THE DIARY OF THE MISSED ONE

It's always a bit difficult when reviewing something recorded by an artist you know. It is even more difficult when it happens to be a friend, and colleague. Now throw in the factor that it is a musical style I don't generally care for. I have to be honest, so I really want to be able to like it. Well, my friend Igor Sidorenko has surpassed my expectations, and given me one of the few post-rock offerings that I truly enjoy. I am also honored (and a bit surprised) to be the first one to review "The Diary of the Missed One."

"Park Luny" begins with an interesting bit of something that sounds like Asian folk music. It then moves into a hypnotic realm of bass and guitar, with a tight percussion click behind it. It is repetitive, but not static. Igor begins a theme, then gradually builds, and adds more to it. This is actually prevalent throughout the album. Within this song, I hear the first signs of Steve Hackett influence. As it builds, so does the drama. After the peak, Igor provides a lovely little simple guitar cool down.

"By the Music of Autumn Trees" is almost two separate songs. The first part is delicate, haunting beauty. It's just a lovely tune, and easy to get lost in. After a very soft interlude, it changes tone just a bit. A sort of slow march begins, and it easy to tell that it is building to something. It continues to build, with the guitars getting heavier, and more distorted. By the end, it is a complete jam.

"The Fred Bull's Blues" is the full epic track. Had I not already heard the first two songs, the first part of this may have had me concerned. It sounds like this could be the type of meandering thing I do not enjoy. However, I had already seen the pattern laid down before. I knew Igor would be building to something, and he delivers. This is true epic territory. Ups and downs, heavy and soft, and there is even a bit of a psychedelic freak-out. This one is a bit darker in atmosphere too (it is called a blues after all). It doesn't have the steady build to a final crescendo like the previous two, but this is a different type of piece.

Many times when listening to post-rock, a true sense of purpose is lost on me. This is definitely not the case here. Igor definitely shows a true sense of direction in his music. These are well thought out themes. He also keeps things interesting. Just when you think it might get boring, there is a change, or something is added. I like the way he builds from the beginning to the end. This is also the way the album is laid out, with the tracks building in length. The instrumentation is captivating, and in many places I am reminded of Steve Hackett's more ethereal work.

Bravo Igor! This is a solid debut effort. I may not much of a post-rock fan, but I know what I like, and I like this.

H.T. Riekels

An album's worth of gently weeping guitar with a doomy, lo-fi atmosphere informed by some of the best post-rock experimenters, The Diary of the Missed One should slot snugly into the collections of confirmed genre fans and offers an unignorable experience to the rest of us.

Still, it is music of a rather monochrome palette, overpouring with layers of electric guitar soundscapery (frequently making me think of Glenn Branca on laudanum) to the exclusion of almost any other sound. You may find that, faced with such axe saturation, the most interesting parts of the album come when the guitar is defocused or used to produce less traditional sounds - the chimeric drum deconstruction concluding By the Music of Autumn Trees and the subsequent horrorphonics are this reviewer's favourite part of the album.

Your acceptance of the album will depend on how fond you are of the simple themes the songs use as foundations, because they are repeated and modestly varied upon a great deal. To this reviewer's ears, Krobak don't jam so much as orchestrate; nevertheless, it's possible to tire of the emphasis on the iteration of such short phrases, and of the prevailing mood of the album, one mostly (in my mind) regretful and funereal, rarely psychedelic.

During the best moments, The Diary of the Missed One compares well with GY!BE and owes a little to Dead Flag Blues, sharing that The Shadows played at half-speed aesthetic; at other glorious times, the album also features startlingly noisy interludes and goodbyes which can both tickle and serve as music to sulk to; overall, despite being let down by its over-long conventional sections, Krobak have made an interesting album for fans of highly suffusive downer music - just perhaps not for those of typical progressive rock.

Good luck to Krobak's future works.

I've been putting off this review for far too long, and my good friend here on the PA Igor is probably very very relieved to finally be reading (he pressured me to write this review countless times). Krobak is a one band from from Ukraine playing a more moody, clean cut, melancholic form of post rock. I know sounds very typical, but when I say clean cut I mean ridiculously crystal clear production, this may be that everything here is played digital (my guess), but the production is definitely above the most other post rock albums (which can be a good or bad thing, I say good).

The album is cut into three songs, each one a little longer than the last, one is almost archtypical post rock, but more upbeat than you would expect, with an almost awkward start, but smoothes over, and builds into a great song. The second starts a little softer than the first, slow melodic, beautiful, but towards the end, introduces a more metalisized Krobak, with post metalish tones to a drop D palm muted guitar. The last the twenty minute magnum opus starts with a noise start, and gradually builds to what you might expect to be the typical GY!BEian climax, but goes into a huge metal riff that gradually progresses, and then builds down leaving you on edge. That's part of Igors music that is off the grind from normal post rock, it really is melancholic through and through, and it really is very guitar based, but instead of following the post rock greats he makes music that moves in waves, and doesnt really need a super climax to end a song, that seems so overdone in this branch of music. The guitar work is also great, though I cant say that the Agallochish super lack of treble tone is my favorite, he knows what he's doing. He's not afraid to put some acidic effects to the guitar, and not just really on reverb and delay alone, hell he even puts an incredible guitar solo somewhere in there.

Rating this is incredibly tough, there so many great things, but at the same time a lot of little things that just tend to annoy me. As good as the first song is, the first three minutes just seem awkward to me, and I cant say I'm a fan of the steel drum intro... Also the drums to sound pretty fake, but I gotta cut him some slack, one it's incredibly hard to get a drum machine the way you want it, two he's a one man band, we cant ask him to be a pro at EVERYTHING! The last problem for me is the super passive clean guitar tone, it just lack substance during the build up parts, but by itself, it serves it's purpose greatly.

Gotta hand it to ya buddy, you know how to make post rock, and pretty good post rock at that, four stars, BARELY!

As a great fan of Post Rock, I never thought that Krobak's music would appeal to me this much. I've been seeing its name around for quite some time now and it wasn't until now that it caught my attention. The first things that came to mind was a combination of Mono meets Yndi Halda and of course Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Diary of The Missed One starts off with "Park Luny", a song that starts with a childish tune and quickly kicks it with the main tune, yet the second part of the song is where the song gets good with another great tune. The next one: "By the Music of Autumn Trees" is by far my favorite of them all. The crescendo part and the ones before the ending have a very melancholic feeling. Something to notice about the song is the ending in which the drums go ballistic and crazy and though it sounded good, it did ruin the momentum and the atmosphere created by the rest of the song. The last song: The Fried Bull's Blues which peaks almost at 22 minutes takes about 3 ½ minutes to really start, something I'm not a fan of and its around the 7 minutes where the song starts to get really good in which there are some heavy riffs with a sort of evil/melancholic feel to it. The next part of the song sounds OK but it feels a bit misplaced and it takes a while get used to.

In overall we get a great post rock epic with fantastic tunes and melodies and filled with memorable moments. There's really much to expect from Krobak in the future.

Excellent post-rock from a young and talented musician!

So it is good to see that inside ProgArchives forums there are not only members who write reviews or help the site in a different way, but there are also members who have a musical talent which is shared to all of us. One of PA members is the man behind this project called Krobak, a man from Ukraine who i am sure will give something to talk about in the next years.

The Diary of the Missed One is his first CD (not EP or split) and was released last year, i knew this album via lastfm, and i enjoy it every time i listen to it. This album has only 3 but long songs and a total time of almost 47 minutes full of excellent post rock oriented stuff.

The first song is entitled Park Luny which lasts 11 minutes and is actually the shortest track, the album is completely instrumental and is played all by Igor Sidorenko, so it is a one man project which shows more the talent of Krobak. This is a very nice opening theme, the music is progressing gradually, it has a great introduction and after a couple of minutes some bass lines enter, followed by those experimental and clearly post rock guitars, as background there will be always a sample programming, and the emotional element is always shown in some moments, mainly with the guitars, reminding me a bit to EitS. The second part of the song shows a louder guitar playing and maybe a heavier style, pretty good song.

The second track is By the Music of Autumn Trees, with a total time of almost 15 minutes, and it is not the longest track yet. Ite begins with a soft and delicate guitar playing, which actually is what predominates in the first part of this track, the music may be labelled as soft post rock, or even ambient due to the sound and atmospheres created here. You can close your eyes and feel relaxed, you are listening to some calm, tranquil and nice music. Then, there is clearly a kind of an interlude and the song changes a little bit, though the calm atmosphere prevails and continues, after minute 9 it begins to progress and it raises until minute 11 when the music is louder, bass , guitars and drums appear and make great music with an emotional ending.

The longest track and last one of the album is named The Fried Bull's Blues and lasts 21 long minutes, a true epic of post rock music. The first minutes show only some ambient/electronic noises that reminds me a bit to Biosphere or Schulze's moments, then guitars appears making a repetitive but hypnotic sound that will last several minutes but during those minutes some other instruments and noises appear, the song is progressing little by little, then those guitar lines become bass lines and the song goes on the same way until minute 8 where it becomes heavier, like post-metal, some may say. Then at the half of the song it changes again, it slows down and the work of a distorted guitar begins and then drums get on the song too, and it is like a new song that again begins a bit simple but throughout the minutes it progresses and some new noises or effects appear. The last part of the song, simply fades out. To be honest, this is my least favourite track of the album, i believe there are some moments that may not be as interesting as on the previous 2 songs, anyways is a nice song.

Congratulations to Igor for this album, which is great without a doubt, but i believe as the years go by, he will find his magnus opus.

My grade is 4 stars! Enjoy it!

"The Diary of the Missed One" is the debut full-length studio album by Ukrainian one-man post-rock act Krobak. The album was independently released in 2007. Krobak was formed in 2006 by Igor Sidorenko who plays all instruments on the album (guitars, bass, drums, samples programming) and it is emphasized that no keyboards were used during the recording sessions which took place in the spring of 2007. Sidorenko is also known as the frontman/guitarist for stoner rock/metal act /B>Stoned Jesus.

"The Diary of the Missed One" features 3 relatively long tracks and a total playing time of 47:00 minutes. The songs vary from 11 minutes to 20 minutes in length and is slow building instrumental post-rock which is clearly influenced by an artists like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and if I´m not mistaken I also hear a bit of early Mike Oldfield in the music even though I´m not sure it´s intentional. The music is melancholic and features long atmospheric parts and more intense climaxes. A powerful dynamic mix which works well for Krobak. The highlight of the album is the 20:52 minutes long "The Fried Bull's Blues", which is the most adventurous composition on the album.

As mentioned there are no keyboards on the album so the dominant instrument is guitar. Often multi-layered and melodic. Not melodic in an accessible commercial fashion, but still melodic in nature. The drums which I´m sure are programmed are not the most interesting part of the music and to my ears a human drummer could have worked wonders here. "The Diary of the Missed One" features a "homemade" sound production, which is not on par with a professional studio recording, but still well sounding enough to enjoy the music. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

Krobak is a one-man project by a guy by the name of Igor Sidorenko. He also has a lot of other music projects that have nothing to do with this style (which is a true testament to the guy's diversity as a musician and songwriter), but this particular project records mainly Post-Rock, so those who don't like they style of music already probably won't find anything here that will change their minds, but for those of us who do appreciate Post-Rock, it's quite a treat.

The album begins with an almost Asian-inspired tune before moving into the song proper. The first three minutes or so are very peaceful-- sounds like a lullaby. Then a very lovely, soft lead guitar section comes in. There are obviously a lot of influences from much better known Post-Rock acts, here. but there is still a lot to like, as well. The music found here is very simple, effective and emotional. I just love stuff like this. Always makes me drift off into very peaceful states of mind, and god knows we all need those peaceful times in our lives. I would say this is my favorite song on the record. It's just the right length, and has an eery sense of calm that really speaks to me. Just gorgeous.

Really cool harmonics start off ''By The Music of the Autumn Trees'', and soon a very sorrowful, dreamy tune comes in, and my heart soars. It's really great how Sidorenko is able to create all of these layers with guitar sounds. I'm very impressed by all the emotions and sounds he has managed to convey through just a single instrument. Despite the beauty to be heard here, I have to admit I feel the song stays a little too stagnant for a tad bit too long, but only barely so. By the six minute mark, things have finally changed again. and the song progresses forward.

A slow-paced middle section then leads into the first prominent movement with drums featured. Simple stuff happening there, but it gets the job done. Just before the song hits eleven minutes, things start to get a bit heavier. Things then briefly die down before finally the most powerful, hard-hitting moment on the record yet comes crashing in, full-force. There is then a rather nice, 'bouncy' movement of music featuring what sounds like sampled drums, but they are very tastefully handled. This particular musical direction continues until the track's end.

''The Fried Bull's Blues''. I love the intro. It's very avant-garde, and undoubtedly the most 'proggy' moment on the album yet. A lot of the first three minutes of this track is based on atmospheric soundscapes rather than actual music, but it also helps make this the most interesting moment on The Diary for me. It reminds me of the middle section of Pink Floyd's ''Echoes'' quite a bit, and serves the same purpose; to emotionally stir and upset the listener in a way no traditional piece of music ever could. Finally, at around 3:21, we get our first glimpse of real instrumentation.

The double guitar harmony section in this part of this song is quite lovely, but soon a very intrusive (but intentionally so) sound sweeps in out of nowhere at 5:15, and the first time I heard it, I actually removed my headphones, because I thought the sound was coming from somewhere in my house. Quite effective, I must say. Of course, that is not the only instance on this album in which environmental noises invade the calm of the music, and sometimes it works better than others, but overall it helps give a slight sense of unease underneath the otherwise placid soundscapes.

I wonder if perhaps this track also doesn't get a bit long in places. Overall, it's a decently paced piece, but I think some trimming here and there may have benefited it a slight bit. But if there are any slight lulls, they don't last very long, and at nine minutes, things are changed up again, this time making way for a very trippy, spacey guitar lead at around 9:23. Then at ten minutes, the distorted guitars come in again, wiping away the shiny veneer. This song is only halfway finished.

At near 11:40, a very groovy drum beat takes center stage while the distorted guitar slides its way into what could possibly be the record's darkest moment. It isn't particularly pretty or reassuring, and instead is quite angst-ridden and urgent in its attitude and presentation. I suppose that was the idea, and it does work, but I think perhaps it could have had a little more direction. But by fourteen minutes in to this, things seem to be back on track. More soaring guitar can be hard blanketing the roughness of the star guitar, which is still quite grungy and distorted at this point. This makes for a very nice contrast of styles and emotions.

More noisemaking that begins at 16:40 ends up being the remainder of the song, all the way to the 20:52 mark. It's truly bizarre how so much of this is coming from the guitar itself, and not additional pre-recorded noises. Obviously the latter is present on this record, as well, but on the whole, a lot of what you will hear that sounds like a synthesizer is most likely just a guitar being run through some sort of effect. Pretty inventive stuff, really.

So, it's a really solid effort. Nothing groundbreaking per se, but said it has to be? If you want some really cool Post-Rock stylings with heavy emphasis on atmosphere and mood, I think you'll be happy with Krobak's first studio album. I very much look forward to hearing a second full-length studio release in the future.

Happy (yet noisy!) listening.