Reviews for the album THE DOOR TO A PARALLEL WORLD (MALS, 2008)
http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=6962
I'm in love! Yep, I admit it, I've fallen for the gorgeous Elena Kanevskaya (vocal, keyboards, recorder). It's not just her sultry good looks either, but also her captivating vocal performance on The Door to a Parallel World , Eternal Wanderers's first album, that has taken me over the edge. I'd better be on the look-out though, because her sister, Tatyana (guitar and bass guitar), may well poke a married man in the eye (or even kick him painfully in a tender place) should he dare to attempt to woo her sibling. Jeez, guess I'd better content myself with their music then....
And content with this music is what I am..Kicking off with the spacey keyboard intro of "how long i'd been facing the dark" you begin to lull yourself into slowish-tempo space-rock mode when, almost immediately, Elena's vocal brings you back down to earth - literally - the inflection and phrasing of her melodic lines recalling traditional folk songs and dances, and you soon find yourself deeply enmeshed in a musical world that is a fusion of mainly keyboard-driven space rock with light influences that come, I would guess (given the band's origin), from traditional Russian music. This meshing of folk-rooted music into a rock landscape is nothing new of course but it is the first time that I have heard a fusion with space-rock (the band themselves style it as a blend of psychedelic and art-rock, citing influences from many great 1960/70s progressive bands: Pink Floyd being the greatest to these ears at least). Despite being very different to the most traditional form of folk or celtic-rock, or even the more recent fusions that bands like Nightwish have attempted, Eternal Wanderers's fusion works extremely well and that's thanks not only to Elena's fine mezzo-delivery but also to the band's musical performance. Not flashy or virtuosic, just perfectly concentrated on the delivery of the musical effect.
Eternal Wanderers started as Elena and Tatyana's "Keyboard-guitar" project in 1997. They issued two demo-discs (in 2000 and 2001), a single in 2000 and contributed to a number of compilation albums featuring electroacoustic music. It was only in 2006 that the girls were joined by a bassist and a drummer and, in their words, "became at last a true rock band ". The Door to a Parallel World followed, released by Russian label MALS earlier this year. Some of the compositions on the album have their origins back in the girls' pre-band days, for instance the instrumental "visions of the lost world", featuring the most overt electronic experimentation, dates back to 2001's demo-disc. This version is longer though and still manages to weave in some folkish themes during one of its phases, so perhaps the band have tinkered with it during recording.
"visions...." is, for me, the least successful piece within the context of the album, meandering off in directions but failing to carry me along with the music throughout all of its duration. "the door to a parallel world", the other instrumental, is more successful, the guitar dominating over a synthesizer backdrop, a short folk-jig in its second half, before returning to the main theme. The remainder of the compositions are sung: all are enjoyable but a special mention has to go to "no way back", which is the most enjoyable take on the perennial "lost in space" theme that I've heard for many years (I've already previously reviewed two in my short time on this website alone! - Jim Ladd and Jupiter Society). Here, the folk-space rock approach suits the subject extremely well - it's an excellent song.
Anyway, as the band themselves say on their website: "it is possible to tell much, but it's better to listen to the music once than to read a hundred reviews". I'd better shut up then! Just to let you know though, that if you are interested you can follow the band's advice: click on the band's website link below, then find and follow the "music" banner - below the discography you will see that you can listen to or download music from the album in a fairly rough 112kbps mp3 format - enough to give you a taster and persuade you to buy the actual CD!
Added: November 5th 2008
Reviewer: Alex Torres
http://www.indoprogsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=153&Itemid=1
Written by Soen S. Mojo
Friday, 19 September 2008
In the effort to observe the development of progressive rock in Russia, the presence of Elena Kanevskaya became highly important. After read some resumes of her career, instantly I liken her to a smart bluestocking. As can be seen in the records, a few her works included in some sci-fi compilations, such as Music For Brain, Electracoustic Music, etc. At that time her so-called keeness on the impact of hectic perestroika, concealing endless psycho-clashes among personal urges, traditional norms and political hypocrisies. The thought of the problems of her music practice and the endless hypo caused she took a long way in searching for utopia. Then, together with her sister Tatyana Kanevskaya as guitarist and accompanied by Sergey Rogulya on drum, Dmitri Shtatnov on bass and Dmitri Drogunov on flute and recorder, in the name of Eternal Wanderers they set out on a journey. In the end, all of these were left untouched and replaced instead by expression in music works.
http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200815.php#eternal
There is nothing uncommon about female singers in prog bands these days but what makes Eternal Wanderers quite unique is that the band is fronted by two sisters. Elena and Tatyana Kanevskaya put the band together in Moscow just over ten years ago but have taken until now to release their debut album. Elena supplies the vocals, keyboards and recorder whilst Tatyana takes care of the guitar duties. They are joined by bassist Dmitry Shtatnov and drummer Sergey Rogulya, with Sergey Alyamkin, who has subsequently left the band, providing the drums on one track. Flute and recorder player Dmitry Drogunov has also joined the band since the recording of this album.
Elena sings in English in a distinctive style that would fit comfortably into a traditional folk environment. Her voice did take a while to grow on me I must confess sounding not unlike a cross between Joan Baez (on the mellow songs) and new wave singer/actress Hazel O'Connor (on the strident songs). Her mostly synth keys work is very much in the symphonic neo-prog vein whilst Tatyana's guitar technique betrays her love of Steve Morse 's playing. Their musical style is fairly eclectic injecting songs and instrumentals with elements of prog, folk, psychedelic and electronic. It all fits together in a harmonious fashion and I was especially taken by their flair for strong melodies. This is certainly true of the title track The Door To A Parallel World , a mellow and tuneful instrumental led by spacey Floyd ian guitar. The technique also reminded me of PFM 's Franco Mussida , a name that doesn't come to mind as often as it might when I'm comparing guitarists.
As instrumentals go even better still is the albums longest cut Visions Of The Lost World . An unhurried introduction eventually blossoms into a hauntingly beautiful guitar refrain that Camel and Wishbone Ash would be proud of. It also benefits from some busy and nicely timed drum articulations that are a throwback to Phil Collins ' pattern from Band Aid's Feed The World single. The only weak link is an ambient bridge section compising eerie electronic effects of the type normally found in sci-fi movies. This part's a tad drawn out in my view but the guitar theme returns once more augmented by symphonic keys and tubular bells to provide a majestic coda.
Of the songs, which range from the Bjorn Lynne flavoured electronic soundscape opening of How Long I'd Been Facing The Dark to the fluid guitar solo that closes Revival , they're all sufficiently diverse in mood and tempo to hold the listeners attention. The former includes a neat fretless bass solo whilst the latter indulges in forceful organ and synth interplay that brings ELP to mind. Elsewhere the vigorous Ride Without End features a memorable chorus supported by statacco metallic riffs and orchestral keys punctuations. No Way Back has an even greater urgency driven by a gutsy shuffle rhythm that owes a debt to Jethro Tull 's Living In The Past . Following a mellow synth break that has Wakeman stamped all over it, the song concludes with animated guitar and synth exchanges that standout as some of the albums best playing.
The albums centrepiece Too Close To Heavens has a folk ballad feel mainly due to the wistful sound of the recorder and the plaintive vocal. An engaging chorus is enriched by lyrical classical guitar picking and a warm bass sound. Elena's singing is at its best here and I would say that this slower style suits her voice better than the up-tempo songs. During the aforementioned closing track Revival she also adds an ethereal chant that's very effective especially against the celestial organ backdrop.
With The Door To A Parallel World Eternal Wanderers have produced a very worthy debut. In terms of personnel preferences I have only one minor gripe. To illustrate the albums concept of infinite inner and outer space, ambient electronic effects are liberally used to open and close almost every track to the point of predictable regularity. The end result for me is that each song is around a couple of minutes longer than it needs to be. On the plus side there's certainly no doubting the care and effort they've put into the song writing, arrangements and recording. Elena and Tatyana are also responsible for the robust production which ensures that the music's weight and subtitles are effectively conveyed. This release would make a fine addition to any neo-prog collection.
Conclusion: 7.5 out of 10
http://www.proggnosis.com/MUSIC_DBCDInfo.asp?txtCDID=25450
Published on: 11 Mar 2008
Fronted by the Kanevskaya sisters, Eternal Wanderers is a powerful progrock/hard prog band hailing from Moscow, Russia. Their sound is reminiscent to some modern currents of neo-prog and melodic prog-metal, with a slight gothic touch many times provided by the strong and unusual female vocals. Yet, the band is also unique in many ways, one of them laying exactly upon the just metioned vocal factor, which is really an interesting add to the overall musicality of the band.
Apart from the vocal department, the band presents a harmonious and melodic music, seemingly steady and secure on the so called Neo-Prog grounds, with Guilmouresque guitar soloing and sometimes harder guitar riffs, while presenting a very strong symphonic notion and a sometimes art-rock attitude. The mix of all these elements, which are very well “glued” together, provides the listener with a true enjoying ride through power/melodic/emotional meadows.
All tracks here are very well constructed, especially in instrumental terms, as the instruments interact in a positive and bright way, especially in the 3 all-instrumental tracks.
This is clearly a band with a well defined goal and a well structured and brighten musicality that will not only surprise the more melodic and contemporary lovers of progressive rock, but will undoubtedly provide them with a great new discovery and a name to keep in mind for future releases. Mals has made an essencial move when betting on this new face in Russian progressive scene, and we just have to thank them (and even more the band) for that.
http://www.progressor.net/review/eternal_wanderers_2008.html
Prolusion. ETERNAL WANDERERS is a progressive rock group from the capital of Russia, Moscow, and was formed by the Kanevsky sisters in 1997. In 1998 the band gave their first concert, after which they became an essential part of Moscow's underground scene, attracting the people with the uncommonness of their live performances, by using psychedelic slide shows on a big screen behind the stage. In 2001 they for the first time attracted the attention of some recording companies, which resulted in the appearance of their songs in several compilations, namely "Follow the Sun" and "Electroacoustic Music" Vol. VII and IX, presented by Electroshock Records. In 2006 the band's lineup finally stabilized, so soon after Eternal Wanderers entered the studio to record their first full-length album, “The Door to a Parallel World”, which saw the light of day shortly after the 2008 New Year holiday.
Analysis. This Russian quartet’s debut creation is a challenge to plenty of contemporary bands working within the art-rock and prog-metal idioms. Of the seven tracks here (with an average duration of about eight minutes), five contain vocals, though instrumental parts are usually dynamically evolving regardless of whether there’s concurrent singing, and therefore seem to be prevalent, both in length and influence. Shortly after its atmospheric beginning the opening track, How Long I’d Been Facing the Dark, gets a shape of what in future turns out to be the prevalent style here, startlingly progressive Hard Rock (which is synonymous to Prog-Metal utilizing overdrive units instead of distortion ones) with a perfect balance between symphonic and heavy sounds, developing with a fanfare of chugging guitar, swirling synthesizer and vibrating string ensemble, using multi-layered sonic constructions, complex stop-to-play moves, odd time signatures and so on. Ride Without End and No Way Back both evolve in a similar way: aggressive rhythm guitar and a driving rhythm section serve as a firm bottom end for lead guitar, recorder and various keyboards, though the first of these contains less dramatic transitions, due to its relatively short format, while the latter is progressively most saturated, probably the best track here (despite a couple of moves in the Jethro Tull manner), additionally notable for some East European folk colorations. The instrumental title track is overall much in the same vein as No Way Back, but without any direct influences. Too Close to Heavens starts off and unwinds as a complicated art-rock ballad with plenty of blazing acoustic guitar leads, but later on changes its trajectory twice, passing over some involved constructions within the domain of Doom Metal before transforming into symphonic Art-Rock of the first water in its final movement. Besides the aforesaid No Way Back, some outside factors can only be traced on the disc’s last two tracks, the instrumental Visions of the Lost World and the song Revival (a few Keith Emerson-inspired solos in both cases), but even then only in places, one time when Elena Kanevskaya plays organ, and another time when she turns on a Moog-related register of her synthesizer. Aurally darker than any other compositions, stylistically these two suggest a mixture of Symphonic Progressive, Space Rock and Doom Metal, though on the concluding track the latter component is less distinct. The group effortlessly slips from feverish battles with the use of big guns to calmer symphonic passages to spacey atmospheric landscapes, still retaining a strong sense of melody throughout. The level of musicianship is higher than average, with keyboardist and flutist Elena and her sister guitar player Tatiana standing out. Both have a good command of their respective instruments, deploying a variety of devices and techniques to sound fresh and resourceful. Nevertheless it’s definitely Elena who is the main star of this act, bearing in mind that not only did she write all the music and lyrics, but also handles two different instruments and all vocal duties. Though her English is slightly accented, her (unusual, fairly low) velvety voice is truly captivating, and she puts a lot of passion and inspiration into her singing.
Conclusion. “The Door to a Parallel World” is quite an apt title for this recording, considering the originality of the band’s approach. I’ll clarify what I mean. Although deploying almost exclusively classic, time-honored progressive rock styles in their music, Eternal Wanderers sound really unlike anyone else in most cases. I believe this is the best female-led progressive outfit to appear in the new century, and should receive a lot of well-deserved attention with their varied and innovative debut effort. Highly recommended, perhaps save those exclusively into Jazz or Avant-garde.
VM=Vitaly Menshikov: February 15, 2008
http://www.musicinbelgium.net/pl/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=2578
Actives depuis 1997 sur la scène moscovite, les s?urs Kanevskaya n'ont élargi leur duo familial qu'en 2006. Avec l'adjonction d'un bassiste et d'un batteur, Eternal Wanderers est alors devenu un groupe à part entière.
« The Door to a Parallel World » peut être considéré comme leur premier album, même si le duo originel avait déjà réalisé quelques enregistrements d'envergure plus modeste, dont une démo en 2000. Cette longue attente n'aura pas été veine, car ce disque est une totale réussite, un petit chef-d'?uvre même, chatoyant, passionnant et sans faiblesse, dans lequel Eternal Wanderers parvient à se mouvoir avec goût dans différents styles de musiques, avec un sens inné de la mélodie, du rythme et, ce qui est plus rare, du rebond. Les deux titres uniquement instrumentaux n'ont rien à envier aux cinq autres et permettent d'exprimer la facette la plus Progressive du quatuor.
A l'écoute, on comprend aisément que les s?urs Kanevskaya aient pu si longtemps se contenter d'une formation en duo. En effet, elles se complètent à merveille. Aux claviers, Elena incarne la douceur et la légèreté. Elle travaille beaucoup à l'enrobage des morceaux et aux atmosphères qu'elles aiment aussi flottantes. Cela ne l'empêche pas de déployer une virtuosité bien réelle dans certaines parties plus instrumentales. Au chant, elle fait merveille avec une voix qui croise entre Linda de Suza et Linda Rondstadt , tant dans le ton que dans la force, avec un fond original de colorations orientales. Elle en exploite le potentiel avec talent, sans rechercher l'effet vocal spectaculaire. Avec sa s?ur Tatyana aux guitares, on entre dans un autre registre. Cette dernière représente l'eau et le feu. Son jeu peut être délicat et subtil, mais aussi puissant, tranchant et agressif. Parmi ces influences majeures, elle cite Steve Morse ( Dixie Dregs , Kansas , Deep Purple , …), Steve Howe ( Yes , Asia ), Steve Vai et Joe Satriani . Sans conteste, il y a de tout cela, mais aussi beaucoup du merveilleux guitariste tout terrain de Jethro Tull , Martin Barre .
D'ailleurs, dans la diversité de ses quarante ans de carrière et dans cette capacité à changer de genre, Jethro Tull apparaît ici comme la référence la plus évidente et la plus fréquente, même s'il faut aussi nommer Yes , dans les années 1970, Steve Howe et Geoff Downes , et ma grande découverte de 2007, Fromuz (voir chronique). On retrouve ici du Progressif pur jus, du Psychédélique, du Folk (Ethnique, Oriental), du Hard, et j'en passe, avec, de surcroît, un don pour créer la mélodie mémorable.
Pour terminer, il faut signaler l'excellente tenue des nouveaux venus à la basse et aux percussions. Leurs interventions s'intègrent efficacement et sans complexe dans la musique du duo de base. Dans « No Way Back » , leur jeu éblouissant et spectaculaire aide les deux demoiselles à faire de cette pièce un petit chef-d'?uvre.
En conclusion, un grand album à découvrir à tout prix.
Мы живем в век утраты терминами заложенных в них значений. Даже сегодняшнее состояние того музыкального массива, что именуется "прогрессив-рок", подразумевает не стремление к прогрессу, а скорее сложившийся вокруг данного жанра набор штампов - сложных, изысканных, но штампов. Кроме того, и тут не обошлось без дробления на поджанры и создания между ними непроходимых границ. Арт-рок, нью-эйдж и электронная музыка не то, чтобы надежно разделены, но наработками друг друга пользуются редко и малоубедительно. Достойных фолк-прог-рокеров после Jethro Tull так на свет и не появилось. А в так называемом прог-метал доминирует второе слагаемое - правда, почему-то без присущего металлу драйва.
Кто разорвет этот порочный круг? Пока что самые хорошие шансы имеют наши соотечественники из Eternal Wanderers . Они не пишутся на "Starless" и не выступают на фестивалях класса "In Prog" - короче говоря, они не в тусовке, а сами по себе. Не слишком известны даже специалистам? Да. Зато имеют возможность творить без оглядки на микроформаты, складывающиеся даже в микротусовках. Альбом "The Door To A Parallel World" , к которому группа шла почти десять лет - это дерзкая смесь атмосферной электроники и тяжелых гитар, урбанистического грохота и фолк-мотивов.
Шаманские плясовые с металлическими риффами и перегруженным вокалом в "No Way Back" ? Многие прог-рокеры сейчас экспериментируют с индустриальным или альтернативным саундом, но это - явно один из самых удачных экспериментов. Атмосферные композиции, полные протяжных слайд-гитар, раскатистых барабанов и переговоров на космических частотах? Подобно тому, как дебютный альбом Kingdom Come некогда использовали для мистификаций, выдавая его за воссоединение Led Zeppelin , инструментальная композиция "The Door To A Parallel World" могла бы сойти за неизвестную запись Pink Floyd . Вот только где-то на середине сей номер мутирует в людоедские пляски с интригующими атональностями. Другим инструменталом, "Visions Of The Lost World" , группа намекает на возможность выхода прог-метал из тупика: в звонких и блестящих электронных пространствах минималистичные гитарные риффы имеют возможность раскручиваться бесконечными спиралями. Есть на диске и выдержанные в более-менее традиционных тонах сочинения вроде "Ride Without End" . Этот беспроигрышный в концертном исполнении боевик удачно соединяет стилистики и продолжает линии развития таких классиков жанра, как Rush и Manfred Mann .
Наиболее сильный трек - несомненно, эпическая "Too Close To Heavens" . Полное ощущение проделанного вместе с музыкантами путешествия по смертельно опасным, и оттого вдвойне красивым горным кручам. Воющий ветер и грохот лавин, флейты, бубенцы и варган, переборы классической гитары и грозный рык ее электрической сестры, дикий, стихийный вокал и ангельские хоры... В этом номере сконцентрирована сама суть Eternal Wanderers, группы, не то, что бы не признающей - просто не замечающей границ на своем бесконечном пути.
Хорошо, но мало. Некоторые уже известные публике по концертной программе группы номера в альбом не вошли. Впрочем, история Eternal Wanderers только началась. Так что будем слушать этот альбом и ждать следующего.
13.03.2008, БЕБЕНИН, Дмитрий ( ЗВУКИ РУ )