Kingcrimsonprog In a way, it seems a bit unusual to review just one song on its own, but since the song is almost twenty minutes long it seems more acceptable. The song in question is ‘To Whom It May Concern’ by the Russian band The Grand Astoria, who’s sound is a compelling mixture of Stoner Rock, Psychedelic, Prog and Metal.

The song isn’t on any of the band’s first three albums, nor is it on the excellent Ceaser Enters The Palace Of Doom EP nor is it available a single on iTunes so if you are interested you’ll have to either buy it directly off of the band’s Bandcamp page or else get a physical copy of their Split EP (with US Christmas).

The first eight minutes or so, after a quiet acoustic intro, is a mid-paced and mid-heaviness section with different key, synth and lead guitar tones coming in and out allowing the song to slowly unravel and evolve over time. For the most part, it still sounds like The Grand Astoria but it also has hints of Mastodon and Baroness’ recent work, in a way.

Eight minutes in and it takes a turn into the drum-free realm of feedback noises, atmospheric sound effects and dialogue samples, reminiscent of the The Mars Volta’s less accessible moments or the bits in the middle of Pink Floyd tracks like ‘Echoes’ and ‘A Saucerful Of Secrets’ that you’d read described as “challenging.”

When the vocals come back in for an initially creepy clean guitar section the song really begins to impress, particularly in the vocal department, which has never sounded better on a The Grand Astoria release. This section is followed by some excellent spidery Robert Fripp-esque guitar and an increasingly lively backing from the rest of the band that builds all the way up through to a nice fat Doom riff in a non-standard time sig that combines all the prog dexterity of the band’s 2nd album (or tracks like ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ ‘Enigma Satanica’ and ‘Salvation Is Near’ from elsewhere in their discography) with great Sabbath sounding Metal and hangs out in this territory until the songs conclusion at the nineteen minutes and eighteen seconds mark.

Overall, the track is pretty interesting and impressive, I like it a lot and in a perfect world I’d love to hear the theoretical album that both it and the Ceaser Enters The Palace Of Doom EP tracks come from. As it stands both individual non-album entities are entertaining on their own as shorter mini-releases that still seem even better than almost all of the first three albums since the band always seem to get better and better.

If you have any interest in the band you should really check it out and if you just like the notion of the band from this description then you should consider checking it out and if you like it, trying the rest of their older releases as well.

UMUR "Omnipresence" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Russian, Saint-Petersburg based stoner metal act The Grand Astoria. The album was self-released in January 2011. The Grand Astoria was formed in 2009 and relased their self-titled debut full-length studio album later the same year.

The Grand Astoria play quite the eclectic style of music on "Omnipresence". While the band certainly have their stoner metal elements down, they also incorporate elements from thrash, psychadelia, and punk in their music and actually make it work pretty well. The band are well playing, the album is pretty well produced, and the songs are rather intriguing. I like how the band combine heavy stoner metal grooves with melodic faster paced thrashy riffing. The punky vocals are probably an aquired taste and personally I think they are the weak link in the chain. They are not horrible or anything like that, just a bit one-dimensional and delivered within a limited range. With a more interesting and varied vocalist the music on "Omnipresence" could have been slightly more enjoyable.

...as the album is, I´m still pretty impressed by what these guys are able to produce and I´m sure fans of the more adventurous and energetic stoner metal style will greatly enjoy the album. "Omnipresence" deserves a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

Kingcrimsonprog The Grand Astoria are an exciting Russian Rock/Metal band, and their debut full-length studio album was released in 2009.

Although the core of the sound is essentially Stoner Rock with an atypical vocal style for the genre, the band are pretty eclectic and don’t just copy the same two Black Sabbath riffs over and over again like a few of the less pioneering Stoner bands do. Sometimes a Grand Astoria track will start off as rock, take an almost funky turn and then end up hammering hard with a clear Megadeth influence before the end. The band also have a strong progressive bent, with lots of noodling and lengthy songs, and occasional keyboard support.

The album consist of six strong tracks, with the highlight for me being the thirteen minute instrumental track ‘The Man. The Sun. The Desert.’

Always a nice little touch when bands do this, the cattle-skull mascot found on this artwork would later return on each of the band’s subsequent studio albums to date as well as on their excellent Ceaser Enters The Palace Of Doom EP.

If you have heard some of their more recent work and want to work your way back, or even if this will be the first release of theirs that you hear, this self titled debut album is a strong and confident album that is well worth your time.

Overall; nice guitar solos, interesting riffs and new ideas are very much the order of the day. If you want to hear something interesting and creative, something you don’t hear a thousand of other bands doing, then The Grand Astoria are something you should definitely consider investing a few listens into.

Kingcrimsonprog Caesar Enters The Palace Of Doom is a two-track release from the Russian Rock/Metal band The Grand Astoria. It was released in 2011 and clocks in at just around ten and a half minutes in length, finding the band in a heavier and more menacing mood than their previous work.

The prolific Saint Petersburg based band have already released three studio albums since their 2009 inception, with the most recent one (Omnipresence) having also been released in 2011 as well as this separate collection of new songs.

The artwork for this release contains the same mascot who can be found on all the band’s previous artwork, taking on a new role as Caesar; which is a plus for fans of Maiden/Dio/Megadeth style approaches to album art.

The first track of the set, which is entitled ‘Caesar Enters The Palace Of Doom’ sounds like a bizarre mixture between the best parts of The Mars Volta, Mastodon and Megadeth, whereas the second track, ‘Enigma Satanica,’ is a longer and more progressive sounding instrumental track that maintains the Mars Volta edge but also mixes QOTSA style sounds with almost early King Crimson and ELP style sections, before laying into a gigantic set of guitar solos that put a lot of other players to shame.

Overall; despite only being two tracks long and having been released hot on the heels of a terrific studio album, Caesar Enters The Palace Of Doom is a wholly worthy release from a band continuing on a seriously high upwards trend. I would highly recommend it to anyone curious about the band or into absolutely any type of Rock/Metal, especially Prog or Stoner, which most of their previous work has blended together quite nicely.

Kingcrimsonprog The Grand Astoria are a dynamic and exciting Russian Rock/Metal band from Saint-Petersburg, who play a mixture of Stoner Rock, Countdown’ era Megadeth and Progressive Rock influenced styles, updated for the modern day. They have a DIY ethic that drives them, much of their tours and contacts with the public are sorted out through myspace and much of their music is given away for free to hook fans in.

Despite the band only having formed in 2009, Omnipresence, this 2011 release is their third Full-Length Studio Album. The band have a logo/mascot in the same vein as Dio/Maiden/Megadeth that has been on their previous artwork who makes a return here too.

If you are a fan of Stoner bands and like a lot of guitar solos, higher pitched vocals, effects covered vocals and a higher than normal level of musical variety then this band really may well appeal to you, their sound is utterly fascinating and is somehow as unique as it is eclectic.

The album covers a lot of ground in its duration; The slow and brooding ‘Omniabsence’ is a mixture of hypnotic rhythm section building and interesting soundscapes that would please Isis and Mars Volta fans alike, ‘Hungry & Foolish,’ sounds a little like Fu Manchu covering an early King Crimson number and ‘The Song Of Home’ is funk tinged like Hughes era Deep Purple.

The absolute album highlight is the twelve minute ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes,’ which starts off as the absolute perfect Stoner Rock track before evolving off in all sorts of tangents (ranging from Southern Rock to Thrash Metal and back again) which I suppose is also a perfect summary of the album as a whole and the band in general.

The production isn’t absolutely perfect, but still has that low buzz that fans of Stoner Rock are sure to like and the drums sound better than on any of their previous releases, making it a definite improvement on the previous records overall.

In Summary; Omnipresence is a really strong album of interesting, eclectic and incredibly well written music from a really exciting band that fans of Rock and Metal, and especially of Prog and Stoner really ought to check out. This may be available online for free, but it is far from a throw away listen, I would be absolutely happy to pay full price for a physical copy once distribution is sorted and it could well be a serious contender for my album of the year.