"In a dark blue forest where aspens tremble, Where leaves fall from sorcerer oaks, On the meadow, hares mowed the grass at midnight And sang strange words while doing so..."
So much has already been said about this album and this band that by stating my emphatic "Yes!" I inevitably risk repeating what others have already expressed. I think no one will argue that "Woodland Prattlers" is a revelation. Moreover, it is a multidimensional revelation that simultaneously gifted us both a wonderful new collective and a vocalist who is five minutes short of genius (I'm willing to bet that many who just yesterday compared Max Samosovat to Nikolai Baskov are sitting today biting their tongues). Finally, MECHANICAL POET have set an excellent example for others to follow. After the release of "Woodland Prattlers," you can no longer blame the amateurish state of our recording studios, the incompetence of labels, the greedy clutches of promoters, or the unstable political situation. Like it or not, you have to measure up.
Having made their pilot run with the half-length MCD "A Handmade Essence," the "mechanical poet" now presents their "Eugene Onegin" for the judgment of grateful listeners. Combining in their musical formula the drive of modern power metal with the emotionality of soundtracks to Tim Burton's fairy tales (how can one not think of Danny Elfman here???), these audacious "rhymesters" produce an extremely diverse, technically impeccable body of work that is also brilliantly crafted from a compositional standpoint — the songs are memorable, the melodies carry you away, the rhythms gallop from gentle swaying to furious frenzy and back again.
The album's lyrics deserve a separate discussion, for the stories told on "Woodland Prattlers" take us to Fantasyland — along forest paths and back alleys, through rapids straight into the still waters (which, as we know, teem with demons). An excellent companion to this Disney-epic is the colorful booklet, designed as a comic book by a well-known American artist. One can only hope the band won't rest on their laurels, and that their next album (which, rumor has it, carries the working title "Troglodytes") will surprise us no less.