CONFORTATE GLI ABBATTUTI LIVE

Good for mental and physical health under such a terrible pandemic situation. ROZ VITALIS have got started as a chamber rock project at first, but in this creation they play complete 'vital' rock on the stage. Their performance is filled with energetic eclecticism and diversity (heavy, jazzy, or artistic) seasoned with delicate symphonic flavour and edgy avantgarde spice. It's a pity there might be less audience in the venue than in the pre-pandemic era, but it sounds like the audience should get immersed in their vitality and vivacity. Russian fans could not wait for the day VITALIS appeared on the stage ? we can notice it without any suspicion really.

Very insightful this album takes the departure with one of their masterpieces "Premonition" that involves delightful opening matured with soft but tragic flute texture and grand earthy keyboard-oriented turf.  A mystic opening act calls for serious heavy rock movements stabilizing our inner minds. The latter moment has pretty calm but sticky melodic streams and modulating vibes. Quite theatrical. As the title says, in "Escaping From Myself" we enjoy a sensational sound trip especially in the middle part, leaning towards "Portable Madness" by Sensation's Fix. The very last synthesizer-based echoic lesion is awesome really. "Walking" has an atmosphere like we walk on a lane after the rain. This reminds me that we would be in the fresh air under the clear sky. Yes it refreshes us so clearly. The former part of "Child Song" is a kind of clean, pure song like children's heart but they have various emotions deeply in mind ? from the middle until the end slightly unsettled, disquieting air flows. Wondering if they would have a similar emotional situation.

Anyway they are using repetitive (and impressive) phrases so effectively here and there. "Donor" is one of my favourite songs, where kinda sensitive, charming phrase comes up repeatedly to us. This mysterious sound-touch reminds me of the similarity to Japanese nursery songs (they have no intention like this though). Uptempo, lively rhythmic bases and slightly ethnic melody lines ring our bells. The shortest track "Confortate Gli Abbattuti" is fantastic and elegant. The moment the elegance strings the upcoming song "Passing Over" is my love really. "Psalm 6" another iconic stuff of VITALIS is a great mixture of heavy minutes and lyrical feelings in the similar vein to Szentendre. Launches us sorta wondrous spurt. We are sure this gig held in March 2021 should produce a great day.

Roz Vitalis is one of those bands in quite a strange position for me, one where I rarely feel as if I outright love any of their work, yet they're able to do enough interesting stuff that I feel as if they're almost always worth checking out when they drop something new. Furthermore, I'm quite a fan of the way they don't just release live albums reasonably often, but ensure that they're extremely well produced and mixed to the point where I'm sure you could almost mistake it for a studio project. Confortate Gli Abbattuti Live continues this trend rather nicely, with lots of your standard hallmarks of a live album by the band, with some wonderfully varied instrumentation and a strong sense of unity within, which is reflected effectively through the tight interplay between all elements.

Being a live album by Roz Vitalis, you can simultaneously expect there to be a lack of purely new material here, yet also be confident in the fact that the music will all sound sufficiently different. This compositions here rings true to their studio and past live counterparts for the most part, but are all shifted and put under a different lens, with the improvisational material being guided by the chosen approach. This provides a much stronger opportunity for each track to sound interesting and distinct no matter how many times it's played, and serves to form the backbone of this album in the process. To my ears, this album feels far bolder and focused on melody than I'm used to from the band, with less time being dedicated to the long winded jamming or atmosphere than usual, definitely making it feel rather unique. Daybreaking is one of the clearest examples to be found here of this decision, still carrying a lot of the cryptic, mysterious vibe that's practically a mainstay of Roz Vitalis, but the guitar and bass are pushed way forward in the mix and given a lot of attention. Not only does this make for a rather fun, catchy track, but it also brings in a hint of that more heavy, avant-garde sound that I often wish the band would delve into more often. Donor further reinforces this sound through its own heavy, prominent bass that it revolves around for its rising intensity and climactic finish. The thing is that despite this, the band is able to maintain a strong sense of elegance to how things progress, it never feels rushed, just long enough to get across what it wants to and a bit more, naturally moving through its sections to craft a series of wonderfully textured soundscapes that I haven't really heard elsewhere.

Overall Confortate Gli Abbattuti Live is yet another good live album from Roz Vitalis that if you liked their previous work, you should also like this by all rights. The stronger focus on intensity and melody also go a long way to make this a very ear-catching listen and potentially the best starting point I've heard for getting into the work of Ivan Rozmainsky. If you're into the idea of somewhat more out there symphonic prog with a large variety of instruments (especially keyboards), give this album a shot, it's a great time.

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to hear a great deal of music from Russia, who have some incredible progressive rock bands, and one of my favourites is definitely Roz Vitalis. Apart from the closing track, "Peace", which was recorded the year previously, this album was recorded in St. Petersburg on 27th February 2021. The line-up was Ruslan Kirillov (bass), Vladislav Korotkikh (flute), Ivan Rozmainsky (electric piano & synth), Vladimir Semenov-Tyan- Shansky (electric guitar, guitar synth) and Evgeny Trefilov (drums). One of the real joys of this instrumental band is the way they mix and blend the instrumentation, with everyone being given the chance to shine. The drums are quite low in the mix, but the picked bass (which provides a very hard strike) is very high, providing a counter melody for the other instruments to play against. The three melodic leads support each other, so while it may be guitar here, flute there, or keyboards, they all interweave to create music which has such complexity that it feels like modern classical.

Ivan utilises many different sounds, while it is not unusual for Vladislav to step away from proceedings, and this combines to ensure there is always plenty of space within the music. There is no feeling of compression or strain, rather that the musicians are allowing themselves and each other the room to fully express themselves. The music is incredibly melodic, yet complex as they allow themselves to bring in jazz and classical idioms while always progressing and challenging themselves while always taking the listener along for the journey. They have released a series of wonderful live albums over the years, and this is yet another which deserves recognition far outside their native city and country. If you already know the band then this is something you will enjoy, but for newcomers this is a wonderful introduction and a great way to discover one of the best bands to come out of Russia. Superb.