THE MYSTERY OF THE COSMIC SORROW

Nikols, the enfant terrible of the russian prog scene, asked me to write a review about this very interesting band from Moscow, led by sisters Elena (keyboards, vocals) and Tatyana (guitars) Kanevskaya. Lately I was a bit too busy in my office to write often, but I decided to give it a shot since all the acts Nikols asked me to review were very good ones. And Eternal Wanderers is no exception. This ambition concept double album about the story of the universe is indeed a tripping album. Why this is labeled as "neo prog" here on PA, however, is beyond my comprehension: at least on this CD there´s absolutely nothing even close to what is commonly called neo prog as far as I am concerned. Eclectic prog or crossover prog would be a much more fitting category and would not mislead some people to what should be expected of their music.

For eclectic they are! The sound this band produces here is mostly is space rock/electronic/psychedelic prog with just about everything else thrown in: jazz, classical music, avant guard, movie soundtracks. krautrock, pop melodies, concrete music, sound effects, symphonic rock, blues, acoustic/heavy guitars, you name it! The ending results are really good, individually excellent, although this band does not seem to gel all the elements into building a unique and cohesive product overall. They come quite close, though. One thing that they do have to unite some of the tracks are Elena´s vocals: although this is mostly an instrumental album, she proves to have a strong, bluesy voice that is quite original and powerful, capable of holding any style and doing that quite well. On the other hand the band is absolutely great instrumentally: the group members handle all the swirling cornucopia of styles with apparent ease and the album never gets too chaotic or pointless like so many experimental bands do. Even at their most bold (like the 23 plus instrumental epic The End of The Satellite Age is a good example) Eternal Wonderers´s music has a discernible structure and never gets too far out, which is really good. And they know how to write great tunes.

Every time I head this CD I found some new textures and subtleties I had missed before: definitely this is a grower. The production is excellent. Vocals are in english. Tatyana´s guitar playing is a highlight, very tasteful. Do not get down by the long (3:50ms) boring intro Message From Space. The rest is pure gold.

In the end I must say I was mesmerized by The Mystery OI The Cosmic Sorrow: every track is a quite good on itself and although this album is not a very unified piece of work I cannot close my eyes (and ears) to their strong songwriting, the powerful performances and the sheer energy of Elena´s voice. If you want something refreshing and varied, this is for you!

Rating: 4 strong stars. A band to watch for!