LAND OF GREEN AND GOLD

So, a new album has been released by Antony Kalugin and his project Karfagen at the very beginning of 2022. Listening or reviewing his albums always takes a while because of a huge quantity of different ideas, movements and themes that develop in a short time. Usually for Antony, he released a great piece of coherent music. Every song is full of great solo, beautiful transitions and delightful chords. Speaking of the album in general one should notice the strict development of the same trend in Antony's music - from symphonic rock to jazz rock and now "rather jazz than rock". Indeed, the majority of what happens in the "Land of Green and Gold" reminds of keyboard-oriented jazz, i.e. Lyle Mays or Pet Metheny Group in general. A lot of saxophone also contributes to this impression. Such a tendency will be great news for those Karfagen fans that wait for the pieces of jazz and jazz-rock music and especially for those who enjoyed recent solo trilogy from Kalugin. However, the same trend also expands the distance between classic Karfagen albums like Magical Mystery Theater or more recent Echoes from within Dragon Islands. So your personal score of the album mostly depends whether you like the transition of Karfagen into more jazz-oriented sound or not. Though I consider this album as a perfect one and am passionate to congratulate Antony with the release, I also can't wait to hear new Sunchind or maybe even see some old staff live as soon as it will be possible. It is obvious from the new album, that these classic pieces of Antony's music are not forgotten, both from the names, lyrics and sound of the compositions of the "Land of Green and Gold". Kingfisher and Dragonflies pt. 3 refers to the first parts from "The key to perception" and "Solitary Sandpiper Journey" rather by its intermediate function than by the sound. The song, however, refers to the Karfagen and Sunchild staff from early 2010s. The next album is divided into a four [rather themes than] songs that are divided into pieces. "Land of Green" is the most intensive and dynamic of the whole album, is includes the main theme of the album (which variations are presented almost in every song), a great saxophone solo and a piece of slightly anxious drums-and-keys oriented part that finishes with a set of dynamic transition. The second part of the song includes a well-composed and confident guitar solo (many thanks to Alexander Pavlov for that one) and calmly leads to the second intermediate part - "Solis festrum". This small composition contains a number of short movements that are intended to balance the album and bring a piece of fresh apart from "Land of Green". The latter returns, however, in a "sparkling" and bright way, finalizing the themes that were announced in the first parts of the song. The second part, "Land of Gold" follows the transitional composition called "Pastoral" (which name perfectly reflects the music inside). The first song of this part, "Garden of Hope" is the only album composition, accompanied by the lyrics. Its structure somehow refers to the "Last Horizon" from Hoggwash. The themes of the lines are doing it as well. This is the most symphonic part of the album - it is calm and nice and introduces something between "Land of Green" general sound and a mood of "Echoes from within Dragon Island" (which is good news for me). The "Land of Gold" itself is much more confident and sometimes solemn than the first half of the album. It does not really contain any kind of anxious music and not problematizes any kind of emotional strike (once again, this corresponds to the general jazzy mood of the album, though I miss the emotional dynamics of early Karfagen and Sunchild albums). And once again, the music introduces a great piece of jazz-oriented music. Finally, the bonus track "Land of Jazz" reminds us the genre features of the album once again. Indeed, it combines the average mood of "The Land of Green and Gold" with even more typical jazz sound and once more - perfect saxophone solo, presented by Yan Vedaman. In one word, the album should be in your mind if you search for a bright jazz-rock and jazz-oriented music or is you are a fan of Karfagen's music. But if not, I suggest listening to it anyway - the composer's talent of Antony Kalugin produced a great album once again.