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Ah yes, here we have a legend of Russian hard rock that is not a mere museum exhibit. The band recorded their best work in the first half of the 80's, then followed by a period of stagnation in the early 90's and a prolonged dormancy. This is their comeback album and a testament to the band's resilience and relevance. I am not kidding.

First things first: there is not even a remote attempt to be modern. The essence of this exercise is firmly rooted in what the band did nearly twenty years ago, but damn it if they do not sound fresh. No joke! From the production to the songwriting, this is old school for the new world order. The only relative innovation is a use of saxophones plus a collaboration with a chamber orchestra on one track.

The band's image remained consistent as well. In the past the band presented themselves as uncouth provincial types from the Russian country-side, hard-rock playing farm boys who sold agricultural equipment from their collective farms on the black market in order to get the money for their guitars. Think of LUGUBRUM's cousins from Russian periphery who, instead of black metal, got off on traditional hard 'n heavy, from DEEP PURPLE and DEF LEPPARD to JUDAS PRIEST, MOTORHEAD and IRON MAIDEN.

Similarly to their brethren in TRUPNY YAD, KRAJ's lyrics focus on various social commentary but with that crude yet biting sense of humour of an idiot-savant operator of a grain harvester combine machine. The production is raw but not crappy. Recording is, again, crude yet spacious. Instruments are audible and have more than enough room to do what needs to be done. The guitars are dry but in no way lifeless. There is enough meat and sharpness to create a properly heavy sound.

Cudos go to the band's driving force and the only original member - guitarist Sergey Bogaev, who over the years developed his own home-grown way of playing influenced in some ways by the stylings of sitar players (cue in to the seventh track Macarena, for example). In addition, Bogaev had to handle the vocal duties in light of the original vocalist Oleg Rautkin residing in Ukraine and showing little interest in the band. Bogaev's are crude (clearly it is the word of the day!) animalistic yells, which in contrast to Rautkin's more high-pitched heavy-metal singing, give the music an even harder edge.

The album's content adequately complements the music on dispaly. After an opening intro "March", KRAJ get straight to business with a driving rocker "Brother-soldiers", short and speedy punk-like tune "Dumb Girl" and a seriously heavy dirge "Who?", not letting a listener off the hook up until the fifth song "Nastenjka" - a love story between a crude (there it is!) provincial plebeian and a bohemian princess. Bogaev shrewdly combines heavy riffs in the beginning of the song with a pseudo-romantic chorus and searing solos. The following "Radugi-dugi", "Macarena" and a short, humorous sketch "Metalhead from Kalmykia" provide some welcome breathing space before another slow, plastering number "Death of Hacker Dobrolyubov", which, among other goodies, throws out an excellent jazz saxophone solo seamlessly woven into the song's fabric. The proceedings start to wrap themselves up with the tenth track "Patriot I" - an anthemic and at the same time sarcastic-as-hell take on, what else, Russian patriotism. "Patriot II" is OBLACHNYJ KRAJ's collaboration with a chamber orchestra mentioned above, and a successful one at that. And no, there is no need to prove yourselves with entire albums worth of this stuff. That said, the album's closer "Waltz" is another orchestral piece, this time without the band's involvement, and as an outro it serves its purpose.

Needless to say "Patriot" is highly recommended.

Consumer note: it might be difficult to find the band's stuff outside of Russia. It is possible to download here:

http://www.mnogomp3.net/mp3/oblachnyy_kray/
or here: http://www.mp3real.ru/mp3/oblachnyy_kray/
or to purchase it out of New York's www. russiandvd.com

Cheers