I met Anton for the first time when he was hanging out with 7th Harmonic and later on with Sol Invictus (as member of the live band). In 2016 I reviewed the last Bleak album and now he comes with a solo album and it’s all about seminal death Blues! ScreamLite Records will release the album on May 23rd 2020!
It all starts with the acoustic Great Satan Rising (feat. Nick McBrain on percussions and backings). It sounds a bit like the younger version of The Pogues, but instead of an Irish accent we get the Russian version! The song is about how our current reality is a lot more terrifying than all the doomsday prophecies like Nostradamus. Cowboy From Hell (feat. Hana Piranha) gets an electrical guitar, a harp and an bluesy howling sound. The tempo is slow, but the story telling is the most important and that’s why it get’s a very dark and bluesy feel. Closing the bar, with the saddest feeling. His Mistress’s Voice has a cool bluesy guitar and story telling vocals. Hank William’s Lost Highway (feat. Rachel Woodworth) gets reworked and this bluesy track is not bad at all. Fans of country & Western will be delighted. In the end it feels like a bit too short, but that is always a good sign. London Waltz feat. Country Al sounds a bit more up-tempo and has a deadly story that reminds me a bit of Nick Cave (turned into a blues & country guy with a drunken Russian accent). I also adore the harmonica. On The 23rd Floor feat. Ben Rowntree has cool backings that gives a kind of tavern sound where drunken people start to sing together with the bard. Become The Sun feat. Ays Kura takes over the Nick Cave feel with a dark/spooky and scary sound. I love the special effects and the guitar. This song has clearly a complete other feel then all the other ones. Story wise this song takes a tiny bit of the first song, and projects what would happen if there was a death or suicide cult which existed around one of those prophecies and what would happen to members of that cult (they'd eventually be slaughtered by the Feds / national guard / some kind of local militia).
In The Land Of Snow feat. Takatsuna Mukai (violin) is an acoustic and slowly growing track with some parts sung in Russian (actually mostly translating what is sung in English, not word by word but still). Yenisey feat. Nick McBrain is a very lively track that will for sure be a hit once performed on stage. The backings are great and I hear again this younger version of The Pogues mixed with some blues versus country & Western. Be ready to clap your hands, shout along and dance like a drunken cowboy! The song is about the end of the Soviet Union and thus a good reason to party (for most of the people). It’s a town in Siberia where Anton grew up after his family being expelled to Yenisey (giving you this info will help you to understand the song a bit better). Last track is My Precious Lily a bluesy but dark track with a nice tempo.
Well, this album is totally not my cup of tea nor is it my favourite genre … but I liked it and enjoyed listening to it. The story telling is really nice and you have to listen to it carefully to get the bigger picture. The music is great (despite the first sentence of this part) and I really adore the mix of The Pogues versus Nick Cave (with A Russian accent). I hope you will like it too!
