'Eternal Wanderers' is a Russian formation formed by two sisters, Elena and Tatyana Kanevskaya and who already has more than 20 years of career with several albums to its credit and a first period with an electro-acoustic style and 'Floydian' influences from the period 'Ummaguma', and a second period evolving towards progressive rock with 3 studio recordings, 'The Door To A Parallel World' in 2008, 'SoFar and So Near' in 2011 and 'The Mystery Of The Cosmic Sorrow' in 2016. 'Homeless Soul' (see their page on this new opus here) is their 4th progressive rock album and after a first listen, the first feeling that comes out is that they mix two types of progressive : first, a fairly classic progressive rock inherited from the 70s with the singer 'Elena Kanevskaya' who delivers remarkable vocal performances and in these parts, the style makes me Don't think about the British from the ‘Renaissance’ (see their latest album here); then, they also offer us sections (see even whole titles) only instrumental which are in a modern and sought-after progressive style which brings back at certain times to the English of ‘ELP’.
It is with a magnificent vocal performance à capella by 'Elena Kanevskaya' that 'Eternal Wanderers' invites us to start the opus, then 'Eternal Wanderer' unrolls a very beautiful melody and it is in this kind of titles that the parallel with 'Renaissance' is quite obvious. In the same vein we can cite the psychedelic ‘Meteor’ with beautiful instrumental sections or the beautiful ballad ‘I Wanna Give My Life for You’. In parallel with these titles, the Russians offer compositions which alternate sung parts and other more elaborate instrumental which require several listening to integrate all the nooks and crannies : 'Transformations' is the first example with a fairly long first instrumental part , then a short part sung and finally, a final taking up the starting theme, then, 'The Cradle of a Hurricane' is entirely instrumental in 6 parts, sometimes serene, sometimes intense, describing the natural phenomena that are the hurricanes which I quote « are one of these phenomena that has mysticism and power, a cycle of life, born in the illusory calm waters of the ocean ». The rest of the album scrolls the ballad 'Chaos of Reason' which incorporates very beautiful contemporary passages in a psychedelic atmosphere and beautiful vocalizations of Elena in the second part (again this parallel with 'Renaissance'), the second instrumental 'In Search Of The Antiworld', alternating melancholic melodic lines with disturbing atmospheres, then the eponymous title of the album with sound effects and a tormented narration interspersed with sung sections, the album ending in an original way oriental atmosphere with 'Invested with Mystery', a title quite off the beaten track and a last beautiful vocal performance by 'Elena Kanevskaya' accompanied by the sitar of 'Dmitry Shtatnov'.
In summary, the Russians of Eternal Wanderers' release an album of remarkable originality which mixes different styles and which need to be tamed, little by little, over the listening and for this reason, 'Homeless Soul' will certainly limited to an informed public who likes to mix an inventive and sought-after progressive with symphonic and melodic atmospheres embellished with a very beautiful voice... | |
