Moscow’s Mechanical Man released their self-titled full-length album earlier this month, and it’s been receiving good critics (read our review here). In an interview with Progarchy, the band discusses the creative process of the album, their sound, and future.

Mechanical Man released their first self-titled album recently. Are you satisfied how it turned out?

Alexey (vocals): Yes, absolutely! In our opinion, the album turned out to be really good. There’s even nothing that we would add or change. But what is more important, we’ve acquired a lot of experience while recording the album. This will definitely help us in our future studio work.

How did the song writing process for “Mechanical Man” go?

Eugeny (keyboards): Well, there is one thing you should know. There’s only one person in our band who writes parts for all the instruments – our guitarist Sergey. And he does it really cool! After that we just edit each part by making it more complicated and sophisticated. Then we play a song together dozens of times until it gets its shape. And everything we do, we do in a friendly atmosphere.

What were the hardest moments during the creative and production process of “Mechanical Man”?

Sergey (guitars): Working with vocal parts, I think. The thing is that the frontrunner’s voice and the vocal line itself are incredibly important. We wanted to make the choruses sound exceptionally, so that everyone wanted to join in with signing. Our singer was working on it. We had a lot of variants of how to sing this or that part, so it wasn’t always easy for us to make a choice and put everything together.

How would you describe the sound of the self-titled album?

Sergey (guitars): While creating the album we were sticking to the idea that the sound should be aggressive and at the same time melodious. We were paying scrupulous attention to keyboards sound by choosing appropriate samples. Also, we didn’t want to “overload” our album with low guitars, we tried to make warm guitar sound which characterize classic heavy metal. We think we’ve done it!

What are drawbacks and benefits of self producing an album?

Alexandr (bass): It’s difficult to give a straight answer. We had freedom of action, we didn’t have any restrictions, while recording the album. We were making decisions by ourselves. In any case, we believe we’ve achieved a magnificent and modern sound.

“Mechanical Man” is a fresh release, but are you working on anything new already?

Alexey (vocals): Sure! We have enough material for the next album, but this is just drafts. So, let’s not anticipate events. We are not going to stop! We have big plans for the future!

“Mechanical Man” is available from Bandcamp. Get this excellent album for measly seven bucks here.

From the green dreamlands we call New Zealand come a quartet called Shepherds of Cassini, and with them an exceptional experimentation in “Helios Forsaken,” their second studio release.

It took me good two weeks of non-stop listening to “Helios Forsaken” to come up with a scribbling about it, and I can say that even though I am not a noob anymore when it comes to the record, there is definitely much more to reveal under the hood. I am really thankful to a PR wire for hooking me up with this record and the band, because after many hours spent with listening to “Helios Forsaken” I can call myself a huge fan of the band from Auckland.

Although the album is not easy to capture in a first listening session (or a few), it without doubt gives you hints of its beauty. “Helios Forsaken” is a hook that will catch even the most stubborn fish.

The album itself is a deep ethereal masterpiece, with vocals, courtesy of Brendan Zwaan (who also plays guitar and does it very well), that hit a range of notes with precision and grace (listen to his stunning vocal performance on vocals-only “Mirrors Have No Memory”). Another crucial point for the sound of Shepherds is a violin of Felix Lun, who stays away from neo-classicism but doesn’t hesitate to bring the mid-Eastern-to-Indian influences. This is a sound to itself, and drawing parallels with any other contemporary band is a double-edged sword. Heavy hits from Omar Al-Hashimi are one of the biggest selling points of the record, and while the technical aspects of what he brings to the album are complex, the focus is given to the clarity and timing that just jive so well here. On the other side, bassist Vitesh Bava complements well with Al-Hashimi, but there are parts where he separates from the gang and stands well on his own.

“Helios Forsaken” is one of the albums that preys from the sidelines, and as that it can be a surprise for many and one of the most fantastic discoveries of the year.

Get the album from Bandcamp; it’s available both as digital download and wonderful digipack.

The ancient Greek poet Hesiod sang incredible songs — his original compositions — that were as long as the lengthiest prog epics are today.

Here’s a chance to buy his epic tales from Greek mythology at an epic 73% discount (just in time for Christmas or the Saturnalia):

Founded in February 2013 in Lebanon, it took two years for Turbulence to complete the work on their full-length debut album “Disequilibrium.” The album is out now, and it includes six songs.

“Disequilibrium” vindicates the band for its hard work and the detailed music plans. Influenced by prog metal veterans such as Dream Theater and Symphony X mainly, Turbulence do not fear to play the game and present their own take on progressive music embellished by prog rock, atmospheric, power metal and melodic metal elements. Sometimes the band may remind you of a heavy/power melodic metal band, but Turbulence feel most comfortable in the prog metal music defined in the 90’s.

The band is doing better when they deliver longer tracks, and that’s the case with last three songs on the album. Of course, a prog metal band is obliged to have long tracks, but most of times it feels forced, what is not a case with this Lebanese band.

The six tracks that make up “Disequilibrium” range from the complex “Richardson’s Nightmare” and title song to the highly melodic “Never Le Me Go,” “Everlasting Retribution,” and “My Darkest Hour.” “Disequilibrium” (song) is almost fourteen minutes long and it comes with intricate time changes, spiralling guitars and emotion filled vocals. Vocals of Owmar El Hage, guitars of Alain Ibrahim and keyboards of Mood Yassin combine to drive this complicated yet rewarding song to its powerful conclusion.

If Turbulence can continue to write and perform as they have done on “Disequilibrium,” then their future could be a very bright one indeed.

“Disequilibrium” is out now and is available from iTunes and CD Baby. Follow the band on Facebook here.

At the peak of musical proficiency, Moscow based progressive metal band Mechanical Man make a triumphant debut on the international prog scene. The band’s self-titled full-length release brings to life the sonically explosive heavy prog metal backdrop by way of singer Alexey Efimov, guitarist Sergey Danilov, bassist Alexander Litoshenko, keyboardist Evgeny Komarom, and drummer Vitaly Ostrov. “Mechanical Man” is an ambitious exhibit of power and emotion. No amount of focus detracts from the progressive and heavy metal influences, as both play fair part in providing equal stimulation for ears. A focused balance of both elements is crucial to an effective deliverance, and Mechanical Man do that.

Wrapped in a cinematic veil, Mechanical Man’s music has definitely a lot to offer. Opening track “Mechanical Man” really summarizes this album. The strange bits of music, the sudden changes of tempo, the magnificent performance, it prepares the listener of what’s to come. With an awfully tight performance by the full band, this album proves to be pure gold.

The band remains focused as the album passes by, by delivering more of greatness in the shape of wonderfully emotional “Wonderful World,” lively “Madhouse” and “Nightmare Master,” explosive “Queen of the Night,” balladic “Will of Fate,” and eclectic “Dr. Frankenstein.”

“Mechanical Man” by Mechanical Man deserves your attention, so without hesitation get this album from Bandcamp and dig deep into this amazing album. With an utterly brilliant performance by the band this album is one that has to be heard by every prog metal fan. These guys managed to make an incredible record.

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