YAR

KSHETTRA is a fairly obscure progressive rock band that emerged from the Moscow coming from the suburb city of Zheleznodorozhny. Formed in 2007 by bassist Boris Gas and drummer Viktor Tikhonov, the duo has gone through a few changes of third members with a saxophone player and a couple guitar players. The first guitarist was Nikita Gabdulin who appeared on the early albums including this first EP titled YAR.

This band has been fairly distinct as it mixes math rock, post-rock and jazz with avant-prog along with some heavier rock to craft its own unique instrumental composiitons. This early EP features only three tracks but is fairly indicative of the band's overall style however on new releases the band employs more session musicians with brass saxophone sections and vocals. On YAR it's pretty much bass, guitar and drums with some synthesizers that offer atmospheric backdrops as well as sporadic electronic effects.

This EP is only just under 18 minutes long so it's a good sampler for hearing the band's spacey mix of jittery math rock. Moments of jazzy rhythms occur from time to time as do feisty guitar workouts but the atmospheric backdrop keeps it fairly mellowed out and the cyclical repetitive developments are very much from the post-rock playbook. The album opens with an ambient electronic effect before a thumping bass and accompanying drumbeat begins the rock elements. The guitars start out clean but eventually erupt into heavier rock with soloing.

This band delivers a fairly interesting sound but not anything that blows me away either. The band's name comes from a Sanskrit work meaning "holy land" but the music doesn't sound like it's inspired by Eastern influences nor does it sound particularly sacred or spiritual. It's basically a repetitive groove-a-thon through spacey motifs that offer a few fiery guitar performances ranging from clean riffing to more technical soloing. Of possible interest to those who can't get enough post-rock with math rock and jazz influences but overall it never really delivers anything substantial enough to get excited about. A decent release but nothing special.

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