CROSSING THE LINE

Andrew Roussak was born in Russia, 1968, at his 8th he went to a governmental music school, specializing on the piano. During his musical education Roussak was blown away by Jon Lord turning Bach into rock music with his Hammond organ in Deep Purple, and keyboard wizards Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. Eight years later (in 2011) an experienced Roussak moved to Germany, and received a freelance status from the government and established himself as a professional musician. He still played classical music but was also impressed by Dream Theater, Spock's Beard, and especially Neal Morse solo. In 2008 Andrew released his first solo album No Trespassing, followed No Secrets (2009), the classical piano album Blue Intermezzo (2010), Crusade 1212 (2011), Storm Warning (2019) and recently (2021) Crossing The Line. I am only familiar with the album Storm Warning, I wrote about the music: "For those progheads who are into keyboard driven and also love harder-edged prog, I highly recommended this Andrew Roussak album!" On his new album Crossing The Line Roussak plays all the instruments, and also does the lead- and backing vocals.

On the first two (mid-long) compositions Roussak delivers an exciting and dynamic blend of classical, symphonic rock and Heavy Prog, featuring lots of flowing shifting moods, loaded with sensational keyboard pyrotechnics and heavy guitar work.

From mellow with melancholical sounding classical orchestrations or tender Grand piano to bombastic with Emersonian Hammond runs, flashy synthesizer flights and harder-edged guitar leads in Invisible Killer (only the English vocals sound a bit thin).

From dreamy to sparkling work on the piano and spectacular soli on the Hammond and synthesizer, fuelled by a powerful rhythm-section in Crossing The Line.

Then four tracks that sound more song-oriented, with often catchy beats but still featuring awesome work on the keyboards.

Against The Tide (fiery guitar and lots of synthesizer flights) and Nation For Sale (varied keyboard work, from spacey synthesizer runs to jazzy and swinging piano) are even in the vein of AOR.

Daily Lies (halfway blistering guitar solo) and Just One Life (sensational synthesizer solo) deliver great work on the Hammond organ, but in the more dynamic and bombastic parts the English vocals tend to drown, due to a lack of power and expression in Andrew his voice.

Finally the epic composition Suite En La Gavotte Et Six Doubles, an instrumental. First the distinctive sound of the harpsichord, followed by sparkling piano play, in a classical atmosphere, simply wonderful. Then the climate turns to more dynamic, with sumptuous outbursts featuring excellent work on varied keyboards, blended with powerful electric guitar. Halfway mellow twanging electric guitar in a slow rhythm, next freaky sounding synthesizer flights in a mid-tempo. This culminates in an exciting bombastic up-tempo with powerful Hammond, topped with propulsive drum beats and rock guitar riffs. Finally a tribute to Rick Wakeman with a spectacular synthesizer solo and swirling Hammond runs, blended with guitar and harpsichord, wow!

Again I am impressed by Andrew Roussak his keyboard pyrotechnics, and again the music alternates between exciting keyboard driven prog and tasteful AOR. But I don't think it was a good idea by Andrew to do the lead vocals himself, because on his previous effort Storm Warning the 3 guest singers did a good job, I miss these voices on this new effort.

My rating: 3,5 star.

Crossing the line is the fourth solo album by Andrew Roussak. I had the privilege to be an early reviewer of all of them, as well as the two albums he made as part of the band Dorian Opera. His previous solo album, Storm Warning from 2019, was always going to be a tough act to follow - for me, it was the prog album of the year. On his new album, he plays all instruments himself, where previously he still had often employed guest musicians (like Oli Weislogel on guitar on the previous album) - a remarkable tour de force! He also decided to do lead vocals on the four non-instrumental tracks, rather than using a number of guest vocalists as in the past. I'm a bit in two minds about that decision - I applaud the courage to do so, and quite frankly, the results are adequate, although in some passages lacking sheer power, but the charm of different vocals on various tracks, which worked so well on Storm Warning, is missing.

The six original songs that make up most of the album (all composed by Roussak himself) are style-wise rooted in melodic symphonic prog, with some excursions to hard prog, neo prog, and even album-oriented rock, solidly bound together by the virtuoso keyboard playing which is the highlight of each track. The self-penned lyrics (included in the album packaging, which is excellent by the way) are topical, referring to the pandemic, Wikileaks and fake news. My favourites from these six are the energetic instrumental Nation For Sale, and especially Just One Life Is Not Enough, with its changing moods and pace, and beautiful synthesizer solo.

Then we have the album closer, an 11 minutes instrumental piece based on the Gavotte et six Doubles from the harpsichord suite Suite in A minor by French baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. In general I am sceptic when it comes to prog rock renditions of classical music. Even though they are my two favourite music genres, their combination usually does not agree with me, even by bands as famous as Ekseption, Renaissance, Yes, and Emerson Lake and Palmer. On his previous albums, Roussak has shown that he can do this better than most, using compositions by Bach, Vivaldi, and Dowland. Here he goes a step beyond - I think this is the best modern rendition of a classical music composition I've ever heard.

Bottom line: although this album is a notch below Storm Warning for me, it is highly enjoyable, and should appeal to all lovers of keyboard-driven prog. I'd rate it 3-4 stars for the first six songs, but the epic closer is a five stars song. A solid four stars for the album it is then.

Andrew Roussak , this unfairly little known keyboard player released his forth solo album in 2021 named Crossing the line. I known his previous 3 works, debut from 2008 No trespassing who was more then solid, follow the piano album Blue intermezzo in 2010 and third Storm warning, all 3 were more then great to my ears. In between of his first album and third one he was the keyboard player of german progressive metal band Dorian Opera who released 2 albums . I am really glad that the new album is keeping the same attitude as the debut and previous one, solid compositions, keyboard driven progressive rock, almost all album is instrumental, combining symphonic parts with jazz/classical music passages, his style is very much in Rick Wakeman direction, a thing that I like a lot, and not in ELP direction.

There is as on previous albums pompous and bombastic orchestrations with very nice keyboards, sometimes he almost gone progressive metal, but without being a prog metal in the end. He explores almost everything is to be heared in prog rock zone, changes in tempo, lots of synth solos, nice breaks and moods, elaborated passages, and all is done by Andrew himself, including vocal parts.

Andrew's technique is quite impressive, he handle very well all keyboards, piano, synth with amazing ease, the virtuosic parts are all over the album. He alternates very well the neo prog sound with symphonic orchestrations, most of the time in 70's style prog, as I said very much in Rick Wakeman direction, a thing that I like for sure. Even the keyboards are the center of the sound , the guitar aswell has plenty of memorable parts. Forte pieces are opening Invisible Killer or the title track.

All in all, a fairly good album, I like what I've heard here and his music is needing a far more recognition, in same level with his first release No trespassing (not counting blue intermezzo here) or Storm warning, specially overall sound has that specific seventies-style keyboard-led albums. 3.5 stars for sure, a nice one. Nice art work aswell

I first came across multi-instrumentalist Andrew when he was keyboard player with Dorian Opera, and recall reviewing his solo debut album all the way back in 2008. This is his third since then and although I did miss 2010's 'Blue Intermezzo' I did hear 2019's 'Storm Warning', but while that had some guests, we are now back to Andrew doing everything himself. 13 years is a long time in anyone's life, and when one is an active musician many changes can take place, and I am amazed at just how far Andrew has moved since the debut. There are seven pieces, two of which are instrumental (one of which is an adaption of a classical piece, which is something he had done previously), and as before he has been influenced by two keyboard players, namely Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson.

It is in the lighter keyboard sections and piano usage where he comes across as the former, and the more bombastic where he comes across as the latter, but what also puts this ahead of his other works is the way the vocals and rock elements all come together. I have been critical of his singing in the past, but here it works perfectly with the music, which at times feels like a cross between 3 and Rick Wakeman's work with his rock band. I have been playing this album far more than I normally would when reviewing, and find I enjoy it more each time I listen to it. It is modern sounding, almost commercial at times, bringing in elements which are reminiscent of the 90's American prog scene while combining it with melodic rock and then throwing in some wonderful old-fashioned stylings. Less symphonic prog than crossover, or possibly even Neo, there is a lot on here to enjoy and for my ears is certainly the best album I have heard of his to date. His name may not be well known even with prog circles but this is a release which should change that.