STARSOUP – Bazaar Of Wonders (2013)

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Masterminded by Russian singer Alexey Markov (ex- Crime Of Passion), “Bazaar Of Wonders” is the debut CD by STARSOUP, a studio project recorded during the last couple of years featuring additional musicians from the Moscow area.
Many of the songs were composed by Alexey and keyboardist Andrew Gryaznov for a future Crime Of Passion album, but the guys left the band and their music developed into something different; “Bazaar Of Wonders” is a really interesting and adventurous piece that combines progressive rock, technical prog metal flourishes and groovy hard rock with a touch of modern Euro AOR, resulting in an incredibly dynamic album with sumptuous musicianship.

What makes this guys’ music captivating is the constant aim to create a unique blend that barely could be compared to anything.
Opening track “Angels” is a through-and-through Prog Metal track, with groovy yet elaborated and masterful riffs that throws back interplays with a contrastingly beautiful piano melody. Even more polarized are the vocals as Alexey no doubt has a strong voice; he is able to switch from a melodic and soaring register to a more aggressive on the harder numbers, much like Swedish wonder Mats Leven. And all delivered without accent.
“Ain’t No Superman” was easily one of my favorite tracks on the album because it combines everything I enjoy in a progressive rock track; touches of heavy riffing, utterly infectious AOR vocal melodies & chord progressions and trippy rhythmic arrangements. This track is simply ear-food; I don’t even care how cheesy the lyrics might appear to be.
“Past Bites”, however, is much more of a straight-forward hard rock track and is over 3 minutes of solid guitar groove, and sounds completely unlike the rest of the first half of the album.

“Bazaar” contains many Middle Eastern-like sounds predominantly crafted with keyboards and samples, and a crafty use of particular melodic scales. Entirely instrumental, the track is diverse enough in arrangements and is forever changing.
Then Starsoup surprise you again on the easy listening “Road To Sunset” where you are treated to an original guitar and saxophone duet, and a really well rounded sound toward AOR melodic rock with a bouncy, breezy, sometimes bluesy feel. It’s very easy to think of this track initially as a commercial selling point, but there are just enough spacey, progressive flourishes to think about.

“Try” moves more to a ballad or anthem territory, definitely driven by Markov’s vocals, but also by a significant guitar line with a soaring solo.
If you don’t have enough variety, “Perfect Loser” is another song that is completely different to anything previous. It’s very hard to classify and I like that. It’s filled to the brim with a groovy and catchy synth background, and the majority of the music sounds like a mix of a light early Dream Theater with an extra special dash of AOR, but layered with vocals that sound almost completely unlike anything performed already, taking a much deeper and more guttural approach. Not to mention, some gorgeous slapped bass.

Starsoup and “Bazaar Of Wonders” are a pleasantly surprise reaching the end of the year.
Always dynamic, interesting and far from clichés, this is not your typical ‘linear rock altum’ as all the time you didn’t know what comes next. And that does not mean it’s too intricate or hard to digest.
On the contrary, “Bazaar Of Wonders” flows superbly through soaring melodies, strong guitar riffs, clever keyboard & synth work, ‘real’ drums and excellent vocal arrangements. The overall sound / production is clear and crisp akin early ’90s European productions, well mixed & mastered.
A very recommended disc of stylistically varied, always compelling rock music.

01 – Angels
02 – Ain’t no Superman
03 – Try
04 – Cradle of War
05 – Rumors of Better Life
06 – Past Bites
07 – The City and the Stars
08 – Bazaar
09 – Voices of the Wind
10 – Road to Sunset
11 – Perfect Loser
12 – Rain in the Desert

Alexey Markov – Vocals, Guitars
Ilya Mamotov – Guitars, Bass
Andrew Gryaznov – Keyboards, Samples
Alexander Vetkhov – Drums

BUY IT !
sublimity.bandcamp.com/album/bazaar-of-wonders
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