WOODLAND PRATTLERS

Since Belarus, the country I live in, is not far from Russia at all, I'm quite aware of all musical events happening there. No wonder I knew of MECHANICAl POET even before the release of Woodland Prattlers. So I invaded a local musical shop the day the album was released - and I was not disappointed. The concept of the album is very unusual. The main character is a so called Mechanical Poet - a scientist and at the same time an artist. One day he arrived at some fantasy forest to write down all he sees, hears and feels there, and Woodland Prattlers is the result of his work. Each song is performed by one of the forest dwellers who tell us their stories. The variety of musical styles is just amazing: tight heavy metal, progressive epics, symphonic ballads, instrumentals and some fun songs - I'm sure anyone will find something interesting on this record. Woodland Prattlers features some of the most hilarious lyrics ever written: how about a song performed by the Old Year mourning his soon death on the New Year Eve? Or a song describing the suffering of a ghost living in an abandoned castle unable to scare anyone? The musicanship here is top-notch. Singer Max Samosvat of a Russian power metal band Epidemia offers especially impressive performance (with great English pronounciation, by the way!): clean singing, drive, growl, scream... What's more, these guys have made a revolutionary commercial decision. Forget your most secure copy protection; the best way to make people buy your albums is to offer them good design. Without this marvellous comics-style booklet you'll miss at least half of the pleasure from this album. Overall, an excellent, diversified album from cold wild Russia. :) Lots of fun. Highly recommended.