STRELA

417.3 is one of many Russian post-rock bands that have cropped up in the 21st century, this act coming from the city of Rostov-on-Don in the southwestern corner of Russia. The band formed in 2006 and has gone through many members and many stylistic shifts beginning with a more grungy sound that bordered on post-metal to a richer chamber rock style when it added a cellist and violinist and then into a more mainstream sort of sound. The band remains a bit obscure and has become more melodic over time and the albums are more slickly produced.

STRELA is the band's fourth and according to the band itself, the very last album before the band will end. The title means "arrow" in English and the album is actually very short with a playing time of just over 25 minutes and five tracks. The band's sound is a typical style of post-rock most similar to Explosions In The Sky with dreamy atmospheric backdrops and those familiar cyclical arpeggiated clean guitar riffs that repeat to infinity with a few apocalyptic distorted moments. The band also knows how to rock with a heavier drum use than normal for post-rock bands and unlike the band's other albums that feature numbers and symbols for titles (both albums and tracks), this one features real words!

It's been eight years since the last 417.3 album and not much has changed although the members claim that this one is more garage rock oriented but that's not really the case. This is slickly produced post-rock with a dreamy ethereal feel that features echoey guitars, layered synthesized ambient backing and really nothing out of the ordinary for a text book example of post-rock. I guess the occasional distorted guitar moments and the heavier use of drums may be somewhat garage band-ish but this is not lo-fi DIY sorta album. This is a professionally mixed and mastered album that will surely sound better on high end audio systems.

Overall STELA is a pleasant procession of five modern post-rock tracks but really nothing dynamic in any way. 417.3 never really established its own unique style and sounds very generic compared to some of the modern post-rock hybrid bands like Black Country, New Road or Squid and is even less invigorating than its influences such as Explosions In The Sky or Mogwai which are themselves fairly tame in the overall world of 21st century post-rock. All in all this is a rather mediocre ending to the band's rather bland career as this is fairly boring in the big scheme of things. Nice background music but not really exceeding pleasantries.