THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT

Retreat From Moscow, founded in the late 70's played without making an album until this 1st draft 40 years later; melodic rock of yesteryear and recent recorded in the Cotswolds, it interests me since distillation place, well I digress! Musicians who have played for Tom Jones, Kate Bush, Frank Zappa; musicians who have bathed in the sounds of Genesis, Uriah Heep, Pendragon, Camel or Marillion. Fluid progressive neo-rock without frills led by Greg known for his involvement in Manic Street Preachers.

'The One You Left Behind' lays the foundation for their 90's heavy-neo-sympho-prog sound, the voice is well posed with sensuality; a good riff, an ARENA boosted by an iron rhythm; a Hackettian solo oozing with spleen drifting on an acoustic track with John's voice in finesse, it's good. 'Radiation' on Yes 80's without the voice of Jon, Magellan, Asia, Boston, a frenzied prog rock; a bit of Hammond, an incisive guitar, a keyboard break à la Supertramp with vitamins, made for waking up in the morning. 'Henrietta' goes rock-pop, keyboard for prog atmo; 80's AOR stadium rock denoting a tad; halfway we dive on 'A Trick Of The Tail' with a melancholic guitar of madness to definitely hang on to this album full of superb reminiscences; the Genesis with Andrew on cottony keyboards for a punchy sound. 'I'm Alive' with keyboards including a Hammond for a melting intro, rather complex hard heavy rhythmic perhaps signing the sound of RFM in mid-tempo; a contemplative melancholic- spatial-ambient break; it smells of the sons of dinos with its own signature and the final variation brings back to Yes and Marillion at the same time. 'Constantinople' changes key with acoustic arpeggio intro and flute then vibrating guitar; it rises suddenly with a heavy metronomic bass delivering the final blow; The Gathering spleen sound associated with the stubbornness of an Arena more prog than you die, a hellish crescendo to listen to again immediately.

'Home' on the epic piece, lyrics on the great war, on a neo-prog between the Pendragon and the aerial Arena; the mid-term break changes the game thanks to a beautiful Genesis piano and then the fat synth as it should; very beautiful in its time, spleen and melodic, overwhelming like the final guitar solo.

'Armed Combat' dives back into the 80s with a riff filled with prog metal groove; the nervous rhythmic with the voice and the choirs and a cavernous metronomic drums for a title that lacks soul. 'Moving Down' for a Genesis/Phil Collins ballad, the choice is yours; slow tempo, declination on Camel, Caravan for the guitar, musical serenity based on memory and finale in apotheosis. 'Perception' AOR, heavy prog; the break denotes and allows to boost this consensual title on a medieval air à la Jethro Tull. 'Mandragora' follows with a beautiful synth intro à la Banks, an intimate guitar solo à la Pendragon, simple and beautiful then it takes off as Nick did so well. 'Don't Look Back' with an intimate flute intro; it goes on a camel ballad not bostonian as the title might suggest; John's voice is impressive then it grooves all of a sudden before the instrumental passage; Toto comes to my mind for a while, it is to say the reminiscences of these musicians.

Retreat From Moscow makes prog rock oozing with unstoppable melodies, instrumental breaks with various consonances, sumptuous tunes, notes plunging into a multitude of sounds anchored deep in our brains, that's what these English people risk making you capsize ; a beautifully avant-garde album in the 80s, slightly backward today.