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RETURNLittle TragediesSymphonic Prog3.83 | 54 ratings |
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apps79
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Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator |
2000 was also the year Little Tragedies actually flirted with the normal band tag.Ilyin established a 5-piece line-up, which -besides him- featured Yuri Skripkin on drums, Alexander Malakhovsky on guitar, Oleg Babynin on bass/vocals and Aleksey Bildin on saxophone.This formation worked on the last part of the trilogy inspired by the poetry of Nikolay Gumilyov.They presented their new material for the first time in Kursk during a few shows and later at the SKIF Festival in St. Petersburg, dedicated to Avant-Garde/Experimental composer Sergey Kurekhin, who died prematurely in 1996.2003 was also the album's year of release on MALS.The formation of a regular band allowed Ilyin to focus on his keyboard parts, no wonder so that this was the strongest Little Tragedies album to date.It's bombastic Symphonic Rock with E.L.P. inspirations with the overall atmosphere reminding me of MOTOI SAKURABA's solo Prog-influenced albums and that's because, apart from the standard powerful keyboard exercises, the album contains lots of romantic textures and melodic lines.Guitars now appear more frequently, although the album is heavily-keyboard oriented, and the spark in the electric solos is a breathe of fresh air in Little Tragedies' pompous and Classical-inspired music.Once more a Little Tragedies album is characterized by the excellent Hammond organ parts and the omnipresent neurotic synth moves, which often break into more dreamy and soft tunes.Great dramatic arrangements walk in parallel with Ilyin's expressive vocals in Russian, but notice that the album is mostly instrumental, driven by the love of the Russian composer for intense and grandiose keyboard-led orchestrations.There are also a few pieces with programmed string and wind instruments, supported always by Ilyin's atmospheric synthesizers, resembling more to acts like THE ENID and based much on contemporary Classical Music. A great way to end an otherwise very strong trilogy of albums.Eventually all instruments sound so natural, that lift the compositions to a higher level.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.
apps79 |
3/5 |
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