ANOTHER WORLD

Russian band QUORUM was formed back in 2003, but didn't actually settle as a unit until sometime later. Following an initial demo recording they released their debut album "Klubkin's Voyage" in 2011. "Another World" is their sophomore production, and was released by the Russian label MALS Records in 2015.

While Quorum does incorporate a fair bit of variety on their second album, featuring details that will be recognizable to fans of bands such as Genesis, Pink Floyd and even Rush, I suspect that those with a taste for '80s neo-progressive rock will most likely be the key audience for this specific album. A tolerance for non-English lyrics will be needed, but as long as that isn't a problem, the CD comes across as a quality release.

I came to Quorum through Elena Kanevskaya of Eternal Wanderers, who provides backing vocals on one of tracks, as her husband is Dmitry Shatnov who not only provides lead vocals in Quorum but also guitar, bass and keyboards. The other musicians are Pavel Barabanov (guitar), Vladimir Yanovsky (bass) and drummer Sergey Nikonorov. Elena told me Quorum mostly play cover versions of classic prog, but they have also released a few albums of their own, this being the most recent, from 2015. The Russian prog scene, in a very similar way to the Polish, never ceases to amaze me with the depth of talent as they have some incredible bands which rarely get the attention they deserve in Western media. Apart from performing in Russian, Quorum are one of the most Western-sounding prog bands I have come across, obviously heavily influenced by the likes of Genesis (including the early Eighties version), Pink Floyd and even some Yes, while "Motion" is full of Rush influences.

Although their influences are from 40 years ago, this is an album which could have been released today and would certainly have fitted in well with the 90's underground and I am somewhat surprised they are not more well known, with just review on PA by the one and only Olav Martin Bjørnsen, and that from seven years ago. This is definitely an album which any proghead would get a great deal from as they bring in some nice symphonic influences with good rock while never really drifting into Neo. If you have no issues with the vocals not in English then this is definitely one to check out.