Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Karfagen - Echoes from Within Dragon Island CD (album) cover

ECHOES FROM WITHIN DRAGON ISLAND

Karfagen

 

Symphonic Prog

4.11 | 341 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

ale73
5 stars Every record of Antony Kalugin's bands has got his own peculiarities, altough always in the area of prog: everytime is a kind of surprise. So when I received the parcel I did not know what to expect. I had to wait until the evening to listen to it at home, but as soon as I saw the CD I realized it was something special for different reasons: the cover is wonderful as usual, but this time it was drawn down by the artist Konstantin Kanskiy (off-topic: if you like paintings take a look at his opus). On the front page it is stated "Symphonic art rock suite based on Robert Louis Stevenson's poetry". In the two booklets there is a complete list of the involved musicians: they are eighteen! The instruments are including also violin, flute, French horn, English horn?there were all the possible clues for a new masterpiece.

Finally I managed to listen to it and the first idea was confirmed. The record consists of three long suites ("Dragon Island" pt.1, pt.2, pt.3) and a short track called "My bed is a boat". Every suite is composed by different parts. As soon as I played the button "start" I felt the music was majestic, with a very epic mood. It describes in a very realistic way the story it is intended to tell; it is like to be immersed in a world apart. It does not make sense to speak of every single track, because the whole record is like a stream that overwhelms you, and I think this is the characteristic line of many prog concept masterpieces...

If I have to describe the music I would say that it is very folkish, and in a delicious way. Obviously there is a lot of intricacy, perfectly balanced by the great musicianship of everyone of the artist. All the folk instruments are masterfully driven by the wonderful Antony's keyboards patterns. I am also a big fan of Karfagen guitarist: I think he can choose the right tone for every situation with a great ability, alternating delicate sounds, Sabbath-esque riffs and whatever in the middle. All the record is so heterogeneous that it reminds me of some Italian prog rock opera from the '70s!

In conclusion I would suggest to buy the limited edition with a second CD. It includes eight songs and at least one gem called "Alight again".

ale73 | 5/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this KARFAGEN review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.