Band : Project: A

Album title : Project: A

Label : None

Distributor : (Private)

Release Date : 23-11-2006

Release : Demo CD-R

This is a relatively new Russian band, formed with the desire to play a different kind of music. Different anyway, from the music which its members (brothers Savva & Sergey Terentyev ; the first playing guitars & keyboards, plus doin' the vocals, the second playing drums & percussion...plus guitarist/ keyboardist Yuri Kabantsev ) used to play. But then I'd have to give you some background on the guys first.

So here it is: Yuri formed his first band Requiem Aeternum in the early '90s, and tried out several Metal genres with a friend. Savva took to guitar later, joining his first band in the late '90s, having already a good piano experience and a good understanding of how instruments work (which greatly facilitated his switching to guitar).

In 2000 Savva and his brother left all the bands they'd been participating in before to form their own project Temnoy Les (a Black Metal band with some Folk influences). Starting out as a duo, the brothers eventually recorded a full-length CD in late 2000 with the help of a session guitarist (this CD, first put on distribution by a famous Russian Underground label, was officially re-released by same in 2006). 2000 was also the year Savva & Yuri got acqainted due to forming a Doom Metal band. From 1999, the latter had been member of Fata Morgana , a 2-man band (both Doom Metallers) specializing in atmosph eric instrumental music. This band split

in 2001, and Yuri concentrated on experimental music using/ abusing his guitar and Midi.

In 2002, Savva & Sergey formed the Black Metal outfit Dunkelforst , with which they gigged on a regular basis. The final 2-hour gig, on Halloween 2004, was also the first time Yuri got into the constellation. It was also the moment when the 3 realised that what they did together was actually not so bad, and why not simply go on as a band from then on? After some years tàlking about it, this finally came together in October of last year, and after a few writing/ reheasing sessions, the threesome went into a studio during the first days of November, to record their first 3-track demo.

Now...to explain to you what's on offer, I'm gonna partly use the words the bio we got has, and then add my own comments, because all 3 tracks have a different stylistic approach. So, let's begin with the opening track "Clad In Purest White" , which "...represents a mix of Psychedelic acoustic Ambient with some experimental noise parts, finishing with Neo-shamanic drums and percussion decked in mystical guitar sounds..."! Sounds nice, eh? But doesn't tell hàlf of what's goin' on on this 9:29 length song. As mentioned the track indeed opens with some sparce acoustic and Ambient-like guitar, upon which Savva brings some spoken word excerpts from work by renowned British poet/ writer/ etching, painting artist William Blake . 1:15 into the song brings a sudden explosion of electronic noises with experimental drums & percussion (upon which, I suspect, have also been laid some effects), and additionally the acoustic guitar starts playing a repetitive tune. Noisy electronics fading away around 4:00, and we find the guitar becoming electric, the drums (including some shamanistic percussion) and keyboards more sedate, for an eth eric al part in which whispered lyrics create a mystical effect. The track ends in mysterious background noises.

2 nd track, the 4:27 length "To The Evening Star" , is described as "...a half-folk song enriched with effects. On the whole it is performed on acoustic guitars accompanied by à la Jazz drums in the first half, and typical Rock drums in the second...". In fact, the song has 4 parts. During the first part, played on slight folky acoustic guitar and sparce piano-styled keyboards, you indeed also get the Jazz-styled soft drumming as mentioned, with some lyrics (spoken word again!) on top. Halfway the track, all instruments fall quiet for a 40-second spoken word musicless passage, after which the (acoustic) guitar comes back in more lively and more specific Folky manner, with drums as described earlier. This is also the only passage on the whole CD, where actual sínging happens. The last part is the 30-second fade-out, where the acoustic guitar (drums and vocals already having ceased) is being played more and more calmly and softly.

The third track, "While I Nodded Nearly Napping" is described as "...an ambient piece with a soft sound. We placed samples from a polylog of 3 scientists about the nature of human sleep...", and that's really what it ís! A very soothing returning tune (about which I have the strong feeling of having heard it before) serves as basis on which the samples (in the Russian language, by the way, and with some additional effects, like echo for instance) are laid. But there's an additional weirdness about that 3 rd track. You see, the total duration is 6:46, and the actual track only lasts 4:30. After a 66-second silence, you get some additional music, described as "...a sketch of a song we plan to develop in a full-weight composition...", this "track" features a soft recurring acoustic guitar (with some slight and weird echo effect) tune with keyboards kinda following the same line, and soft noisy electronics in the background. An ambient piece by all means, it leaves an exhilerating promise for the direction the full-length track will eventually have.

Final conclusion? A wonderful demo debut by this Russian trio, who need to start writing & recording new stuff as quickly as possibly, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, it certainly fills me with a feeling of gratefulness and awe that the trio has deemed our website important enough for them to grace us with a copy of said demo so quickly after completion. But foremost, I feel these guys need to prepare themselves as quickly as possible to get enough material for a full-length release! If possible officially through a label, and preferably one with the best intentions towards the band (say, wouldn't Inside Out be just perfect for this kind of music...or is it perhaps not it "Progressive" enough?)...but if need be on a private basis! I'm sure that with the great reviews these guys are gonna get (and have already been getting, judging by what I read on the band's website projecta.by.ru), they'll be able to sell enough copies to keep going all by themselves!

Not an official release, and not of full-length either, but I'm nevertheless putting this demo into that "Best Albums Of 2007" list of mine (since 2006 has already past, and the demo being released so late in that year, I'm sure nobody will mind the little anachronism).

98/100

Tony.