SON

The music on this album is simply the best progressive rock music I've ever heard coming out of Ukraine. The sound engineering, sonic soundscapes, compositional maturity, confident multi-diverse instrumental performances, and incredibly strong voices are all of the best, top quality--equally to anything from Polish prog world or Steven Wilson (which makes some sense since it was mixed by The Pineapple Thief's BRUCE SWOORD).

1. "Ostannya Myt" (The Last Moment) (8:36) ticking of a grandfather clock and cerebral violin play open this before full strings section joins in. Entry of the piano breaks through and disperses the strings so that the amazingly clean and theatric voice of Vladimir Agafonkin can sing. Wow! What a voice! In the second minute the first verse ends and the rock band jumps out and plays with power and vigor that is startling--and awesome. Then they back off and bass and drums play as the only support for Vlad's second verse. The chorus is high energy and powerful before a nice sax solo leads the instrumental section. At 4:20 things quiet down, but ominous tension remains and is augmented by sporadic and restrained contributions from many instruments while slowly building with the saxophone's soloing. At 5:50 Vlad's chorus caps off the tension with some backup singers helping out. At the seven minute mark everything relaxes, quiets, strings slowly filling, before Vlad returns and then the band amps things back into full force, full voice while the song plays out with the chorus repeating itself and then djenty guitar and wailing sax taking us through the rock outro. Awesome and startling song. For sure a top three song for me. (9.5/10)

2. "Kryla" (Wings) (10:10) pretty straightforward heavy rock drawn out over ten minutes with some nice acoustic and electric guitar work and solid singing throughout; just not enough fresh or exciting things to really grab one--though the slightly amped up middle instrumental section and following delicate guitar and flute/violin duets are nice. Also, the orchestrated crescendo in the eighth minute is nice. (7.5/10)

3. "Razom" (Together) (7:33) strings, acoustic guitar and violin give this a bit of a BELIEVE feel to it before a strong, theatric vocal enters. Very Broadway, even Andrew Lloyd-Weber, feel to this beautiful Phantom-like "aria." Former BELIEVE lead singer Karol Wróblewski sang in this beautiful, full-voiced, theatric style. When Vladmir Agafonkin sings like this the voice becomes the central focus of the music-especially with such an strings/orchestral support system like this one. (8.5/10)

4. "Temna Rika" (The Dark River) (11:09) opens heavy and hard, though with a pace that is not very fast, before everything settles back to acoustic guitar and some light percussion and piano play to support a more laid-back voice. Wooden flute takes over after the first verse using the same melody lines. Very pretty. Again I am reminded of some of Poland's more sensitive and mature bands and singers--such a strong, effective voice! And I love the fact that Vladimir and his support vocalist, Olga Skripova, choose to sing in their native Ukranian! NIce electrified nylon string guitar solo in the fifth and sixth minute, which is then followed by a smooth, confident electric guitar solo. A heavier section ensues immediately as Vlad and Olga sing. Tensions increase toward the end of the seventh minute before a (8.5/10)

5. "Nazustrich Tyshi" (Facing the Silence) (4:10) is a wonderfully constructed and performed instrumental--one that seems to be telling a powerful, probably touching story. The use of orchestration on this album is simply superb! (9.5/10)

6. "Kimnata" (The Room) (5:13) opens like a 1970s pop song with simple stripped down song structure. The vocal then enters with the same styling, but a guitar solo taking off right after the singing is a little more rockin' to fit the pop bill. Once the long guitar solo ends, the song stays up on a more energetic rock level, vocal, too. The flute solo that follows feels like an Andy Tillotson/The Tangent solo. At the four minute mark, tempo and style shift again to something more country rock-like. Interesting song. The album's weak link. (7/10)

7. "Interludiya" (Interlude) (Instrumental) (1:13) has a welcome ominous tension in it as synths, drums, low bass, and violin develop a cool texture. (5/5)

8. "Son" (Dream) (7:12) jumping right out of "Interludiya," the song has a hard-driving pace with constantly rolling bass for the first minute but then it all slows down and voice and violin give twin plaintive performances. As the song begins to climb back into sonic power in the third minute, so too does Vlad's vocal. Then, suddenly at the three minute mark, it all shifts to a more orchestra-dominated sound with a more theatric vocal. An instrumental section ensues in which electric power is woven with strings in an interesting, almost mirroring way. Nice little guitar solo closes out the fifth minute just before everything amps back up for Vlad and female background vocalists take us to the peak. Nice song but lacking any real hooks or lasting impact. (8.5/10)

9. "Zemle Moya Myla" (My Dear Land) (5:07) opens with strings before piano ends up accompanying Vlad in a truly Phantom Andrew Lloyd-Weber like, stage-like rock opera performance. The electric rock elements join in later but then recede into he mix, letting the song continue to feel like something totally from a Lloyd-Weber stage. Gorgeous. And powerful. Especially the final minute. (9/10)

10. "Novyi Pochatok" (A New Beginning) (Instrumental) (4:34) opens in a soft, delicate way that feels so familiar from so many Mirek Gil songs--which becomes even more apapros due to the seering Gil-like guitar solo playing over the first two minutes. Strings, piano, and acoustic guitar and delicate rhythm section make up the perfect support for this wonderful and emotional lead guitar work. My favorite song on the album. (10/10)

11. "Yanhol" (Angel) (7:25) synths, flute and acoustic guitar open this one before drums and bass join in to create a beautiful, delicate soundscape over which Olga Skripova gets the lead singing honors. The song builds a little but, in my opinion, this only distracts from the gorgeous sound the first verse had created. At 2:40 things shift to create a more spacious yet syncopated background over which Aleksey Katruk gets another chance to show us the wonderful melodic sense and technical skills he has on the lead guitar. At 4:45 everything quiets down again for a beautiful final two-plus minutes of music with long talk and fade out. Well done! My final top three song of the album. (9.5/10)

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music. This is definitely an album worth checking out and a band that I will be watching anxiously for future releases.