THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF STONE

The title of this album is a clear reference to the Pink Floyd album of almost the same name, except for the last word, which has been replaced by stone. The band describes their music has "post space with stoner music". This is an instrumental album with loud guitar riffs and a huge bass sound. This is their version of that legendary Pink Floyd album adding to some space, psychedelic passages some stoner and doom metal with an intense atmosphere, hypnotic rhythms that will grab you instantly. You will enjoy the drums intro in the song "Silent Window" and in the middle of the song "Metamorph" because of the contrast it offers with the guitar. The drums are showing some inventive patterns and an occasion to gives a little breather in the music. This is a solid album, not really a bad track.

Spaceking are a promising progressive stoner rock band out of Saint Petersburg who've spent their career thus far developing upon their heavy sound and paying reverence to the prog legends. Their latest full length tells their story, starting off hard and loud and over the course of the album adding new instruments and ultimately flirting with quieter sections on the last two tracks. While the heavier portions are more standard for the band's genre, the addition of the other instruments like keys and bendir diversify even the driving tracks, as the title track channels a bit of Pink Floyd's particular psychedelia. The real hero is drummer Daniil Kornev, unleashing solid rhythms and even out of the box playing to shine amongst his skilled bandmates. One of the better recent stoner rock releases, and one that foretells of potential greatness for this group.

This band from Russia has great sound. Bass, drums, guitars each fill the soundscape perfectly. As a matter of fact, were I to put together my own instrumental Prog Metal band, these are sounds, both individually and collectively, to which I would aspire. Also, the sound engineering and production here is flawless--I can actually hear all of the instruments even though the music present the stereotypic "walls of sound" that is common among heavy/metal music.

1. "Ruins" (5:58) a great opener of nice variety, layering, and melody showing great promise for this instrumental band of heavy rock. (7.5/10)

2. "Metamorph" (7:49) Starts out a little slowly, a little too RUSH-like, repetitiously, but then gets interesting with LED ZEPPELIN riffs and keyboards in the second half. (8.5/10)

3. "Silent Widow" (5:51) seems to get stuck in the opening riff for all of its six minutes. (6/10)

4. "44" (4:18) Where's the variation, where's the development? (7/10)

5. "Dwarf" (5:02) something different! An atmospheric opening! And there is more variation and development than the previous two songs--and it doesn't sound so much like somebody else (as far as I know). By far my favorite song on the album--because it sounds original! (9/10)

6. "The Piper At The Gates Of Stone" (6:06) a little bit of world music instrumentation in the opening! Yay! Develops into a little cross between IHNSAHN and U2. (8/10)

7. "Collapse" (7:01) a slightly milder, slower start helps me gain access to this song. The melody line and sound remind me a lot of Irish Post Rock band GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT. The problem is that there is not enough dynamic variation or sonic development, just riffing at pretty much one tempo. As in the opener, great electric guitar sound during its soloing. (8/10)

These instrumentalists have certainly done their homework, they have certainly learned and mastered the riffs and sounds of the Masters of Metal. My problem is that most of the songs and their component parts sound as if they came straight our of someone else's "greatest hits"--as if the instrumentalists and collective here are trying to string together songs or parts of songs built from the great riffs of all-time--other people's riffs. Rush, Led Zeppelin, Megadeth, Metallica, and probably a number of other bands whose "classic" hits and riffs I do not know because I've never been much of a collector of metal music. If this band with its great sound and incredible engineering and production ever chooses to create its own music--as it does in the fifth song here, "Dwarf" and the intro of "Silent Widow"--then we may have something truly worth shouting about. Until then, this is, to my ears, a great sounding album of mostly regurgitated classic heavy metal music.