THE LAST TWENTY YEARS

Russian trio RESERVE DE MARCHE (RDM from now on) was formed by Alexander Alekseev back in 2010, a veteran musician from Moscow's underground rock circuit who started out as a musician in the early 90's. Supplemented by the talents of Pomogaev and Bagdasarov RDM took shape as a band unit, and in 2012 their debut album "The Last Twenty Years" was released through the Russian label Mals Records.

RDM has released a fine debut album, in style residing on the borderland between post rock and post metal, with multiple guitar layers of contrasting tonal ranges and expressions as something of a specialty. Those who tend to enjoy fairly innovative instrumental art rock of this specific nature should find this disc to be a pleasant experience, a solid debut from a promising and talented Russian band.

Reserve de Marche are not a French band, although that is implied by the name (which translates to 'Power Reserve') but are in fact an instrumental trio from Moscow. The band was formed by Alexander Alekseev (guitar) along with Dmitry Pomogaev (drums) and Andrey Bagdasarov (bass), and only two years after their formation their debut CD is out and I can see from their site that they are gigging a fair bit as well. There is very little information around on this band, but luckily their site is in English and there they state that their music is "Classic rock elements, heavy riffs, sound experiments and sensuous melodies merge in music that feels like thrill and adventure. RdM combines a mix of multiple styles, including progressive, post-rock, shoegaze and atmospheric sludge to celebrate the unique moment or here and now." So now you know.

What I found with this album is that there is a real presence, a forceful nature to the music, with an intensity and dynamic that is unusual in a band that is so young. I certainly didn't miss the vocals, yet this is an album that is much more about songs instead of long passages with no meaning. The music ebbs, it flows, with very much a hard rock feel yet there is also a space within the music as the individual lines and melodies make themselves heard. The production is very strong as well, with the end result that this is an album that definitely needs to be heard by a much wider audience.