VICTOR SMOLSKI - Friends & Symphonic Orchestra : 

"Majesty & Passion - J. S. Bach"   victor smolski              drakkar classic      

recorded by Ingo "Charly" Czaikowski at VPS - Studios - Hamm /Germany

U. J. Roth  guitar recorded  at Skylight Manor  Studios - Wales/UK

Orchestra recorded  by Andrey Zybrich at Inspector Studio - Minsk/Belarus

mixed and mastered by Frank Itt at Studio 4 - Stade/Germany

review  by Marco "Norman Knight" Signore____   

When I learned  about this  album  with the formidable hand of the Rage’s Victor Smolski, the feelings of great curiosity and impatience filled my soul. However, listening  to this latest release from the powerful and historical guitar hero, and honestly I am a bit confused.

This won’t be one of my usual review, as to review each single track won’t give justice to this CD. The reason is simple: this album is a “revisitation” of J.S. Bach composition.

Yet another. These were my first words. Yet another Bach revisited. Nonetheless, I dedicated  myself with the utmost attention to listen to this album.

What to say? Here is the technique, the cleanness of sound, the excellent performances for which Smoslki is well known to all true metallers (and particularly to those of Thrash origins), but…

Well, what we have here is another Bach revisitation. There’s very little in originality. Furthemore I personally don’t like how some of the compositions have been rearranged by Smolski. The idea of spoken sections over the musical tracks (just like Bach himself was explaining something to his admirers/students) may even be nice; unfortunately it happens to cover up the music… it seems like an audio track from a movie, in which the music fades and you listen to this talk between the Master and some other persons.

Some tracks are nice, while other are not. Again, I am a bit against this rewriting (and completely changing to the point of metamorphosing the original classical composition) of classical music. Some rearrangements are nice, some are good (think about Beethoven’s Patetica rearranged in the TV series “Starship Troopers”) but some are definitely a simple exercise in self indulgence. And in this pitfall Smolski falls completely in some parts of this solo album.

Fortunately there are the bonus tracks. It seems that in this work Smolski threw himself completely into experimentation and improvisation – all who love Rage know how eclectic this great guitarist may be. Yet this album is a bit “too much”. All in all, his fans will maybe like it. I personally find it very well played, well recorded, well mixed, and yet too “experimental” to listen to.

rating: 6/10

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