THE WRAP

Ukrainian prog rock albums are a rare birds what is not strange - after decades of bans on any rock music in former Soviet Union, rock bands were more underground protest form, than form of musical art. During last two decades,when the political situation was changed, rock music had it's fast and short peak, and later was almost totally disappeared under commercial never ending singing strip-show on scene there.

Sunchild's third album is really nice surprise - prog rock is far not the music you can expect as Ukrainian export! Brainchild of Antony Kalugin (who run few more musical projects as well), the band presents on this album eclectic and quite unusual mix of decades of prog rock legacy in one place.

Musical base of all album is obviously Genesis/ Marillion influences, but played on characteristic Eastern Slavic manner - with stronger accent on melodies and emotional field. Kalugin sings mostly all vocals on the album, and possibly this is one of most controversial decision - not like his vocals are bad, but emotive, almost exalted singing manner is not for everyone taste.

The Wrap is a conceptual album in a key as Genesis have been recorded in their 70s, but musically it doesn't sound as just simple clone. Besides of vintage keyboards based sound, there are many elements coming from different rock genres included on main sound (and they often come from more modern period, as heavy metal guitars and almost doom short pieces). The music sounds as retrospective of some prog tradition from few decades presented in one mix (sometimes successful. in moments - not so much), performed in soulful manner, often removing rock sharpness and adding melodic emotional performing.

Not the release for anyone interested in any original prog (old or new), but quite pleasant work for neo-prog fans.

It is rare, these days, for me to dig too deep into modern symphonic rock. There is a lot of good stuff out there but there is also a lot of formulaic/retro stuff out there, and to be honest I've heard enough already. So it takes a really good song to catch my attention these days, and Sunchilds 2010 album had just that in the opening track "Day of My Destiny".

Kalugin, the mind behind the project, has learned well from the likes of early Genesis, for there is no instrumental wankery to ease the listener into the album; from the very first moment, this vocal-oriented track starts with - well vocals - soft and poignant, sung over a piano line. Okay, it's a break up song, and you could say that it has cliches, but it is great in my mind for two significant reasons. The first reason is that it sets up the concept of the album quite nicely (that concept being about "The Wrap" between us and others; not too different from that of Pink Floyd's The Wall). The second reason is simply that this song is amazing in terms of songwriting. It is catchy from beginning to end, builds up quite nicely, and all the elements work well together.

After many listens, the 4 minutes at the beginning are still, in my mind, the best 4 minutes on the album. But I would do this album an injustice not to mention that single track, with the same name as the album "The Wrap", which takes up 2/3rds of the album. That's right, we are exposed to a 40 minute prog rock epic. My thoughts are - well - it's not Supper's Ready. It's got a lot of really great pieces, some great atmosphere, but also some parts (although just a few!) that tend to fade into the background. The first ten minutes are uniformly great and the remaining 30 are, for the most part, pleasant to very good. The song features heavy, metallic guitars at parts, ethnic keys at others, great singing - pretty much anything a great symphonic prog epic needs. But it lacks the cohesion that makes the best tracks so powerful.

Beyond that, the remaining tracks are all enjoyable, if none are as good as the opener. The last track does suffer from some painfully bad lyrics mind you, from the first time I've heard it the line "It's really good time for corn flakes" has made me have a hard time taking the rest of the album seriously. Luckily, it's in the last song, so most of the album isn't tarnished by it.

SUNCHILD is one of the three main musical ventures of Ukrainian composer and musician Antony Kalugin, the other two being Karfagen and Hoggwash, respectively. This project was set up by Kalugin and involves young, aspiring musicians from his homeland. The first album made by Sunchild, "The Gnomon", was issued in March 2008. "The Wrap" from 2010 is the second of those, and as all albums by Sunchild so far it was released by UK record label Caerllysi Music.

"The Wrap" is an album centered around the massive epic-length composition Under the Wrap, and its blend of neo-tinged symphonic art rock, carefully spiced with progressive metal, folk-rock and jazz-rock themes, should be a worthwhile experience for those who appreciate art rock with an eclectic touch. Mood, atmosphere and melody are emphasized over technical and quirky features, and as such I would suspect that those fond of the neo-progressive approach to symphonic art rock might be a key audience for this fine CD.