Obiymy Doschu - "Elehia" Review

Artist/ Band: Obiymy Doschu
Title: Elehia
Label: MALS
Year of Release: 2011
Offical Artist/ Band Link

The Review:

This Russian progressive rock band reminds me of some of the dreamy symphonic German progressive rock bands of the 70's. They are classically based and have a great ear for melody and nice song structure. They bring together a strong mix of soft progressive rock (often with a heavy touch when the minute is right), classical, folk, and even a bit of post rock. The line up is Volodymyr Agafonkin on vocals, acoustic guitar, Oleksiy Katruk on electric guitar, Mykola Kryvonos on bass guitar, recorder, Serhiy Dumler on drums, percussion, Maria Kurbatova on keyboards, Olena Nesterovska on viola, Olexandra Vydrya on violin, and Hanna Kryvonos on backing vocals. As you can see, the band is set up for nice string arrangements, and those are quite beautiful. At times, there is a haunting early music mixture going on with even some nods to the more ethereal goth of the Heavenly Voices style music. The male vocals are somber and like soft opera sometimes, very understated, but very effective for this music.

On track 4 (translates to ‘The Withered Flowers of Her Soul’) the drummer lets loose with double bass and the music raises the energy level for that time. Except for a few places where the instrumentation engages in a more aggressive set of measures, the music is smooth, fairly low key, and very easy on the ears. Songs like track 5 (translates to “Fading Autumn”) has a strong Camel sound, especially the lead guitar, but then kicks into high gear just the way you like it. I said some of the music reminded me of the early symphonic German bands but I also hear a real close comparison to many Italian progressive bands that were influenced heavily by Genesis and Camel, and that ilk of music going on in the 70's. The one thing you also hear late in the CD (track 6 “Winter Elegy”) is some modern effects as this 10 minute composition kicks butt. Full use of dynamics and excellent changes throughout the song. It would have to be the most epic of the lot. A perfect follow-up is track 7 (translates to “Lonely Nights’) with beautiful acoustic guitar and running river, it’s a great deal like Celeste (another Italian classic comparison). The last song really gives you a treat too, (a bonus track actually, called ‘Sunrise”) with another 7 minute gem that instrumentally has that great Camel trait and at the end, it has a touch of things to come. It clearly shows a nod to post rock and a fantastic piece of it too. The fact is, the more I listen to this CD, the more I am impressed, and the more I love it. It’s a keeper, that is for sure. With each song, ‘Elehia” just keeps getting stronger and better. Yes, the vocals are in Russian, but I feel that this actually adds to the charm and mysterious quality of the music. I have thousands of recordings that are not in English, and it’s just never ever been any issue for this music lover of music from all over the world.

So if you love the classic Italian progressive bands like Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Celeste, and some touches of early music like Ataraxia and Heavenly voices genre, plus German influences like Hoelderlin and Grobschnitt, and a consistently fine symphonic progressive music style, you should find this appealing. Nine songs , all fine songs, and a couple of tracks that will go down as classics. I look forward to the next release! Please send it to me to review! Recommended.

Reviewed by Lee Henderson on September 30th, 2011

Tracks:

01. Pid Hmaramy

02. Mertve Derevo I Viter

03. Zorenko Moya

04. Yiyi Dushi Zivyali Kvity

05. Zhasayucha Osin

06. Zymova Elehia

07. Samotni Nochi

08. Dorohoyu Vichnosti

09. Svitanok (Bonus)