Sodom and Gomorrah, their fifth album, is as you might surmise from the title, a concept work based
around the famous Biblical tale, in which the human race gets its just deserts.
Originally written as the soundtrack for a musical production by the Youth
Theatre of Uzbekistan by keyboardist and band leader Albert Khalmurzaev, this
collaboration rekindles an association with the young thespians that goes back
to their debut, the DVD of which was filmed on their stages.
The quiet acoustic
guitar beginning to Intro heralds a
rather familiar sounding guitar figure that bugged be for weeks, until, with a little help from my mate Phill (ta!), I tracked it down. The riff is a more upfront but almost note-for-note copy of Dave Gilmour's riff at the beginning of Sorrow, the last and best track from the otherwise rather dull Momentary Lapse Of Reason album. I have to admire the blatant cheek, as it is even in the same key! Well, I suppose if Steven Wilson can get away with being...ahem..."inspired" by Floyd on Time Flies, then why not? The now established stadium-sized prog atmospherics are carried through to Prologue and City, the former having an air of foreboding, while the latter tries to remain upbeat, but with a sense of something bad coming round the corner. City expands on a
simple but evocative guitar theme, which has now evolved into one of those melodies you
might find yourself humming in the shower. The song ends with a sort of Euro-romp
that might have sounded cheesy in less capable hands.
Lot begins with an elongated keyboard minor chord as an introduction to a very Gilmour-like liquid
guitar solo, before ploughing a trough of Floydian
symphonic melancholy in perfect harmony with its doomed subject matter. It is
apparent by now that Vitaly Popeloff is in thrall to Mr Gilmour, but that does not stop this being a highly enjoyable instrumental prog album, and
unlike so many others these days, it actually contains some memorable melodies.
The video clip above is not the best example of the album, but all I could find on YouTube. Streaming of the whole album is availble by clicking the 10T Records link at the bottom of this article.
The sweeping vistas of a soundtrack give this record a wide open and dreamy feeling, so much so that one is sharply jolted back to Earth by the charging riffing of The Capture, Vitaly contributing another soaring solo in the middle section.
Albert has shown here that he is a very good arranger as well as composer, and although this is his project, the instrumental top billing throughout goes to guitarist Vitaly, whose sometimes derivative but always dexterous and melodic style fits the fast changing scenery perfectly.
Each distinctive
part of the album forms a far greater whole, and although it may have been
tempting to make this work a single fifty two minute long track to appease the easily led long track addict,
Albert has sensibly edited it into far more agreeable bite size chunks, again
showing no little skill in the process.
Listening to Andrei
Mara-Novik’s bass parts, especially on The Orgy, a suitably frantically paced
roustabout, it is clear that he is a fan of the Tree’s diminutive four (or
five) stringer Colin Edwin. More
riffs from the past appear in Folly or
Mob, introduced on the back of what sounds like syncopated heavy breathing.
Thankfully, this time the familiar melody was instantly recalled by my misfiring neurons as being similar to Don’t Fall by early UK indie
legends The Chameleons, although it may well have been adapted by them in their turn from something else. There is nothing new under the sun where melodies are concerned, after all. The tune eventually
morphs into something Big Country
might have played out, which makes a nice change from worshipping Genesis and Yes,
as is the wont for a lot of bands these days. This track has become my favourite on the album as it has bags of attitude and ventures into unexpected territories. The laughter, vocalisations, and heavy breathing work fine, too.
As the album
progresses the sounds become darker, denser, and the pace slows, as you would
expect given the story it narrates. This has the minor effect of making the
album lose a little focus in last third, but listened to in context it all
makes perfect sense. These dark atmospherics supplied by Albert and Evgeniy
Popeloff (son of Vitaly) on dual keyboards are added to by the latter’s displaced and distant vocalisations.
The riff theme
returns in Procession Of Dead Stars and
continues through The Escape, as the
album heads off for climax and destruction with To The Flames. The Biblical smiting and smoting is not achieved by ham-fisted
metal-mania, as lesser musicians may have predictably wrung out, but by a
chilling horror movie ambience, including an eerie sample of Marilyn Monroe’s
famous line “I wanna be loved by you”. This last track would not sound out of
place on a Fantomas album, and is so far removed from the obvious prog
influences, some of which have appeared on the record anyway, that it
provokes a wry smile from this scribbler.
All in all, a
thoroughly enjoyable listen from this ever-evolving band. However if I may offer a few words of advice for the future - try to keep away from the swag bag of plundered riffs!
Tracklist:
1. Intro (3:12)
2. Prologue (3:24)
3. City (2:06)
4. Lot (4:54)
5. The Capture (3:32)
6. Black Feast I (2:48)
7. The Orgy (4:17)
8. Folly or Mob (6:44)
9. The Blindness/Wife’s Prayer (5:07)
10. Black Wedding (4:07)
11. Black Feast II (3:42)
12. Procession Of Dead Stars (2:52)
13. The Escape (2:10)
14. To The Flames (3:41)
Total running time - 52:44
Line up:
Vitaly Popeloff - guitars
Albert Khalmurzaev - keyboards, guitars, vocals, harmonica
Vladimir Badirov - drums
Andrey Mara-Novik - bass
With:
Evgeiny Popeloff - keyboards, vocals
Get it at 10T Records
http://www.fromuzband.com/
Footnote: Al tells me that in actual fact this album was recorded several years ago, which explains the original line-up present on this recording. The original recording has been remixed and remastered for this 10T Records release.
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