NARROW IS THE ROAD

Prolific and ambitiously adventurous composer/musician Ivan Rozmainsky (of Roz Vitalis fame) is back with his new collective of virtuoso collaborators for a third album release since 2020. And it's a good one!

1. "Only One Road for the Wayward" (7:20) Ivan & co. here move more into the discordant world of avant jazz artists like JOHN ZORN and YUGEN. I think this one succeeds because of its slow, spacious pacing and "conscientious" note-making. (13.25/15)

2. "The Invasion of a Crying Shame" (3:53) starts off as if picking up where the first song left off, but then quickly becomes something different--a kind of middle school band practice session for the horn section. Interesting for how loose and sloppy the timing is for the instrumentalists engaging in the weave. (Yes, I can tell it's done intentionally.) The grating electric guitar injected into the final quarter is surprising and a little off-putting. It's as if a 2:00 AM jam of rather tired and, probably, drunk musicians is being recorded. Not quite sure of the reason or motivation for this song to be included on a publicly-released album. (8.5/10)

3. "Black Sky White" (5:25) there's a bit of a Celtic or even Acadian folk feel to this one. (It reminds me very much of the music from the Québecois band, CONVENTUM's 1979 album, Le bureau central des utopies.) I like it for the predominance of acoustic instrumentation. Very nice finish. A top three song for me. (9.25/10)

4. "I Need You to Help" (5:50) built around weave of comparatively sappy melodies, Serghei Liubcenco's choice for guitar sound once again mystifies me: like using a kitchen appliance, he can sure make some noise! The scaled down interlude in the middle reminds me of MASSIVE ATTACK's "Teardrop" but then we move into Asian-infused, cheesy drum-machine-led, mediæval weave while the wildest collection of disparate instruments somehow move forward together, as a rag-tag ensemble. Adventurous and laughable yet admirable! My final top three song. (9/10)

5. "Narrow Is the Road" (5:14) again Ivan & company bring together an ensemble of classical and jazz instruments to create a pathway that is somehow moving forward while taking turns giving up the leadership position, this causing some uncertain movement and moment--this despite the definitive title. Perhaps the road is old, less traveled, and poorly maintained. Anyway, against all odds, the band somehow pulls it together for the final quarter of the song to reveal some beautiful teamwork. The weave then turns to avant chamber jazz sounding quite similar to the work of Belarusian bands Rational Diet, Five-Storey Ensemble, and Archestra. Here are some quite lovely "traveling" melodies conveyed in the second half of the song. This is certainly one post-apocalyptic (or pre-industrial) band of road travelers that I would enjoy being with or encountering. My favorite song on the album. (9.5/10)

6. "In Things Too High for Me" (8:40) the solo kalimba in this song's opening does not fool me for a minute. The music quickly shifts into an electrically-founded trapse of troubadours--which occasionally turns space alien (minute #2) and Asian (minute #3). This one sounds as if it could come from some of DAVE NEWHOUSE's zany collaborations--the Moon Men or Moon X projects. In the final third the structure becomes tight, organized, almost classical, this despite the odd mix of instruments. It's a very Paolo "SKE" Botta-like sound. Not my favorite piece but interesting. (17/20)

7. "Looking from the Dome" (5:37) concertina/organ and rock electric guitar open this one before winds and cymbals join in to create a near-klezmer weave. Banjo and strings join before wah-ed guitar takes the lead. the percussion-driven rhythm and pacing remind me very much of parts of MIKE OLDFIELD's 1979 masterpiece of four "Incantations." The final stripped down minute feels more African tribal with they now-typical odd assortment of collaborating instruments. (8.75/10)

8. "Kramatorsk" (14:32) violin announces the Russian melody theme before low winds take over. Then drums This could very much be a piece by Markus Pajakkala's UTOPIANISTI--except for the fact that it doesn't change, progress, shift, or develop as dynamically as Markus' compositions. This one drags on--rather like a New Orleans funeral procession. The addtion of heavily distorted guitar strumming in the second half does little to enhance the (lack of) interesting or pleasurable development of the song. The Psycho-like violin (and, later, synthesizer) screams in the eleventh minute are surprising and, once again, do little to enhance the likeability of the song (except if you're a lover of King Crimson or Art Zoyd at their most angular/dissonant). Again, I know not the intent or message the band was trying to convey here, but it is one that is, unfortunately, totally lost to me. I understand and appreciate the adventurousness, skill, and vision it takes to compose and perform something like this, it's just not my cup of tea. (25/30)

9. "Road" (3:42) this sounds like a cute little Baroque chamber piece--something being performed for a small private audience or as background music for a museum opening. (8.5/10)

Total Time 60:13

With this album I think Ivan and his intrepid collaborators have put together their finest effort. The sound engineering and production is excellent with great clarity of each and every single instrument. My favorite selections on the album are, of course, the more chamber-oriented pieces dominated by acoustic instruments and mediæval-like folk sounds and weaves.

B/four stars; an excellent addition to any lover of truly adventurous progressive rock music.

Another fantastic album from Compassionizer that really represents the sheer versatility on display from them. Rather than the more brooding atmosphere and cold, alien quality that would often shine through with the stronger use of electronics on past albums, Narrow Is The Road takes on a far warmer, more uplifting tone while maintaining a lot of the moodiness that make them so compelling. The range of instruments, while being about as diverse as before, still sound very different as a result. You'll find a lot more symphonic elements especially, with the assortment of woodwind and brass being utilised to craft an atmosphere just as compelling as past output has been. The compositions themselves feel like a bit of a step up as well, still focusing far more strongly on crafting a mood and soundscape that evokes a range of emotions that often feel rather hard to define entirely, but this time around, everything sounds that touch more dynamic and impactful. This is especially true with the way that everything flows together as smoothly as it does, to the point where you'll end up hearing certain passages and ideas being reused later on but under a different context which ends up further expanding upon and refining what was already there, positively contributing to each rendition that's performed.

The electric guitar is another favourite aspect of this to me with the way that it's almost always implemented in such unconventional ways without entirely derailing the experience. The way that The Invasion of a Crying Shame uses it is especially powerful, breaking through the rather subtle, layered composition with a wave of roaring distortion that then gets played around smoothly and almost instantly, providing a certain intensity that I am a huge fan of when used in smaller doses in the context of an album such as this. The way that Narrow Is The Road is able to have such left turns while maintaining a practically unbreakable sense of momentum is rather impressive and sophisticated, essentially hiding its more avant-garde tendencies in plain sight time and time again and making for a fantastic experience to full absorb and break down all the nuances of. I basically always feel rather excited about seeing this band make a new album since they're so consistently great and interesting in how differently they're approached. In this case, I'd say that Narrow is the Road marks the band's most conventionally prog album in how it's structured, but that doesn't make it any less great at what it does. While An Ambassador In Bonds remains my favourite album Ivan Rozmainsky is involved with at this point, fans of atmospheric prog should not ignore this one either, as it's more fantastic music that makes full use of a wide range of instrumentation to craft another album that sounds rather unique and exciting.

Wow, never expected to have a band reach out to me to review one of their new albums. That is definitely an exciting thing to notice as it can mean discovering new and interesting music from new, possibly groundbreaking artists. It is fun discovering music. Although, sometimes you might get something that doesn't work for you, and I find Narrow Is The Road, the newest release of Compassionizer, aka the band that recommended this record, doesn't quite work for me.

I do not wish to lay down all the negatives right from the get go since I do not desire to bash any band 'less I feel they deserve a high amount of criticism, so to start: I find this album's sound to be very pretty in many cases. The band merging delicate uses of folk, and classical with very prominent Avant Garde jazz that Frank Zappa or Henry Cow could make is something I am quite fond of. They are very clearly talented musicians, and their talent really does shine with songs like Black Sky White and Road. You get very soft and delicate passages for the most part, but sometimes the band can rise a bit, ever so slightly to where once you notice it, it sort of sticks with you throughout the album, which I think is great. You gotta make your music stick to your audience, and the best way to do that is to create an impression with a treatable sound. For me, this album, for the most, does deliver on a more than welcome sound.

My problem with this album lies within the lack of any real juice behind these weirder passages of music. I can tell these are very good musicians, and I highly respect their craft, but I feel as though they aren't playing with their hearts. The music here sounds rather empty, and more weird to be weird rather than being weird to make a statement, or to be funny, or just to make something off the walls in how they can break expectations away from you. I do not expect, nor do I wish for them to be as silly as The Residents, nor as chaotic as The Cardiacs, but I do want to see a little more meat and a little more bones in this work.

Songs like the title track and the big 14 minute song of Kramatorsk never really felt rewarding in their weird passages, and more sounded like background noise. It is a shame, I know, for me to call really good musicians creating generally good sounding music to be background noise, but I felt a lack of passion, or, a lack of interest within the sound they created on here. I really do wish I could like this album a lot more, but I cannot seem to fully get into it, or appreciate it.

Again, I do not wish to bash the band for making this album, but I do hope they improve as music creators and composers in their next release. They are clearly a strong bunch and hard workers as they released albums in 2020 and 2021, so I am intrigued on their next release. As it stands, though, this album is not really my cup of tea, and I feel like there are many things to improve on here. It is a unique listen, but not one I am dying to listen to over and over again.

Released towards the end of 2022, here we have the third album from the Roz Vitalis side project, Compassionizer. This time around Bayun the Cat has been reduced to being one of a number of guests, but the rest of the core band has stayed the same with Serghei Liubcenco (electric & acoustic guitars, rubab, doira, other percussion & drums, whistles), Leonid Perevalov (bass clarinets), AndRey Stefinoff (clarinets) plus of course Ivan Rozmainsky (Roland Juno- D, Pribor Neofit, Arturia MiniBrute & other synths, kalimba, vibraphone, marimba). Ivan is involved in a few bands these days, which allows him to progress his music in different directions in different ensembles, and in many ways this release is one of his most interesting yet.

The use of guests providing both trumpet and violin has allowed him to increase the sonic depth he has available to play with, and he has taken the opportunity to move Compassionizer even further into Rio/Avant while also bringing in huge elements of modern classical music. There are times when I am reminded of After Crying, but only if they had been working with Art Zoyd, as they investigate what different instruments can do in a somewhat baroque or even chamber music setting. It is quite possible that many will feel he has crossed right out of progressive rock altogether with this release which would certainly find as many fans within the avant modern classical as it will to those of us who enjoy RIO. One never knows quite where the music is going to lead, or indeed which instruments will be leading it, with Ivan the master conductor and arranger ensuring it somehow all fits together seamlessly. The Russian progressive rock scene is still producing some wonderful music and Ivan Rozmainsky is at the forefront of much of this, and this album clearly demonstrates why as it is a wonderful introduction into his world.