ROZ VITALIS

Roz Vitalis is the creative vehicle of Russian composer Ivan Rozmainsky, hailing from Saint Petersburg.He named his project after the latin express Ros Vitalis (''Living dew''), intentionally remaking it to Roz Vitalis after his surname.The project started in 2001 with the first few demos being one-man attempts, before a first CDR appears under the title ''L'ascensione'' in 2002.Here Rozmainsky collaborates with female keyboardist Nadezhda Regentova, male keyboardist Vladimir Polyakov with Vassily Raskov and Ekaterina Sophronova helping with vocal parts in a couple of tracks.

While compositionally the album shows a potential and a mood for creating innovative and challenging music, the recording process and quality prevent the listener from actually enjoying it.''L'ascensione'' is entirely built on keyboards, pianos and synthesizers, having evident Classical Music, Avant-Garde and Soundtrack influences, that produce a cinematic, haunting and impressive atmosphere, filled with dissonance and grandieur.However the drum programming and sound effects really sound childish and annoying, like created by a computer of the lowest technology.The abscence of any kind of melody does not help either, but on the other hand the music remains constantly atmospheric all the way with marching symphonic moments followed by minimalistic soundscapes.The vocals fit well with the album's atmosphere, delivered in a very dark way, either in wordless or simply singing parts.Still the length of the album combined with the lack of musical diversity make the listening one-dimensional and, as a result, quite monotonous.

''L'ascensione'' shouldn't be regarded as a great first step into the music bussiness for Roz Vitalis due to the low quality of the recording and the less than flexible style.Consider it as a work by an artist with potential and maybe you have a shot to enjoy it, especially if you are really into dark, Horror-like music.

In 2005 Ivan Rozmainsky decided to expand the Roz Vitalis line-up heading for a fresh album.He recruited female wind-instrumentalist/composer Klara Metelkova and clarinet player Yuri Verba and, along with keyboardists Nadezhda Regentova and Vladimir Polyakov, he had now a more flexible core to work with.The same year Roz Vitalis released their 4th full-length CD-R ''Enigmarden''.

The album is another hard-to-get-into listening experience through the composing skills of Rozmainsky and his multiple influences.The base remains an organ-driven Classical Music with a monster symphonic sound and plenty of synthesizer moves to make it even more grandiose and almost frightening.This is blended with a fair amount of Ethnic sounds through the use of flutes and clarinets, thus creating a very dark and haunting sound close to Soundtrack Music.Imagine a mix of a more bombastic GOBLIN sound with the archaic stylings of OUGENWEIDE and you'll propably get the picture.The music suddenly shifts from pompous and nervous organ movements to soft and elegant flute and clarinet parts and the album at moments succesfully reaches the aesthetics of a normal orchestra.On the other hand though this whole project becomes too excessive, too cinematic and almost painful along the way, with little diversity to offer, while its running time is too long to easily get through it.

To rate ''Enigmarden'' is very hard.I get a feeling though that a live performance of this kind of music has a lot more chances to be appreciated than simply some spins of a CD-R at home.Recommended only to fans of Classical/Avant-Prog with strong Ethnic orientations.

This is the first time I have come across Roz Vitalis, although it was conceived by St. Petersburg composer and multi instrumentalist Ivan Rozmainsky more than ten years ago. Since the inception of his keyboard-dominated studio project, he has produced an recordings which combine elements of solo instrumental, sacred music, experimental, and modern folk with art- rock and avant-prog. The more I played this the more I felt that we were listening to music that had a great depth not only in the styles that were being portrayed but also in the amount of atmosphere that was being created. At some times I felt it was reminiscent of Gentle Giant, others Gryphon, Anekdoten and even Cardiacs or Mike Oldfield!

Musically it is all over the shop, both in the instrumentation being deployed (come on, how many times have you heard a flugelhorn?) and in the types of music. Some of this is in keeping with the work of Richard Wileman in Karda Estra with a heavy cinematic focus and complex classical interplay. It is a stunning album in so many ways, but if you want to hear more before you invest then why not visit their site at raig.ru/rozvitalis.asp where you will be able to download some free music. For the more adventurous this is indispensible

Russian ensemble ROZ VITALIS has been a going concern for just about a decade now. Initially the creative solo vehicle of composer and instrumentalist Ivan Rozmainsky, this project has slowly but surely grown into a band. "Revelator" is its most recent studio effort, and was issued by the Russian label MALS Records in late spring 2011.

Hard-to-define music inspired by classical music with a distinct symphonic character is what the listener is served on Roz Vitalis' latest studio effort. "Revelator" isn't a production that shares too many characteristics with what most would describe as symphonic progressive rock, however; the band's blend of acoustic, electric and electronic instruments is an innovative and fairly challenging escapade into this universe, rather original too I might add. If you can imagine a blend of brooding symphonic Italian-style art rock and Isao Tomita, liberally flavored with a variety of acoustic instruments, you wouldn't be too far way from what this CD has to offer. If you think this sounds intriguing, I'm pretty sure that this is a CD you will treasure.

While their studio effort of 2007 showcased an experimental and avantgarde type of music, on this live production crafted two years later it is the space-tinged and psychedelic efforts that are lifted to the forefront.

The piano, and later also the organ, are the central providers of the themes explored. Space-tinged synth textures and wandering psychedelic guitar licks provides the stylistic details, with rhythms setting the pace in a nice manner. The drums, often alongside the guitar, tends to wander into more jazz-oriented explorations at times, crafting a rather curious psychedelic fusion sound that is most fascinating when it appears.

A captivating and intriguing live performance for those who appreciate psychedelic and space oriented compositions of the slightly more adventurous kind, which especially in the parts with spoken monologues made me think of Hawkwind's old classic Sonic Attack, with the main difference that Roz Vitalis produce material more refined and sophisticated.

This fifth studio effort by Russian outfit Roz Vitalis is one that should please those looking for quirky music of a kind that can only be described as challenging. Not overly advanced, but crafted and assembled in a manner that will test your notions about musicality and melody.

In style we're treated to works of a classical nature, with circulating piano motifs and digital strings central, blended with folk inspired textures alongside spacey sounds and distinctly psychedelic guitar layers. Cacophonic, dissonant parts are served with the same ease as gentle harmonic themes. Rhythmic experiments is something of a red thread throughout, as the band investigate odd and quirky drums and percussion alongside rhythmic melodic sounds, creating motifs with subtle dissonance and disharmony. Even brief ventures into the atonal, helped along by the other instruments.

And while a well made melody is a constant presence, it is the experimentation with the non-melodic aspects of this disc that is the most interesting one. Those who are fascinated by such endeavours should find much to please them on this disc.

I heard of Roz Vitalis before but never had the chance to listen to their music. This latest release is the first I get to hear and I was looking forward to this, since what I read mostly got me intrigued about them. Roz Vitalis began in 2001 in Saint-Petersburg and have since self-released 4 studio albums, two EP's and one live release. This is their fifth studio album. I got a promotional copy of this album, and am glad to have this opprtunity to explore this band's music and to be able to promote it here in PA and in other places online.

The back of the album cover says: "The goal of this concept album is to unmask and reveal the spiritual evil of the modern humanity's materialist vainglory". Well, I for one would have composed something entirely different, but that's what great about music, is that you can hear the sound of other people's thoughts, views and way of life. The album in general has a quirky, otherworldly sound to it, which is why I don't necessarily link the music with the said concept behind it, but their idea is as good and valid as any other.

A point of reference could be (early) Art Zoyd and at times even Univers Zero (and the composers who influenced those bands as well) but only as a general guiding idea of the style of music. In some tracks I even hear traces (stripped down and bare) of Industrial (Wakatte Kudasai and Annihilator Of mortal Hazard for instance) and Electronic music (for example, Autumn Of Hypocrisy) which might be more pronounced in their earlier releases. The music is keyboards based and lead with electronic drumming, and while there's a guitar in this particular album, it does not pronounce its presence too much. At other times, the music (like in the very beginning of Tragic Fate) can be a spacey drive which then strays away into the experimental and dynamic side which is the dominant aspect of the music here. At other times, there's a heavy dosage of electronic music which gives this perhaps a colder sound that fits what the concept of the album, for instance in Autumn Of Hypocrisy, in which it this particular sound represents well what I perceive to represent cynicism and insincerity like in the title. But in fact this "colder" sound gives a contradiction to other parts in which there's "warmer" parts. Other parts (Compassionizer) are more sinister sounding, giving a better idea of what they want us to realize during our listening to the album. It's also one place where the dark sound of Univers Zero might come to mind, but just as an impression, not due to a similar tune being played. In general, the sound that they deliver is rather gloomy and conjures up images of loneliness to me, but not as dark as those two bands mentioned above. This is in part due to the choice of instruments and their sound and to how the music is performed - the music guided by the keyboards which change sound from time to time in accordance with the mood Roz Vitalis want to create. The resulting sound is not as full and jam- packed as those other band's music is (a good example for such a "full" sounding album would be Yugen's Labirinto Dacqua, which I love by the way); it leaves some "empty space" for resonance and for us to absorb it more easily perhaps (if that makes any sense). The music roams around freely, and yet it has defined structure and theme, and moves forward and isn't experimental for the sake of experimentalism, but for the sake of creating something different. While there is a chance that the recording may annoy people who don't like the use of samplers to create the vast instrumentation presented here (there's only 3 musicians but it sounds like there's more), I personally find them to be well done, and that part of the charm of this album, is this exact characteristic. I think that there's a good variation of sounds and "instruments" represented to keep the listener interested and focused. For me, the music itself manages to overcome any issue that may come up from the fact I just mentioned (plus, I think it's done well and is not displeasing to my ears). I think they managed to create their own original sound, with some nods to their influences.

What I can say is that this album has made me want to listen to their other albums as well. It is intriguing, explorative, with a weird and somewhat gloomy atmosphere (like I love it) and what matters most to me, enjoyable and makes me want to listen to it again. Not mind blowing, or a must have album, but definitely an album I feel is worth my music listening time and one that I will come back to listen to. A journey album.

3.5 stars.

Did you ever happen to listen disc, which makes to remember King Crimson, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, Gentle Giant, Rush, Russian folklore and Russian sacred music, contemporary avantgarde (from Olivier Messiaen to Sofiya Gubaydulina), something from Soviet "prog" soundtracks for films (including animated ones) and Soviet prog-rock bands, but, nevertheless, is unlike all the above? It is such music which is rare and fascinating, fragile by its nature, but extremely influential on attentive, erudite and open-minded listener that is represented by musicians from Saint-Petersburg on "L'Ascensione". Appallingly figurative, beautiful and melodic art-progressive- avantgarde-space-rock by Roz Vitalis is so visual that have provoked associations with would-be documentary film as if shooting in the Russian Museum (which is one of the main museums of Saint-Petersburg and Russia in general). Camera suddenly moves from brightly painted futuristic avantgarde kaleidoscope to as if shining canvas by Nesterov, from them to the universal mysteries by Roerich, and, finally, to the icons by Rublyov, madness by Vrubel, and at once to the epoch of palace revolutions - time of courteous and cynical conventionalities, devilish collage of refinement, enlightenment and mannered trample of the all sacred. and once again to the twentieth century, which is industrial and rusted throughout. The central motive of all excursion are the icons as a symbol of conscience and repentance. We come back to them in the end. "L'Ascensione" is, perhaps, the most Russian in itself album by Roz Vitalis (in spite of the fact that afterwards the band turned more evidently to folklore). In this album all history of Russia is as though an archive including everything from ancient manuscripts to contemporary films. In the first place it is history of the Russian spirituality, which since the Time of Troubles tries to get on with Western values, the Russian revolt with its senseless ruthlessness to the all (and most of all to the authors of itself), and, finally, the profound repentance, return to God. After all, I would like to say that, possibly, there are reasons for blaming the band (practically one-man-project by Ivan Rozmainsky who if he would live in France, Belgium or Switzerland, would be able easily to drive own project to the level of Art Zoyd and Univers Zero in a sense of both recording quality and acknowledgement) for "small- budget electronicity" of sound, lack of live instruments, but, after letting of "Ascension" into heart, I am under charms of true, sensitive, profound, "non-fictitious" art, which is experienced and heartfelt. Figurativeness and openness, complete absence of vanity of vanities of the moment, that is too much customary for the most contemporary bands of all styles and kinds, makes this marvelous, lofty and sublime music perfectly disarming.

ROZ VITALIS is the band is lead by Ivan Rozmainsky, Nadezhda Regentova and Vladimir Polyakov and some guest musicians appeared on their albums. The band came from Saint-Petersburg like the band EGO EIMI.

The music move from the RIO music, but in a very classical concoction and especially the first song 'Nepsis' is RIO. Otherwise it's mostly a kind of a modern-electronic- chamber-rock-music with some world music (3), but far from the Jazz, there is no Jazz practically anywhere in this music even if the music is near sometime of band like UNIVERS ZERO and WAPASSOU, there is also plenty of dark elements, mystic elements, it's somewhere medieval and religious, monastery music, film music and progressive- rock elements are also inherent to the music.

A little wording about -post-progressive-music- If somebody can use the term -post- to describe this music, for myself I never heard nothing that I was able to called -post- (post-rock, post-modern, etc,) or (avant-garde music) not more than in politics, no revolution really has been done in most of the social spheres since a while, in the music everything is repetition, especially since the late 60's where most of the modern style of music was found, the lonely revolution that we can talk about are; a technological one, especially visible in the 80's, but in fact, in reality this revolution never end since maybe more than 100 years...., otherwise the previous revolution to this one was around the late 50's with the rock revolution and the birth of the big company and the international market. Already in 1969, in my own country :-), band like 'L'INFONIE' should be described as a -post-rock- band and their music was not very far from ROZ VITALIS in many time, but obviously the instrumentation was not the same....

ROZ VITALIS is mainly a modern-electronic-chamber-rock-music plenty of dark, mystic, medieval, monastic and religious elements, with film music and progressive-rock elements. Excellent recording.

This album contains both dissonant and ordinary-listener-friendly elements. On the one hand, the two opening tracks are very dark (but the first one is more listenable due to clarinets solos). The title track and the last track are the most progressive ones. Such tracks are not for those who prefer mainly ARENA-like music. On the other hand, "Ah Ty, Nochenka" is based on the Russian traditional music. "Heartcrying" reminds requiem-like music (and is based on a few chords). "Charitas" is a song with female voices in German. These three tracks (and also "Gentle Spring Of Spring") may be relevant for lovers of CAMEL, GRYPHON or WHITE WILLOW. In short, this album is for both King Crimson-oriented people and those who prefer instrumental prog with wind instruments (if such listeners are not against computer drums).