This is so completely different from ’Overcoming-Up’ that one would expect this to be by a totally different line-up, but although there have been some changes Ivan is still very much at the helm on grand Bluthner piano, electric keyboards and metallophone, while Vladislav still provides flute and Vladimir has moved to guitars from bass. They now have a drummer in Philip "Phill" Semenov, a new bassist in Ruslan Kirillov, a second guitarist in Vladimir Efimov with Alexey Gorshkov on trumpets and acoustic guitar, plus some guests providing percussion and bass clarinet. Apparently this thirty-three minutes long EP is about spiritual quest and the emotional upheaval of a human being in a situation of strong stress. Mind you, given that this totally instrumental as with all their work, it’s a little hard to get all that without any lyrics.
I think this is the third or fourth release I’ve heard from this Russian outfit, and this is easily the most varied. There are times when I think I’m listening to Mike Oldfield, at others there are hints of early Barclay James Harvest and at others King Crimson. All this from a band that are supposed to be RIO/Avant. Ivan is always at the heart of everything that is going on, as would be expected, but this is very much a band as opposed to a project. His piano doesn’t seem to be as far to the fore as in other releases, and certainly the guitarists and trumpets start the album off with such a bang that I wasn’t even sure I was playing the right album! With hints of jazz, loads of melody, and a stronger move to the mainstream progressive field than many might expect, this is an album that will certainly intrigue many listeners who may not have wanted to listen to Roz Vitalis in the past. There is still plenty of space and tone within their music, and given that this is on Bandcamp why not wander over and give it a try?
