with his Arsenal group released a second album on Melodyia, entitled ''Created with their own hands''.According to Kozlov the correct title should be ''Created with our own hands'', but it was misprinted on the front cover.No matter its right name, the album was the first of Arsenal to be released in the States as ''...With our own hands'' on East Wind Records.The same title appears in the 2005 CD reissue by Arsenal School of Managers.From his crew from the debut only guitarist Vitali Rozenberg appears in this second effort, but Kozlov has a great warmed up bench of instrumentalists, incuding two drummers, two bassist and even four keyboardists.

The opening ''Mystery'' kicks off with an elegant acoustic crescendo by Victor Zintchuk, having a slight Spanish feel, before tormenting into a frenetic Space/Fusion style with ecstatic keyboards by V. Gorsky and a generally very furious instrumental approach.The following ''Dedication to Mahavishnu'' has some things in common with the beautiful atmospheres created by the pioneers of Jazz/Fusion, musically though it stands closer to the RETURN TO FOREVER school of Fusion, including spacey background synthesizers, complex/funky bass lines, jazzy electric guitar solos and plenty of electric piano exercises.''Light on the Way'' follows more or less the same vein , just being a little bit more tropical, with breezy synthesizers and acoustic guitars and a good sitar solo in the middle.''Suite in F Minor'' shows the strong connections of Kozlov with Classical Music.The ethereal opening piano prelude and the supporting synths meet Kozlov's melodic sax lines to lead the composition in a fresh and melodic Fusion style with symphonic keyboards next to an improvised sax solo.Soon Arsenal will find again their way into a more synth-drenched Fusion style, typical sound of the age, with long, stretched solos and Kozlov's sax always in evidence.

In a questionable move, the CD reissue contains four already released tracks by Arsenal, all contained in the next few regular releases of the band.However all are very good with nice melodic moves, technical synth textures, FOCUS/CAMEL-like jazzy guitars and even some evident Classical inspirations, closer to the style of their debut, and are definitely recommended.

''Created with their own hands'' is a certain twist by Arsenal towards more Fusion realms.The composing level remains very high, though the lack of an evident progressive direction make this less worthy than their very good debut.Still parts of its instrumental madness, especially the first and last track, are amazing and this is a pretty good reason to purchase the album.Warmly recommended.