SUBKRAUT: U-BOATS WILLKOMMEN HIER

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Vespero is an instrumental band from Russia who generally specializes in space-prog. This is the first full album I have heard from them and it is obvious from the album title and the music itself here that there is a strong Krautrock influence on this album. I think the title translates to "U-Boats Welcome Here" and two of the song titles sound like made-up German words. Basically you get your guitar, keyboards and a rhythm section but also some guest musicians adding percussion, cello and saxophone to the mix. The music genrally reminds me of Ozric Tentacles but sometimes also of Hawkwind, with a good dose of motorik style hypnotic Krautrock of course. The music here is not very complex but rather rhythmic and hypnotic; it's music you get into, not music you want to impress you.

"The Strangest Thing In The Ocean" opens the album in an almost Ozrics fashion. Eventually a groove is established. I like the percussion in this track, it adds a lot. Great spacey guitar soloing in this song. "Anpeilen!" is more in Hawkwind territory with its modified sax playing. Unlike Hawkwind there is no guitar riffs dominating this track. The guitar here mostly stays in the background adding texture. Some altered talking and/or laughing can be heard. The drumming becomes much more motorik and hypnotic as the song progresses. Later the drums keep a steady beat while additional percussion work gives the music an added urgency.

"Underwater" begins with some classic electronic prog sounds including some bird-like sounds done on synth. Gradually a beat on drums enters the scene and turns into another beat as sparse guitar notes join it. The guitar plays more notes faster and then eventually sort of solos as the music gets spacier and the cymbal work on the drumkit makes everything more hypnotic. As the guitar does its own thing, the drums kind of stop and then come back again with the main synth almost playing a melody. Some fast percussion and just a constant bass drum thudding as the guitar goes into some rockin' tones. The drums play a beat again as the guitar does some great spacey soloing.

"Target Selection" has a beginning that reminds me of some industrial music. Dark and spacey. Gradually things get spacier and noisier for awhile. Some nice cello here. Drums eventually appear, sounding low in the mix on purpose. "Angriff, Ran, Versenken!" opens with a very hypnotic sequencer pattern. This track has a Ozrics-meets-Hawkwind vibe with some motorik Krautrock elements as well. I like the beat the drummer goes into after 5 minutes with the Ozric-like flute playing over top. The guitar playing gets more rockin' and the rest of the instruments get more intense sounding. The guitar plays a sort of melody at one point.

"Alarm...The Art Of Positive Thinking" has a hypnotic 3-note sequencer pattern lay the foundation for the other instruments. Basically every song here starts out this way with the original sequencer getting buried in the mix until you forget all about it. The drumming here comes and goes and the guitar is generally in solo mode, but not for the whole song. The drumming gets almost jazzy at one point. Gets into a nice groove towards the end with some great wah-soloing on guitar. This album is great modern space-prog with Krautrock influences. It's fairly consistent with no one track standing out. The sound and production is good and the playing is more than competent for what the music requires. My final verdict will be a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

VESPERO's fourth album is significantly referring to the German U-Boat tradition (how terrible!) in the same way as to the special German rock music legacy (how irresisitible!). Similarity and contradiction at once - 'U-Boats Willkommen Hier' - this sounds provocative to me, sorry, probably meant as a pun - tainted with considerable speculation overall. But now for some clarification, the official label (R.A.I.G) announcement tells us that the album 'is a conceptual framework for six instrumental kraut-rock songs which are inspired by Russian Futurism of the early 20th century, German musical underground of the 70's, modern American fiction writers, as well as mysteries of the Great Ocean still not completely explained by mankind'. Yup!

'The Art Of Positive Thinking' - well, come what may, the title of the last song points us in the right direction, right?. Also put with intent I'm sure ... the song titles are alternating between English and German, just like following a policy or so ... German efficiency, eh? Seriously now ... there are bands I gradually have lost interest, since some repetiition in style and approach occured over the years. VESPERO obviously differ ... every album sounds in another way somehow. Often accompanied by a trancy behaviour they have worked with native female vocalists for example, but now they are on another track. There's a strong space jam appeal to state, which shows them close to Oresund Space Collective or the current Electric Orange style here and there. And subtle sax and violin input brings some variation to the general impression.

The groovy Underwater convinces me due to a very nice harmonic interplay of synths and space guitar. I can imagine a somewhat modern submarine boat incarnation - gliding underwater at first as usual, but then gathering speed, coming up crossing the surface, and finally blasting off into space. Another collaboration - I mean drums and percussion - is striking too here. Concerning the title Angriff, Ran, Versenken! this leaves me with mixed feelings, musically though the song is nominated for the album's highlight on the contrary - expresses dramaturgy all through, it's a very dynamic exemplar. I still do believe in artistic freedom by the way.

Some songs like Anpeilen! and Alarm ... The Art Of Positive Thinking show a drum work tending more to a typical hypnotic respectively mechanical appearance anyhow. That said, for some reason this really might be the closest album to krautrock they've ever recorded so far. But - on the other hand - since VESPERO started with 'Rito' in 2007 such influences never could be denied for sure, are reflected in every album, sometimes more, sometimes less. Although thematically a bit problematic for me I won't complain - music-wise this is another outstanding band output. If you still are not familiar with this crew, it's about time.