Artist: Roman Rain
Title: Roman Rain
Genre: Darkwave / Synthpop / Electro Gothic Rock
Release Date: 18th June 2010
Label: Danse Macabre Records
Album Review
Russian self-proclaimed decadence project ROMAN RAIN became indeed a unique phenomenon on the dark scene in Russia and gained a lot of devoted fans. A big role in that success of course, belongs to fabulous live shows of the formation which sometimes turn into little theatrical performances. But the music deserves a special attention as well because it presents a delicate mixture of different styles: here you can notice energy and gloominess of gothic rock, distinctive elements of synth pop and darkwave supplemented with music tendencies of the 80s. ROMAN RAIN already shared the stage with rather well-known bands in Russia and this year even participated in Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Germany. The release of the eponymous album through Danse Macabre Records can be also added to the project’s achievements.
The CD contains 17 complete compositions that can be regarded as short independent stories but in general they all help a listener to understand the Artist better and to fully plunge into the world of his fantasies. Yet the songs produce an ambiguous impression and some people may consider them somewhat false while Roman’s manner of singing may seem to be pompous and strained. So tastes differ and others notice only atmospheric music, clean, heartfelt vocals, beautiful lyrics and great arrangements. As for the arrangements is concerned they are still rather complicated and it feels like each track consists of several different layers so one listening is not enough to understand a song to the full and it’s hard to listen and what is more important, to comprehend the whole album at once. The lyrics in Russian don’t impede this comprehension: the melodies are so rich that they alone already demonstrate a full range of emotions, create a mysterious, melancholic atmosphere and clear convey the ideas of the compositions so your imagination can draw images and it’s not necessary to know the words.
Expressive and vivid opening piece ‘Uletaju’ (I fly away) immediately mesmerizes you and it’s definitely one of the best songs on the CD. Actually I’d like to mark out a few interesting tracks namely ‘Moj ubijca’ (My Killer), ‘Stanu peplom’ (I’ll become ashes) and ‘Koroleva’ (Queen) however the rest of the material is no less qualitative and impressive. In whole the CD is just a good example of so-called decadence and will interest all lovers of this kind of musical aesthetics.
Tracklist
01. Uletaju – 4:42
02. Umerla – 5:17
03. Moj ubijca – 4:46
04. Kukla – 3:49
05. Prinzessin der Träume – 4:15
06. Noch'-devochka-noch' – 4:15
07. Stanu peplum – 3:38
08. Salomeja – 5:05
09. The Cradle of My Craving – 3:55
10. Angel – 5:19
11. Zerkala – 4:29
12. Koroleva – 4:10
13. Piero – 3:27
14. Veter moi – 5:07
15. Vashe sovershenstvo – 3:55
16. Malchik Lay – 3:53
17. Rekviem – 3:53
Line-up
Roman Rain – Vocals, Music
Victoria – Backing Vocals
Andrey Kraft – Drums, Percussion
Alexey Nova – Keyboards, Guitar
Website
http://romanrain.spb.ru/ / http://www.myspace.com/romanrain
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 8 / 10
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