1/2: THOUGHT AND MATTER

There aren't many instrumental quartets playing prog metal, yet here we have a Russian band back with their second album doing just that. I've been able to find out very little about them, and that is a real shame, as when music is as good as this then there is a requirement for people to know about it! Hailing from Voronezh they liken themselves to acts such as Liquid Tension Experiment and Joe Satriani, and I for one can also hear plenty of Steve Vai in some of the shredding and arrangements. Guitarist Grigory Kuronov also provides all of the music, although it is then arranged by the band, but this isn't as much a guitar fest as one might imagine from that as he ensures that Vyacheslav Bessonov (keys) also has the opportunity to shine and they often duet, or one gives major support to the other. The rhythm section of Vitaly Zotov (bass) and Roman Gorodnyansky (drums) is extremely tight and this allows the other two to crank it up and have some fun.

Although they are wonderfully melodic (with more than a touch of the Seventies AOR scene at times), this is first and foremost a band that is happily more into metal than rock. They run through the crunching guitars, with loads of complexity when it is the right time, but they don't ram their musical virtuosity into the throats and ears of their listeners. Vyacheslav has more than a hint of Don Airey about what he does, providing the musical finesse and cream that allows Grigory to really crunch the riffs when he wants to, or shred like a demon at others. This is a real gem of an album, one that is accessible the very first time it is played and from there on in it just keeps getting better. www.mals.ru