Tuesday, December 8, 2015

The Grand Astoria- The Mighty Few (Fire Storm Production)

The Grand Astoria from St. Petersburg are one of the most prolific Russian bands on the psychedelic rock scene today. The band has 21 albums or EPs, live etc.. on the bandcamp site but this is their 6th proper CD.  This is their latest release and it features just two long tracks, each with a lot of different movements. Curse of the Ninth starts things off and is quite heavy and intense for the first 7 mins and then it has a nice and very beautiful musical break with flutes, etc.. lovely stuff… This more mellow floating piece with flute, horns, etc.. and some cool drumming lasts about 8mins and then it gets quite heavy and intense again with a good mix of synthesizer and heavy rock guitars. I love this section. The track nearly ends after 21mins with a very nice floating vocal section that last about 3mins and I thought for sure the track was over but no, they return to the heavy nearly doom riffing that started the entire thing off as the track comes to an end after 28mins! Wow.  The Siege is another nearly 20min track. It starts off also with a heavy and dark theme but this does not last that long before it becomes more happy and relaxed and an almost reggae like rhythm takes hold with some nice melodic singing. They remind me so much of someone else but I just can’t place it at the moment. Just before 8mins the track starts to build up again with a guitar solo and more intense drums but still a slow military like beat. It gets really psychedelic after this point. Wow. Around 13mins we float back to reality as the track slowly spaces out and continues just as you thought it was all over. IT does come to a complete end and silence but at 15:50, it starts up again with just some guitar and bass as the drums and join. Great bass playing in this section. It goes for a further 3-4mins. I have to say this is a very impressive and cool album. I have enjoyed it very much, so many expressive moods and great playing. Great work guys and gals.


No comments:

Post a Comment