KVAZAR

1. "Flight Of Shamash" (9:13) Viking Prog! Gregorian Chant-like vocals with atmospheric heavy prog. An astonishing and unexpected song. (18.5/20)

2. "Choir Of Life" (5:36) more traditional folk oriented instruments open before the rock/prog/jazz instruments join in with female vocalise. (9.25/10)

3. "untitled 1" (1:30) jazz-folk-prog interlude with Spanish-style acoustic guitar soloing over the top. (4.25/5)

4. "Dreams Of Butterflies" (8:30) female singing in English over jazz-rock-folk fusion. (18/20)

5. "untitled 2" (1:49) lounge jazz guitar with combo (4.25/5)

6. "Spirit Of Time" (8:42) space blues--not far from early Pink Floyd or Procul Harum or even Blind Faith. (17/20)

7. "Desert Blues" (6:13) psych/space rock with female Arabian vocal turns jazz-psych with sax, electric guitar, synths and other looped samples forging a OZRIC TENTACLE/JAGA JAZZIST mixed soundscape. Very interesting! (17.75/10)

8. "Sometimes" (5:09) lounge jazz (bossa nova!) with female lead vocals, jazz electric guitar, and rompous full chorus. (8.75/10)

9. "A Giant's Lullaby" (9:42) an psych-jazz variation the classic "Summertime" that builds and morphs in several directions (sometimes all at once!)--holding fast to a jazzy foundation no matter what speed or instrumental palette used. Very interesting, imaginative, and well executed. (18/20)

10. "Dark Horizons" (8:03) haunting melodic prog with a slight hint of jazz. Single lead male voice is interesting choice for the finale (especially given the way the album opened.) At 3:35 full chorus of voices, male and female, perform. Over the course of the second half of the song the band takes us through folk, bluesy psychedelia, Broadway, and--sometimes all at once! Fascinating! (13.5/15)

B/four stars; an excellent addition of unusual prog music fit for any prog lover's music collection.

Their musical direction also changed: instead of the melancholic retro prog, lots of variety and new elements, like traditional jazz, jazz rock/fusion (the most proeminent influence here), eastern rhythms, gregorian chants, nothern folk and so on. Incredibly, all those elements work very well together giving the band a very distinctive sound where it could be just a big mess in less capable hands. And every track is quite a journey on itself, showing some great instrumental prowness (often in the King Crimson´s vein). The excellent, crystal clear production also helped to enhance all their incredible musicanchip and the strong arrangements. Once again drummer Kim A. Lieberknecht shines with his fine technique and inventiveness.

Conclusion: well worth the wait. The band evolved a lot and I hope they keep on this path. If you like eclectic and varied prog, with the influences I mentioned before, don´t miss A Giant´s Lullaby. An excellent adddition to any prog lover collection: 4 strong stars.

Rating: 3 stars. If you´re into those northern melancholic type of prog, it´s a worthy pick.

What do you think it is on the cover of this Norwegian album? Solaris (everybody remembers his Stanislaw Lem?)! Very probable, isn't it? Especially given the band's name and the cosmic themes inside the booklet (stars, nebulae, galaxies). I got this album solely on the basis of the reviews here and I am not disappointed. Lush keyboards, complex, very tasty instrumental parts: just what I expected from a modern Scandinavian band which tries to sound "retro" (the Scandinavians know how to do it, don't they?) The first instrumental track, "Flight of Shamash" immediately sets the mood, being an ambitious great opener. "Choir of life" which follows features an unusual rhythm, female vocals, mandolin and flute further confirms that KVAZAR is not a light "recreational" band. These guys are pretty serious and certainly aiming high. The rest of the tracks are very exciting too. For example, I'd easily point out "Desert blues" as a fine specimen of modern jazz (you can feel an ingenious mix of symphonic and jazz prog throughout the album). The music on this album deserves solid four stars, but for some annoying details (which I will discuss below) I wanted to give this album three. Then perceiving that non-musical factors, albeit vexing, hardly make an album descend from the "excellent addition ..." to the "non-essential".

Bands whose mother tongue is not English, don't try to sing in English! Are you concerned about sales, thinking of the popularity of English? The history has witnessed what happens to music when the musicians start thinking about reaching wider audiences at an expense of their music. "A Giant's Lullaby" is a good example when the band should have stuck to its native Norwegian. The singing in English is not only unimpressive (although there's nothing wrong with the vocals themselves) but also embarrassing at times. How do you like the ending of a song whose final words are the distinct "But it gonna [sic] die"? The verb "is" is also absent from the lyrics in the booklet. And what about such slips as "gitar [sic]", "Soon I gonna [sic] leave this world" (another song-ending phrase), "Sometimes you won't understand what happends [sic]", and "Sometimes you really tries [sic]" (one more last phrase in a song)? All these linguistic errors make the album look slightly unprofessional. But this hardly damages the music which remains an excellent addition to any prog collection.

"Flight Of Shamash" builds with acoustic guitar, light drums and synths. Gregorian chants come in after a minute. I really like the guitar after 2 minutes in. A change before 4 minutes as guitar leads the way. Samples too. Great sound as it picks up. Vocal melodies as it settles before 6 minutes. Guitar is back a minute later. "Choir Of Life" has a Celtic feel to it and I like the mandolin and synths. The female vocal melodies are a nice touch as well, then she starts to sing. We get mellotron floods as well. Nice. So powerful 3 minutes in. Just a pleasure. Song 3 is an untitled instrumental. It's only 1 1/2 minutes long but it's so well done. Acoustic guitar, bass and drums as we get lots of background synths. "Dreams Of Butterflies" features some good bass early but check out the mellotron! There's a Swedish vibe as the vocals come in. Kind of jazzy too. Back to the original melody as contrasts continue. We're drowning in mellotron here. When the vocal return we get some sax. A heavier sound 3 1/2 minutes in with electric guitar and huge bass lines. Incredible tune. Song 5 is another short instrumental. Jazzy with samples.

"Spirit Of Time" is a dreamy song with a PINK FLOYD vibe that gets a little intense then ends dreamily again. Mellotron and sax help out once again. Great song ! I would describe "Desert Blues" as having an Arabic sound with chanting although it's mostly instrumental with some nice sax. Some good dark atmosphere as well. Man this guy can drum ! It gets pretty intense before a barking dog ends it. "Sometimes" is another favourite that is Jazz influenced with keys, vocals, light drums and sax standing out. Then the guitar comes in. Mellotron is impressive to end it. "A Giant's Lullaby" opens with lots of sax. It picks up 1 1/2 minutes in. Contrasts continue. Lots of vocals and mellotron too. "Dark Horizons" is an excellent song with the guitar getting some of the spotlight. Love when the vocals come in, its so uplifting. One of my favourites.

I really applaud KVAZAR and hope we don't have to wait another 5 years to see what's up their sleeves. As much as I like their debut this is just more powerful and they really did pull out all the stops. A very ambitous release that succeeds at every level.

"Ballet" is a stunning track with that trippy beat. I've really fallen for this track. It's a little heavier a minute in (reminds me of WOBBLER) and then settles with vocals before 2 minutes.The guitar 3 1/2 minutes in is excellent. Nice drum work after 6 minutes as the organ then guitar comes in.That incredible sounding opening soundscape returns 8 minutes in. Amazing ! "Mirror Mask" opens with synths.This is dreamy with keys and drums with vocal melodies. It kicks in with some power. Vocals a minute in as it settles. I like the subtle tempo shifts on this one as the heaviness is contrasted with the mellower sections. Fantastic song. The untitled third track is an instrumental. Strummed guitar, bass and drums lead the way. "Lost Years" opens with some atmosphere and guest cello. Almost whispered vocals come in. An interesting sound to this one as vocals come and go. A little heavier before 3 minutes then it settles down as cello returns and reserved vocals. Full sound is back 4 1/2 minutes in. "18" is more uptempo as drums, organ and guitar lead the way. Vocals come in quickly. It settles down then picks back up. These tempo changes continue. A nice heavy sound 2 minutes in then it relaxes again.These contrasts continue.

"Mother Of Existence" is a fairly restrained tune that breaks out once in a while. I like it. Song seven is a short untitled instrumental. It builds slowly with marching styled drums. "Whispering Forest" sounds really good early as vocals join in. Almost a dead calm after a minute with acoustic guitar. It builds as cello and drums come in. It settles again before we get a full sound 3 minutes in. Tempo and mood shifts continue with regularity. Song nine is another short instrumental. It builds as well slowly. "Dream" is the longest track at almost 10 minutes. Drums,gentle guitar and cello open things as reserved vocals come in. A full sound before 1 1/2 minutes. Organ and spoken words follow. Kind of psychedelic here.The song continues to change and themes are repeated.The last track is another untitled instrumental. This is the longest instrumental at 3 minutes.This one has a groovy sound to it. Nice guitar to as it builds. It settles back before kicking in again. An outstanding way to finish the album.

I'm a little surprised at the negative reviews for this one on other sites. Part of it might be the ANEKDOTEN-like vocals (which I love). Glad to see it rated highly on this site though. It's a really good album in my opinion.

1. Flight Of Shamash (9:13) : The intro contains the impressive sound of a Gregorian choir, then Kvazar manages to create a great tension beween dreamy (fragile guitar, soaring keyboards and acoustic guitar), fluent and bombastic parts (eruptions with fiery guitar and organ), very compelling and dynamic with echoes from Anekdoten (a bit sultry and a propulsive rhythm-section).

2. Choir Of Life (5:36) : The music alternates between cheerful folky (flute, mandoline and soft way-wah guitar) and bombastic with lush violin waves and spectacular synthesizer flights.

3. Untitled (1:30) : A very beautiful track delivering warm Spanish guitar and soaring

4. Dreams Of Butterflies (8:30) : Here is my highlight on this CD, it contains lots of shifting moods and many surprising musical ideas: jazzy with violin-Mellotron drops, bombastic eruptions with majestic choir-Mellotron and sensitive guitar runs, an accellaration with a fluent synthesizer solo in a jazzy climate and dreamy with warm vocals and thin saxophone, unique!

5. Untitled (1:49) : A strang track with lots of weird sounds.

6. Spirit Of Time (8:42) : This long composition reminds me of Pink Floyd because of the spacey keyboards, the slow rhythm and the sensitive guitar work. Halfway a great break with sensational keyboards and dramatic female vocals. The Mellotron waves evoke early King Crimson.

7. Desert Blues (6:13) : A splendid translation by the band from the title into the music: a sultry atmosphere that make you feel alienated, we also hear strange sounds and a fiery saxophone.

8. Sometimes (5:09) : Here we can enjoy the distinctive Rhodes eletric piano sound in a jazzy climate with subdued guitar play and dreamy saxophone work.

9. A Giant's Lullaby (9:42) : This titletrack delivers many shifting moods, from a slow rhythm with mellow saxophone and dreamy with choir-Mellotron to a mid-tempo with swinging piano, everything is possible with Kvazar in this captivating composition!

10. Dark Horizons (8:03) : The final song is dreamy with twanging guitar, gradually the music becomes more bombastic but to me it fails to keep my attention, a bit disappointing end.

The words 'progression' and 'progressive' should be put on the banner of this interesting Norwegian band, they have made a strong, very varied album, ranging from classic symphonic rock to jazz, if you are up to this variation the new Kvazar will delight you!

This second album is full of Gregorian choirs-induced by sampling and mellotrons (dare I say that this album is a mellotrons orgy and should bring regular progheads to numerous orgasms ;-) but the palette of influences is also increased to jazz and folk, making it an all-around more successful album (artistically anyway) than the debut. It is safe to say that Kvazar has matured and now started to develop their own sound (everything is relative of course since the dreaded 80's, though), but by no means are they groundbreaking or even novel, but their retro-sounding prog is sure as hell pleasant. Songwriting-wise, they stay roughly on the same canvas, writing lenghty (max 10 min) - but never elongated - tracks interspaced with some short and often untitled short passage (although they are under-titled Black Hole). The second track Choir Of Life does stand out from the rest of the album with its rapid upbeat folky mood, and a female guest vocalist from the forth track onwards regular sax and Fender Rhodes shift the ambiances ever so slightly to a jazzier realm, but the group remain truthful to itself even with the slightly Arabic-sounding Desert Blues and the definitely jazzy Sometimes. The last couple of tracks are a definite return to the more symphonic feel of the start of the album and the debut.

Certainly different than their debut yet a very logical follow-up, Kvazar is bound to become more than just a retro-prog group and I have a hard time waiting for the next album - hopefully it will be quicker than the five years span between the first two.