Repeated listens, on different equipment, can often lead you to surprisingly different opinions about the same piece of music. First heard while working in a private office environment, played on average quality speakers turned down, this sounded surprisingly nice. But when listened to again on headphones, eyes closed and paying attention to every note – the imperfections became very apparent. Which means that this music has great potential, but needs work.
The 7 songs on this 40-minute album range from 1½ to 10 minutes. It is an even mix of symphonic, neo-prog and progressive metal and most pieces are fairly heavy at the bottom – with a crunchy rhythm section, lots of riffs and solid percussion. Yet the structures, textures and overall melody are strong and there's plenty of (synthesized?) Mellotron and Hammond – which brings the symphonic component to many parts of the music. Interestingly, the lyrics are extracts from classic Russian poets.
Most track changes are seamless, leading to the impression that Integral Symphony might be a concept piece. But we don't know for sure. We did not receive the usual press kit with this album, in fact it didn't even come with cover art, and the band's web site is somewhat economic on details. From what we've been able to gather The Gourishankar is a Russian band that has played together in various formats and with changing lineups since 1997. Integral Symphony is their self-produced, self-pressed, CD-R-only debut album.
The vocals are sub-standard, but to their credit, The Gourishankar recognizes this and does three things to dilute the listener's exposure to the singing: They route most vocals through effects filters; many lines are supported with backing singers; and the singing is kept to a minimum and three tracks are instrumental only. Consequently, you can hardly make out the words of those great poets, which is a pity. In fact, it is not even possible to tell if the delivery is accented. But the overall result is perfectly acceptable.
And the production needs work. Some passages have individual instruments drowning each other out, or they are out of sync with one another. The album is full of interesting tempo changes – most are flawlessly executed, but some of these changes are made with an abruptness and a lack of grace that no top producer would allow.
The best pieces on the album are the final 2 tracks – the 10½-minute "Wind Of Night", which leads directly into the 3-minute all-instrumental "Autumn Frost". Listen to them as a single 14-minute mini-epic, and you'll quickly see why the first listen to this album left such a positive impression.
Go to their web site and purchase the album. No, really, do it! You will be amazed by how inexpensive it is courtesy of the heavily skewed dollar-to-ruble exchange rate, and The Gourishankar is doing all the right things and deserve a break. With better vocals and production work, they clearly have the potential to make a big impression on today's progressive rock world.
Track Listing:
1. Exposition (1:59)
2. Insomnia (7:21)
3. Interlude (1:34)
4. Sweet Earth (6:29)
5. Wind of night (9:06)
6. Autumn frost (10:23)
7. Coda (3:12)
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