EGOR LAPPO

2022 has been a year that has gone down in history because of the geopolitical context, and the atrocities that we are seeing again in Europe after many decades, something that has ended up splashing also in the music world. Sadly, this also affected to some Russian musicians who are against the invasion and everything that is happening, are also suffering the consequences in an undeserved way. Not only because of the way many people are generalizing and hating them, but also because of the way some record labels are forgetting about them.

Within all this storm, this year I have discovered an excellent independent musician, one Egor Lappo who is in charge of creating good Prog by taking care of everything himself. This has been the album with which I have been able to discover him, and I have to say that I liked it very much.

As for his musical style, for me it has been a crush, because it reminds me of the British Arena, with keyboards very present in the songs, or the Ukrainians Sunchild, a very melodic Prog with a soft voice, and very good compositions. The songs are not excessively complex, which helps you to enjoy their songs from the first listen.

Possibly, the sound production lacks a bit of cleanliness, although considering that this is a musician with few resources who tries to do everything on his own, I admit that I am very surprised by the good results and how good he sounds.

Personally, the songs Starlight and Dawn Tracer (hell, with those keyboards it's like listening to Arena) are my two favorites on the album.

Egor Lappo is a progressive metal artist and multi-instrumentalist born in 1995 in Russia who released his first solo album in 2018, and his second album a year later, called "Azimuth" (August, 2019). This 2nd album consists of 8 tracks and has a total run time of 45 minutes. Lappo plays all of the instruments and vocals on this album, except for the drums which are played by Ivan Shishkin. Guest Artem Sergeev also provided vocals on the track "Waste of Space". Other than the fact that he remains independent from being signed to any label, there isn't a lot of information about him, so let's take a listen a see how his music sounds, shall we?

The ten minute opener "Faded Morning Sun" begins innocently enough, with soft guitar and vocals in English with an accent that isn't too bad. There is a bit of a build, but soon the music gets a little heavier with guitars playing the lead and synths remaining mostly in the background. The vocals are okay, nothing outstanding, but definitely not annoying either, but I find the instrumentation to be quite good. The meter stays fairly standard with some progressive riffs thrown in, but the melody changes throughout the track with some change in the overall tone moving from moderately heavy to some softer sections. Vocals are clean, but maybe a bit too neat, but they suffice, it's the hard and heavy passages that carry the most impact here. The music is a bit similar to later Porcupine Tree but with a bit more technical prowess in the guitar work at times. "Indifferent Times" has a more solid backbeat, but seems to be more radio friendly, losing the heaviness and getting more support from keys. The sound is not so dark, and sounds more like the poppy sound of 80s era Moody Blues.

"All You Do is Sway" goes back to the heavier and darker sound, but seems to be a bit too lightweight to really be considered metal, and the level of progressiveness is minimal. There is a decent guitar solo, but the vocals seem to take away from the energy. "Far From Noise" is a decent instrumental ballad with jangly guitars, but again doesn't provide much in the way of prog. "Magnify" again returns to a heavier sound and, while the verses and melody are pretty straightforward hard rock, the instrumental break shows a lot more promise with some great musicianship and even shows more progressive promise. "In a Bind" starts off with what sounds like an automated rhythm which you expect to go into an electronic style, but instead brings in a decent guitar melody, but any power is lost when the vocals start supported by synth layers. Somewhere along the way, the automated loop gets abandoned, but the track still comes across as mediocre.

"Aware" is the 2nd instrumental track. It has a slightly trickier beat and is mostly driven by keys, a few effects and chiming guitar notes. It's okay, but nothing spectacular. "Waste of Space" closes out the album with the vocals done by Artem Sergeev. This track is much more solid, and Artem's vocals sound almost like Devin Townsend's, heavy and just teetering on the dirty/clean vocal line, which is really what this music needed to be more convincing. This is a much better track, more progressive, solid, heavy and memorable. It even sounds like something you might hear from Devin. Too bad Artem wasn't recruited to do more vocal work on the album especially if it incites the level of intensity that is very evident in this track.

So the best of this album lies in the first and last track, while the music in the middle is mostly straightforward and mediocre, with nothing that really sticks with you. At least it all begins and ends with the best tracks, but it's not quite enough to carry the entire album, you just have 2 excellent songs and a bunch of average ones.