Short Reviews [Apple Pie - 2007 - "Crossroad"]

"Crossroad" is the debut CD by Russia's APPLE PIE, which is a quartet comprising Vartan Mkhitaryan on guitars and lead vocals, Oleg Sergeev on keyboards, Andrey Golodukhin on drums and Alexey Bildin on bass (I'm just wondering, is this the same Alexey Bildin who plays saxophone in Little Tragedies?). Although the band is on the run already for seven years, all its members have full-time jobs, which explains their relatively low production. Alongside perfect (with no accent!) English vocals, the group's remarkable compositional, arrangement and technical skills are all brightly reflected on each of the ten tracks present, seven of those ranging from eight to twelve minutes. The style is a fusion of symphonic Art-Rock and Prog-Metal, suggesting something halfway between Spock's Beard at their most intricate and hard-edged and classic Dream Theater. This is just a brilliant album, really; it's definitely worthy to be viewed in detail, but since I had to spend ten days in the health center this month, while still having more than 100 discs in my queue on average, it is beyond my powers to do any detailed reviews this time around, for which I offer my apologies to all the musicians whose recordings I have examined for this update, as well as the readers.

VM: June 25, 2007