CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE, EUGENE

Russian band VESPERO have been a fairly productive band since they were formed back in 2003, and from 2007 and onwards they have released a substantial amount of material, mostly within the space rock segment of progressive rock. Their most recent creation see the band team up with UK specialist label Fruits de Mer Records, for Vespero's take on two classic compositions by legendary progressive rock band Pink Floyd.

The A side of this 7'' vinyl single, Careful With That Axe Eugene, is a slow paced atmospheric construction in Vespero's take on it, with a driving organ with haunting qualities supported by nervous Mellotron, dampened bass and rhythm, plucked guitar details and a liberal flavoring of futuristic effects. Until a ghostly, spoken voice appears that is, sending the song into a more frantic direction with blazing guitar soloing early 70's style and initial haunting vocal effects, the song ebbing out on a return to the initial slower paced, atmospheric oriented mood.

The B side is given to One of These Days, in this take a multiple themed affair with an initial sequence of pumping bass and twisted, surging guitar details and keyboards with occasional drum flurries, giving way to a sequencer driven passage flavored with light toned futuristic electronic melodic effects and otherwise futuristic sounds combining into a machine and robots inspired futuristic inspired theme, then taken over by dominant slide guitar and drums prior to ebbing out on the dying whispers of a wind synth.

A nice treat for fans of space rock this one, and one I suspect would be of interest to fans of Pink Floyd too, as it generally is intriguing at some level to hear what other artists approach the classics and how much or not they try to make the songs their own. The end results in this case are intriguing in their own right though, and space rock fans with an affection for vintage sounding material should line up for this one.