retreat from moscow - dreams, myths and machines - 2023
“... their sophomore album ...”
intro
As I already revealed in my review of the debut album "The World As We Knew It" by the band Retreat From Moscow, "Dreams, Myths and Machines" is the successor to that album. This time the band members are assisted by a number of renowned musicians. If I mention the names of two of those musicians, you will be even more motivated to listen to this fine band. Of course the biggest two names are Robin Armstrong (Cosmograf) and Andy Tillison (The Tangent). The album draws on themes from Welsh and Greek mythology, dystopian futures, social anxiety and colonial whitewashing. This second album was also released on Robin Armstrong's Gravity Dream Music label.
Andrew Raymond - keyboards, guitar, pedal steel; John Harris - vocals, guitars, flute, keyboards, Roland GR300 guitar synth; Greg Haver - drums, percussion; Tony Lewis - Wal basses, voice on the 'Mending Commitee'
Additional musicians:
Robin Armstrong - additional guitar solos on 'Windchill'; Andy Tillison - keyboard solo and organ embellishment on 'The Machine Stops'; Pete Kirby - additional piano and synth on 'Flowerbride' and 'Assassin's Cloak'; Jillian Slade - vocals on 'I can Hear you Calling'; voice on 'DNA' by Drew Berry
review
The album opens with the song "Saving California" which immediately hits us raw. The first drum sounds remind you of the work of Phil Collins and the melodic synth parts complete the picture. This song with catchy vocal refrains and melodic synth parts sounds like Retreat From Moscow meets Genesis (Collins era). It is a wonderful opener and I now understand why a friend of mine included this album in his annual list of the year 2023. It's just a wonderful opener to the album. Continuing with "Flowerbride", where we again encounter those wonderful vocal harmonies that we heard on their debut album, and if you listen carefully to the recordings and the quality of the compositions, you already know that the band goes a step further with this album and shows progress in all kinds of areas. In "Running Man" the vocals are presented with even more variation. It is a varied song with some powerful passages where the singing is also presented with more vocal power.
After three well-structured songs we are already presented with the first of two epics. In the almost 12-minute long "I Can Hear You Calling" the band's vocal palette is further expanded with the female vocals of American vocalist Jillian Slade. This is definitely one of the highlights of this fantastic album. An epic with the necessary variation in instrumentation and therefore also on the vocal level. It's all in the superlative of their debut album. That cool drum sound with Collins reference fits well with the cool synth and Hammond parts and the melodic guitar work that occasionally takes on a freaky character. The combination of female and male voices in a delicately sung section is truly beautiful. The first epic captivates from the first to the last second. It's really well put together. Moments of pure beauty that slowly transition into sections full of power and passion. I would buy this album for this song alone!
The next song is called "Windchill". The song where Robin Armstrong provides some guitar solos. The song opens surprisingly directly with such a wonderfully passionate guitar solo, even before you hear the first vocals. John Harris convinces with beautiful and passionate singing. But this applies to the entire album. In addition to the varied guitar work with, as mentioned, some beautiful solos, the keyboard work is also very neat and varied. After the more guitar-oriented "Windchill", the keyboard work is given space in the opening of "Time Traveller". Don't know if it's because of the title of the song, but I mainly hear Yes influences in this song. Especially because of the vocal harmonies and the guitar sound.
Then it's time for the second epic of the album. "The Machine Stops" (13:32) is even two minutes longer than the first epic. This is the song where guest musician Andy Tillison plays a keyboard solo and organ. The track is full of full keyboard and synth parts. The fretless bass also sounds very nice. You will also find a beautiful flute part among all the keyboard and guitar violence. A wonderful symphonic prog song. These two epics really stand out. Just for these two epics you can safely buy this album without being disappointed.
"Assassin's Cloak" hits the spot with cool synthesizer and guitar parts. This keyboard-dominated track is developing into one of my personal favorites. A wonderful track that also has passionate vocal passages. The album closes with the track "DNA". It is one of the longer tracks. Almost ten minutes of powerful and varied prog with fine piano and keyboard parts, the aforementioned flute and ripping guitars and a cool synthesizer at the end. A voice recording of Drew Berry is also used in this song. It is a worthy ending to a surprisingly good second album. Who said again that the second album is always a difficult one to make, because you have to meet expectations. All expectations are far exceeded here.
conclusion
With "Dreams, Myths and Machines", Retreat from Moscow has created a worthy successor to the debut "The World As we Knew It". An album that even exceeds all expectations. If you think you've had the highlight of the album after the first epic "I Can Hear You Calling", you're in for a treat. The last part of the album with the second epic "The Machine Stops" and the songs "Assassin's Cloak" and "DNA" is also very strong. It is a fantastic album that actually belongs in all those 'best of' annual lists for the year 2023. Although I personally don't care much about those lists because it gives such a distorted picture. No one has been able to listen to all the good albums from a year. And then there are the fan campaigns of bands that push average quality albums up those lists. That's why I still write reviews for my progVisions project. To let readers discover bands and good albums. Don't miss Retreat From Moscow's album "Dreams, Myths and Machines"!