WAR AND PEACE

PANDORA SNAIL is a band from Russia. For this album the line-up of the band is: Ulyana Gor ( keyboards, composer, vocals ), Oleg Gorgadze (guitar, electric guitar, composer, vocals ), Kirill Klyushin (bass guitar, contrabass ), Artem Gareev (violin ) and Igor Cheridnik (drums, percussion).

This, their first album, is a conceptual album which only has instrumental music , trying to describe war and peace, musically, but without becoming "dark". I think that maybe it is a bit difficult to try to represent both things only with music and without lyrics. But it is an interesting album, with good recording and mixing, without saturation, with every member of the band leaving space to the other musicians. I think that it is really an eclectic album, taking influences from several musical styles: Classical Music, Heavy rock, Jazz-Rock fusion, Folk, etc. It seems that all the members are Classically trained musicians, and all are very good.

Track by track:

"Dilemma": with some very good melodies played by the violin, interesting drums, and with maybe some influences from EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER with the use of an organ sound and an analog sound synthesizer. It has some changes in the rhythm done by the bass and the drums. A very varied song which also has some Classical Music influences and a bit of distorted guitars.

"By the Mountain River": with acoustic guitars at the start of the song, and with some "Latin" percussion playing. Again, the violin plays the main melodies. A good piano solo part and also some good backing keyboards.

"To Catch the Wind": a more fast and heavy piece of music with the use of some distorted lead guitars. Again, the violin takes the central place in the sound, with good bass and drums and good backing keyboards.

"Submarine": a bit of Jazz-Rock influences in this song which makes me remember a bit JEAN-LUC PONTY's style with the use of the violin.

"James Pont": the longest and most progressive song in the album. With some heavy distorted guitars, and good drums and bass. Again, I can listen to some Jazz-Rock music influences with a bit of use of percussion in some parts. Good organ and guitar solos. Maybe this long piece of music better represents the war part of the concept of the album. There is even a brief but more "quiet" part with the use of piano and violin, which also gives way to other faster section of the song. Some sections of this long piece of music make me remember RUSH a bit. It also has some humor with the use of a "military fanfare" played with an organ at the end of the song.

"Mother's Tears": played at the start with acoustic piano and violin accompanied by the rest of the band, with the violin again taking the central role, and with a good use of a bit of backing keyboards. Again, some Jazz-Rock influences in some parts of this song. Some harpsichord sounds in some places.

"Red Rivers": a fast musical piece, with again the violin taking the central role, and with good drums and percussion playing.

"Stone's Names": another fast song. with again very good drums and percussion. Good keyboards atmospheres.

"Dance Under the Bullets": another fast song, again influenced by Jazz-Rock. The violin takes the main role. Also, with some humor, with some "screams" that sound to me a bit like taken from a PEREZ PRADO's Mambo(!), but I could be wrong.

"After the War": another piece of music which has some Jazz-Rock and even Heavy Metal influences, with distorted guitars (even with some feedback) and fast rhythms.

"Satori": a long musical piece that closes the album, with some bass guitar solos. Very Progressive, and again some distorted guitars which sound a bit influenced maybe by some Gothic artists, but without being "dark". A last section which is started by a piano brings a sense of final hope, at least for me. It also has some vocals singing without lyrics. The song is finished with some piano playing.

In conclusion: this is a very good album, very melodic, with a lot of influences from several musical styles, as I wrote above, but tending more to the Jazz-Rock Fusion style, with the violin talking the central role in most places. I think that it really is a band which is very well categorized in Prog Archives as being an eclectic band. I like the cover art, which looks like someone watching to some of the effects of war from a window.

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