ATON FIVE

1. "Alienation" (8:32) this soulless totally familiar heavy prog-by-the-numbers doesn't sound very alien to me. (17/20)

2. "Naked Void" (8:32) competent heavy prog, performed by proficient musicians, recorded with very good sound engineering, that, unfortunately, brings nothing new to the prog lexicon that I can hear. (17.75/20)

3. "Clepsydra" (3:23) is this supposed to be a reference to the excellent Swiss prog band, a Greek water clock, or the deeper meaning, "water thief"? Nice sonic field textures and melodic weave. (8.875/10)

4. "Danse Macabre" (8:00) Ooo! Some angular metal! I like the start of this one as it feels emotion-driven and creative. Unfortunately, after the first 45 seconds it begins to sound too derivative/imitative of RUSH. Despite some impressive play from all band members, the song never quite lifts itself into the realm of anything new or ground-breaking; just solid, competently played heavy prog. (13/15)

5. "Lethe" (22:01) feels like such an incomplete, under-developed piece: the instrumental performances are replete with mistakes, the weaves are simplistic, even rudimentary--they seem underdeveloped and left to chance in a one- take type of recording scenario--which makes me think the band members either very lazy, very disorganized and uncommitted to their musical project, and/or quite pressed for studio (and/or practice) time. Don't get me wrong: there are some nice ideas here, some nice solos, and great sound, but everything just sounds so ... soulless. (37/45)

Total Time 50:28

An album that I found impressive for its sound and competent musicianship but also found sorely lacking in creativity.

C/three stars; a collection of good heavy prog songs that deserves independent attention from the individual prog lover.

"Alienation" a edgy instrumental, prog metal base with psychedelic break; long variation with flamboyant keyboards on an imposing rhythm; the finale on an undulating synth-guitar duo for a sound apart, an imprint beyond the criteria. "Naked Void" bases invasive synths, psychedelic post-rock with sounds coming from shooting stars; an epic title where the guitar is master, where the percussions and various organs accompany it; to decipher, to clear, to tear off the banks of interstellar clouds which pass in front of you; the sound comes at the end on a ride of keyboards by Anton pursuing the crazy guitar of Alexander. "Clepsydra" for the short piece, the one that will vibrate in your ears, between a "Once upon a time" and a humming stellar echo; monolithic and metronomic, a title to light up dark nights, perhaps the shortest, but also the most intense. "Danse Macabre" for a narcissistic, intimate anthology smoothly conducted; the more present guitar reminded me at times of MALMSTEEN or RAINBOW, at others of DREAM THEATER in their escapade; the finale for a rehash of once again, for the latency and the unique atmosphere. "Lethe" intro on a boat, not that of PINK FLOYD although so precisely with this typed bass; over 20 minutes of progressive declination with a hypnotic trans base; a psychedelic spatial sound that looks like? but has its own trademark; in the 1st third it rises in a grandiloquent, symphonic way to render a psychedelic sound of PINK FLOYD from the Belle Epoque. Alexander not only plays, he lends his voice here for a dreamlike phrasing worthy of a NASA sequence; the 3rd phase with Alexander's guitar which this time sends you into hyperspace in order to avoid a possible return, the rhythm becomes nervous, heavy, incandescent, it explodes pleasantly until the final detuned, end which causes emptiness , lack.

ATON FIVE with its unique psyche-atmo-retro-heavy-stoner-prog surfs on instrumental prog metal; a space metal prog sound that sends into space and leaves in orbit; after the pandemic it is good to listen to new musical blood knowing precisely that this album comes from the covid period; a tearful, defeatist sound, an innovative, playful sound, a stoner, hypnotic sound, a sound bringing wisdom and abnegation, a simple and beautiful sound, effective and colorful from which all the palettes of the rainbow are declined; a relaxing sound where the relaxation is beautiful, where the sound will ogle the MOTORPSYCHO; a sound apart that feels good in these moments when everything repeats itself, everything languishes, creative.

Respect to the debut the band seems to give more relevance to the metal element that was already present before but now is put more in evidence. Apparently, there are still influences from classical prog bands. The oriental flavor of the guitar in the opening track makes me think to the scales used by Rick Wright in the early Floyd days, while the keyboards are in line with the fast standards of the Ukrainian Vitalij Kuprij in his Artension days. But it's the chords progression, never trivial, dark as it has to be, that makes it very interesting.

"Naked Void" is an interesting title. Again we have minor chords and a progression that can be found, of course with different tempo and sounds, in classical music. Here's some room also for the bass, while the bending of the guitar strings adds a touch of psychedelia. In this track I hear similarities with the polish RIVERSIDE and a vocalist like Marius DUDA could have fit well in this track if it had lyrics. I like the odd signature. It shouldn't be an easy job for bass and drums. The keyboards sounds in the second half of the track remind me to Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record.

"Clepsydra" is the shortest track, it's opened by a slow guitar riff soon accompanied by the other instruments. Hypnotic, it's the most psychedelic track of the album. It fits with my personal tastes.

"Danse Macabre" is the bridge that leads us to the epic closer. Dark as its title, is sustained by the rhytmic section, while guitar and keyboards dialog between them and sometimes in sync with the bass. It's a complex track and also in this case, if you imagine it skowed down and performed by a symphonic orchestra in some parts, the connection with the classical world becomes evident. It also contains a good guitar solo, piano, and an excellent chord progression.

A curiosity: while I'm writing I've given a look to the bamdcamp page and I'm happy to see that the connection with classical music is not just my impression.

Now the epic "Lethe". It's the river of oblivion in mythology. The bass opens the suite and having recently listened to One Of These Days, despite the very different tempo and the completely different guitar, I think it denotes a bit of Floyd influence. The chord progression is still dark and the signature is, I think, a 5/4. Keys and guitar dialog effectively while the rhithmic section sets the mood. I'm sure that nothing is improvised. Around minute 8 a drum solo introduces what I think is the third movement of the suite. The guitar cries on a keyboard base, like the Gilmour's effects in the middle section of Echoes. It sounds like a closure, but there are still many things to come. It's apsychedelic bridge to the forth movement. Back to 5/4 we can hear voices. It's like somebody reciting a poetry or telling a story. I can't get what he says but it sounds very dramatic while the guitar "gently weeps" on minor chords. A sort of fading out, bells, saturation and...wow, a psychedelic section in the vein of early floyd...unfortunately short as I really appreciate the genre, but the bass is ready to restore the initial mood letting the drums roll fading in a crescendo leading to a movement of clearly classical inspiration but with a Santana like guitar adding dramaticity. The end of the epic is now near. This final conversartion between guitar and keys with bass and drums putting their sweat inside the music brings the listener to the final standard closure in crescendo.

...and it's done. Not without a bit of wind, like a hommage to One Of These Days.

The first tracks are good, but the suite is excellent, so it gets 4 deserved stars

The latter half of the album loses a touch of the high energy tempo. The last song 'THE ENDLESS DESERT' timing in at over 17 minutes, is where my interest completely dissipated. The track was slow going, repetitive, drawn-out and almost lacked a clear direction, with exception of the final minute or so of the song. Overall a sort of dull and disappointing way to end an otherwise crushing instrumental record.

8.0/10.0

This is a concept album based on a Sci-Fi concept, but honestly I don't know anything about it. The music is enough to enjoiy it even without a story behind. It starts with a sort of bolero with interludes reminding to early PINK FLOYD, I mean the Ummagumma years, but with keyboards sounding like the best Rick WAKEMAN. This track has been enough to "light my prog sensors up".

Very different the second track, with a classic rock mood and a bit of 70s funky. Musically comparable to NIACIN, but with an excellent rock guitar which NIACIN don't have. Eight minutes of pure energy.

The Crimsonian "Time" follows. Here the bass is leading and has a volume a little higher than keys and guitar. This band has clearly absorbed the standards set by the bigs in the 70s, and is able to re-elaborate them into something new without losing the connection with the past. It starts heavy but it doesn't betray the standards, so there are several changes in tempo and melody, odd signatures, keys and a crying guitar, but the reference is to early KING CRIMSON.

There isn't the voice of Ozzy Osborne, but "A Chain Of Events" could be A BLACK SABBATH song, if only WAKEMAN played with Sabbath. My compliments to the guitarist, too.

It's a characteristic of this album that every track must be different from those before. The 13 minutes long "Milky Way Incident" doesn't contain any reggae, otherwise I could have thought to QUANTUM FANTAY. There's also a sort of "dialog" between keyboards, guitar and bass which reminds to the "Made in Japan" version of Child In Time. Great guitar work throughout the whole track and a final in a clear DEEP PURPLE style.

"Death?" is just a short interlude with some background noise. A little touch of Avant which introduces "The Endless Desert", an appropriate name for a 17 minutes track. The influence of PINK FLOYD on this trak is clear. Despite the guitar sounding like Piotr GRUDZINSKI's, this appears to be very inspired to "Set The Controls For The Heart OF The Sun". The keyboards seem played by Richard Wright, but in addition to it, there's a great work from bass and drums. This is undoubtely a psychedelic track.

The album is completed by a couple of bonus tracks: the live version of Journey taken from their EP "Live in Mars" and "Woods Made Of Stone" which is not featured studio in this album. The first sounds even more '70s in this live version. The second is another heavy but psychedelic track in the vein of OZRIC TENTACLES, with arabesque riffs giving it a ethnic flavor which I have to say, reminds a little to SENMUTH, who is another musical project from Moscow.

I'd say a 4.5 stars album. Hoping that those guys decide to release a masterpiece as next effort.

Aton Five is a Russian band, rooted in 2014 and located in the capital Moscow. The four members wanted to make prog in the spirit of the Seventies. After the live studio EP Live At Mars from 2017 and the own production debut album SolarstaLgia from 2018, in February 2019 the label R.A.I.G. Records released SolarstaLgia as a CD reissue, with two live bonustracks, from the Live At Mars EP. I discovered Aton Five on the Dutch Progstreaming, and I am blown away, what an exciting tribute to the Seventies!

The music alternates between slow and hypnotizing rhythms, catchy mid-tempo beats and heavy and bombastic climates, very dynamic and compelling, these guys in their twenties pay tribute to the Seventies in a very exciting way, many times I was blown away or got goose bumps. The great element on this album is the colouring by the guitar and keyboards: the one moment soaring psychedelic organ, spacey synthesizer flights or moving electric guitar, the other moment heavy guitar riffs, fiery and biting electric guitar soli, lush Hammond and spectaculaar, pitchbend driven synthesizer soli. I was told by the band that the keyboard player loves Rush and Kansas, and the guitarist Deep Purple and Ritchie Blackmore. Well, that is obvious but both musicians succeed to add an own flavour into the sound of their heroes. My highlights.

The Dreadnought (6:33) : The intro contains experimental sounds, spoken words and a growling bass. Then a slow and hypnotizing rhythm with a heavy sound featuring exciting rock guitar and spacey synthesizer flights, soon a psychedelic inspired organ joins. Halfway a raw guitar solo and finally a bombastic ending with compelling organ and synthesizer runs, fuelled by powerful drum beats, back to The Seventies (Pink Floyd, Rush), and I love it.

Time (9:24) : It starts with a slow rhythm featuring moving electric guitar and powerful bass, then organ waves and fat and flashy pitchbend driven synthesizer work, wow. Halfway a break with a strong build-up, from hypnotizing to bombastic delivering a wonderful organ sound. In the end another howling and fiery guitar solo, in the background soft Fender Rhodes piano and organ runs.

A Chain Of Events (5:42) : High energy with a bombastic up-tempo climate that contains a lush Hammond sound and compelling guitar work, to me it sounds like psychedelic bluesrock. Then an accellaration with sensational synthesizer flights, followed by a heavy guitar solo (evoking Blackmore), it really rocks and the band is now totally in the mood! Finally a slow rhytm with moving guitar, this guy knows how to push the right buttons on the guitar.

Milky Way Incident (13:25) : My absolute highlight! The intro contains spoken words, an ominous atmosphere, then an up- tempo with heavy guitar and thunderous drums, followed by sensational work on synthesizer with pitchbend. Now the music turns into a catchy beat with Jon Lord sounding organ (Made In Japan era), fuelled by powerful bass runs, and followed by a spacey guitar solo with echo. This culminates in an exciting duel between the guitar and synthesizer. Halfway a catchy beat and heavy guitar solo, then spectacular a synthesizer solo, again with pitchbend, fuelled by powerful drum beats. Finally a heavy guitar solo, and thunderous drum beats. If you like the unsurpassed Heavy Prog sound of Made In Japan from Deep Purple, this one is yours, and Aton Five again succeeds to add an own touch to their beloved Seventies sound, wow!

The Endless Desert (17:37) : First spoken words and freaky sounds, then a strong beat in a hypnotizing psychedelic climate, like the Pink Floyd At Pompeii sound, with awesome spacey synthesizers flights, goose bumps, how compelling! Then howling electric guitar with a sultry Arabian flavour, what a captivating sound. This is followed by a spacey synthesizer solo and raw, pretty heavy guitar, an interesting contrast, fuelled by pumping bass and slow beats. Finally a slow rhythm with excellent guitar sound, with powerful bass and drums in a surprising prog metal climate, and ending with a sultry synthesizer solo, so many strong musical ideas, from start to end.

The CD reissue contains the two live bonus tracks Journey (dynamic with lush Hammond and awesome Blackmore inspired guitar play) and Woods Made Of Stone (strong interplay between psychedelic organ and Arabian sounding electric guitar).

I grew up with the legendary hardrock and prog bands from the Seventies, these guys absolutely not but they have paid tribute to those bands in a very exciting and captivating way, highly recommended!