CONTINIUM

Karfagen is the name of the project that was first started in 1997 by Antony Kalugin whilst studying at architectural college in the Ukraine. He formed a band that played a few gigs but they soon fell apart with only Sergei Kovalev remaining with Antony. In 2002 Antony released a solo album and over the new few years either composed or performed on more than 40 albums which gave him the impetus to get back into the studio himself and the result is 'Continium'. This is mostly an instrumental album, with both Antony and Ikeg Polyanskiy providing keyboards and Koysta Shepelenko on drums, Sergei on accordion and then various guests providing bass, guitars etc.

This is a very dynamic album, obviously very keyboard oriented, which as well as hints of Camel also contains many folk influences. There are strange woodwind sounds to be heard, and the music is very heavily arranged with instruments moving in and out of the melody. If one was to guess which country the music originated from one would probably guess Eastern Europe, just from some of the nuances and touches, but that certainly isn't overpowering and the result is a well constructed instrumental album that at times has more than a hint of Karda Estra about it as well as some strong brass. www.unicorndigital.com