Short Reviews [ Flight 09 - 2020 - "10515"]

On Saturday 24th July 2021, Igor Savitch died from COVID, only a week after being admitted to the hospital feeling only slightly ill. For 35 years Igor led his band Flight 09 through tours at home and abroad, starting out when Uzbekistan was still a part of the Soviet Union back in 1986. They built a reputation as being the top progressive rock band in the country, and I had been fortunate enough to hear four of their albums prior to their latest and must confess I always thought of them as a solid outfit as opposed to inspirational. However, on 2018’s ‘Drift’, Savitch had relinquished lead vocals on a few songs to Tatyana Serikbeyeva, which had been a major change given he was the songwriter and Flight 09 had always been his band. It went some way to mitigating a major weakness of Flight 09, and I did wonder at the time what it would mean for future recordings. 2020’s ‘10515’ answers that cleanly, as although I cannot confirm it is still Tatanya as I do not have a physical copy of this release to hand, we now have a female lead singer performing in clear unaccented English. She has an edge to her vocals, which are just what is needed for the solid underlying neo-prog, although the band at times move into more straightforward rock, making this quite a varied album indeed. Musically the band has also taken a huge leap forward, definitely not what one would expect from a band who had been going for more than 30 years at this point. Previously there were times when it felt a little disjointed and amateurish it much be said, but by having a powerful frontwoman allowed Savitch to up his songwriting and create a much stronger platform for her to pit against. There is still the impression of a band who needed to make a step change into the next level, but at the same time there is no doubt this is easily the best album I have heard from them. They have produced an album which is enjoyable, with songs such as “Candle In The Dark” being a wonderful rock ballad. Flight 09 used to be intriguing as they were the only band I knew from Uzbekistan, but with this album they have created something which is worth seeking out for more than just a novelty value. With the main songwriter and guitarist having sadly passed away, I would not be surprised if this is the final album from Flight 09, but if that is the case then they leave us with something which is both strong and really enjoyable.