Between the two projects by Antony Kalugin', 'Karfagen' and 'Sunchild' to which you can add his solo productions, difficult to navigate but, to sum up, whatever his project, this artist always offers us very good progressive rock albums with a symphonic tendency and the latest 'Sunchild', 'Exotic Creatures and a Stolen Dream', released in early January 2023, will not contradict it. After the series of three very good albums by 'Karfagen', 'Echoes From Within Dragon Island' from 2019, 'Birds of Passage' from 2020 and 'Land of Green and Gold' from 2022 and shorter than the previous 'Sunchild' album, 'Messages from Afar: The Division and Illusion of Time', this latest opus by the Ukrainian who went into exile in Poland includes two long developments, one of 26 minutes and the other of 14 minutes, the last two titles being more anecdotal (it exists a version with the singles of the short versions of the two long titles which are available on spotify here for 'Life Lines' and here for 'Northern Skies').
We are welcomed by the master piece 'Life Lines' which alone is worth the purchase of this album, and which offers us a majestic piece made up of many drawers which would take too long to dissect one by one and, Consequently, I will simply say that everything has been done to offer us rich and sophisticated symphonic progressive which draws its influences from the last five decades, each moment bringing to the listener references to different formations, starting with the precursors of 70s which have become essential and which have given this style its letters of nobility. Antony Kalugin's talent as a composer is always present with numerous rhythmic and melodic changes which make it a progressive monument that it is obviously necessary to appropriate, little by little, after multiple listenings, the musical grail slowly taking on its full dimension. But, despite all this overflowing inspiration, the composer would not be much without a quality interpretation and we can emphasize that each artist brings his stone to the building, with of course the talent of Antony Kalugin' on keyboards and vocals, well supported by the female choirs, and I'm also thinking of guitarist 'Alexandr Pavlov' who has nothing to envy to a certain 'David Gilmour', but also 'Ivan Goritski' on drums and 'Konstantin Ionenko' on the bass which ensure a remarkable rhythmic section by adapting perfectly to the many changes of intensities, and also to the more furtive interventions of 'Yan Vedaman' on the saxophone and 'Sergii Kovalov' on the accordion. We continue with 'Northern Skies', a little shorter, but which certainly shows a more melancholy face and which this time, highlights the singing talent of 'Maria Panasenko' in addition to that of Antony Kalugin' by forming a magnificent vocal duo which, for my part, deserves to be more present in the compositions of 'Karfagen' and 'Sunchild' on studio recordings (the two singers 'Maria Panasenko' and 'Olha Rostovska' already having the habit to perform in concert with 'Antony Kalugin'). This composition brings a very special emotion and makes us rise warm on a cosy little cloud with many triggers of this little shiver so characteristic of an immense listening pleasure. As I already said in the introduction, the last two titles are more anecdotal and consist of two short titles: the instrumental 'Timeless Motion' which takes up the theme of 'Life Lines' in orchestral and 'Northern Lights' which carries one last time in a melancholy atmosphere with a string accompaniment, a very beautiful aerial song and a last magnificent 'Gilmourian' solo.
In summary, it is no surprise that 'Antony Klugin' gratifies us with an admirable new album which should join the list of essential albums for all fans of symphonic progressive and 'Exotic Creatures and a Stolen Dream' further demonstrates that 'Antony Kalugin', accompanied by talented artists, is a safe bet in contemporary progressive rock and should be one of the major progressive albums of the year 2023... | |
