ENIGMARDEN

This is the fifth album from the Russian musical project Roz Vitalis. It is catagorized as RIO/Avant Garde, well, that sounds almost as an understement, what an adventurous but weird progressive music this is! To me the music sounds melodic but very experimental: most of the songs contains interplay between instruments like flute, organ and accordeon or bombastic keyboards and thin female vocals or church organ and Peruvian flute or marimba, percussion and organ or saxophone and organ. The sound of the church organ is often used but I cannot say that this band comes close to the sound from ELP or Trace of Le Orme, it's way too experimental, too fragmentic for me. The final track "Be Aware Of Strangers" (at about 12 minutes) is the most alternating composition featuring many shifting moods and instruments like the Peruvian flute, marimba, organ and female choir. The only progrock band that comes to my mind is the more cacophonic King Crimson ("Islands"-era) or perhaps is Roz Vitalis the avant-garde answer to Mike Odlfield ... ?