Algabas (Russia) for Heavy Prog

"In this digital age of panning through music cyberspace searching for shiny nuggets of prog gold, progsters will find some traces of golden veins hidden within Algabas's debut album Angels and Demons. This is Russian prog from Vladimir, an ancient city a few hundred kilometres East of Moscow. The album was originally available from the Bandcamp website in 2013 before being released on the MALS label in 2014.

Algabas describe themselves as neo-prog, heavy in many places with the odd nod towards Russian folk music. A reasonable summing up given that there are many nuances of neo-prog bands past and present that have clearly influenced Algabas. If I were pushed to name a band that they remind me of it would possibly be a heavier version of Poland's Abraxas but not as polished and varied.

Like Abraxas, Algabas' songs are sung in their Mother tongue. I've no problem with that as there are too many examples of banal prog lyrics in English out there. Songs sung in a language you do not understand could be a blessing in disguise. However, not singing in English could have some cyberspace progsters emptying the contents of their neo-prog pans back into the ether.

When listening to the album I became convinced that the singer and bass player, Sergey Milyaer, was a reincarnated Russian version of Scotland's Alex Harvey (Sensational Alex Harvey Band) blended with a small pinch of Arthur Brown thrown in for good measure. Sergey's expressive and sometimes theatrical delivery may not be appreciated by those more discerning progsters who prefer being wooed by a caressing, mellifluous voice.

Angels and Demons is a concept album. How do I know this if not fluent in Russian? I asked keyboard player Ilya Frolov who said:- "The music and words are about mental strife. The principal character struggles with himself, his fear, inferiority complex, stereotypes and loneliness. Trying to find support through religion, science, authorities, motherland, friends, women, art...but all of this falls to pieces as soon as he approaches them". I also asked Ilya about the album's artwork and how it fitted in with the overall album concept. There is no direct link between the imagery and lyrics but I guess it would not be beyond one's imagination to put forward some allegorical interpretation, especially the snail with a key-hole on its shell! Also worth checking out is the artwork by the Russian artist Dmitry Masly.

Sergey, who is originally from Kazakhstan, has had some of his poetry published and his novel Petushki- Manhattan can be purchased via Amazon. An accomplished wordsmith, it's just a pity that many of us will never be able to appreciate his work unless one can understand Russian. He has also written music for a version of Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap. Sounds like good credentials for writing some great neo-prog. Have they succeeded?

The album is very well engineered and sounded just as good through my studio monitors as other more well known established neo-prog bands. The songs are well crafted with enough twists and turns to keep most progsters happy. One small criticism would be the lack of any slow, ambient, acoustic textures without the pounding drums and driving bass lines. The closest they do come to that is the opening of The War. Here there is some really nice guitar arpeggio work played with feeling that allows you to relax before the next salvo is delivered. For me, these quieter, heartfelt musical moments are too fugacious and the frisson they create is quickly lost. Other bands slow things down now and again during the course of an album, for example Dream Theater do it to catch their breath, so maybe Algabas should consider this for their next album. 

The standout tracks for me are The White Stone and the instrumental Walking Around Jerusalem. The opening thirty seconds of The White Stone has a strong driving bass with underlying keyboard harmony and the guitar providing catchy thematic phrases that also bookend the song. Some of the best guitar playing on the album. I liked the dual synth and guitar motif played around the 3:34 mark, adding quality to the song.

Walking Around Jerusalem, has a great opening blast of rock. The bass playing here reminded me of Chris Squire, the song also featuring more great drumming, possibly the best on the album. I also could hear some snippets of Rush in there. A track worth checking out.

Other album highlights: The Chimney House features a nice sax solo over a 7/8 time signature. Galileo features Sergey probably at his best with its catchy refrain. There are plenty of good guitar solos sprinkled throughout the album on songs such as Secrets of the Sky (which also features a nice funky style rhythm around the 2:37 mark), The War (including a Gilmour style slide guitar section) and Express Train.

One of the weaker aspects of the album I feel is in the keyboard department and in some places the choice of sounds. For example, the opening bars of the first track Angels and Demons has a sound that I can only describe as sounding like steel drums. I suspect it's supposed to be some form of strings and it just didn't do it for me.

While researching the band I discovered that they had looked high and low for a keyboard player but to no avail. So guitarist Ilya Frolov stepped up to the challenge and his resultant keyboard playing is OK and therein lies the problem - it's just OK. For example, the track The Chimney House has a piano solo that can only be described as lacklustre. If you were to give those bars of the song to, say, The Tangent's Andy Tillison or Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess, then the resulting piano solo would take the song to a much higher plateau.

The word Algabas means "thinking ahead". For Algabas to move forward and pique the interest of more discerning neo-prog fans, there are a few things they might wish to consider. Firstly they need to think about singing in English if they want to attract more listeners (they went part way with the song titles being in English on the album cover). Secondly, their music desperately needs some vocal harmonies to add more texture. That could be by having another singer in the band. Thirdly, they need to continue the search for a very good keyboard player or alternatively Ilya works hard to develop his technique further which will take time. Fourthly, some slow acoustic/ballad type songs. Lastly, maybe consider writing longer pieces of music.

I've enjoyed listening to this album and it's worth checking out via the Bandcamp page. Many thanks to Ilya for supplying band information. As to scoring on the DPRP 1 to 10 neo-progometer, this album is not an 8 and it's not a 5 but straddles somewhere between these two scores." - http://www.dprp.net/reviews/201429.php#algabas