OF THINGS THAT NEVER WERE

As I already mentioned before in a couple of reviews, AltrOck/Fading is one of the most interesting labels that has appeared during the last decade. Every time I get their new releases I'm sure that they'll be high quality albums, even if they're not my favorite kind of Prog!

This time I have a review for an unusual band called The Worm Ouroboros that may sound Italian at a first glimpse but in fact they come from Belarus! Their first album, Of Things That Never Were (2013) was released in September last year and it had been recorded in a span of 3 years previous of the release. The band is formed by Sergey Gvozdyukevich (vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar, bass and flutes), Vladimir Sobolevsky (electric and acoustic guitars), Alexey Zapolsky (bass), Eugene Zarkhin (drums) and Vitaly Appow (reeds).

Of Things That Never Were (2013) follows a Canterbury school, so you can expect numerous vintage sounds, a Jazz Rock touch and some craziness like in the opening track 'L'Impasse Sainte Bérégonne'. 'Shelieth', the second track is completely Caravan in various ways. Also, despite being an instrumental album (90% of the time), all tracks (also the name of the band) are inspired by books and in the beautiful booklet you'll have a chance to see a lot of great pictures adorned with fragments of those books.

Through the acoustic colors of 'Ladybird On A Moebius Strip', the Jazz-Thriller (with great vocals) of 'The Pear- Shaped Man' and the pastoral scenery of 'Dawn Angel' we ended up in love with Of Things That Never Were (2013). Quite incredible how good the album is for a debut!

The second half of the album begins with 'Pirates In Pingaree' and as the name suggests you can easily imagine pirates coming in a big ship to overtake some piece of land or another ship. That's the magic of music! By the time of 'The Magi' you can see a pattern on the album: one full song followed by a short and acoustic piece.

'Soleil Noir' is basically a beautiful lullaby that strikes the heart with some Genesis sound. 'The Curfew' is a weird one (in a good way) with some really strange melodies. And while 'Return To The Cold Sea Of Nothing' is the longest track on Of Things That Never Were (2013) with 9'50 minutes, it is also one of the most interesting on the album. A big part of why it is so interesting is because of the keyboards and bass, not forgetting the wonderful flutes. Hard to say, because the whole album is good, but it's probably my favorite one on the album. Finishing beautifully we have the acoustic poetry of 'Hope'.

There's little to say about Of Things That Never Were (2013) really. The only thing that comes to my mind to sum it all up is: Absolutely brilliant!! What more can I say? Just go and buy it already!

(Originally posted on progshine.net)