The Grand Astoria - "Then You Win" 2013 ...

The Grand Astoria can no longer be classified as a local Russian psychedelic stoner oddity. These guys deserve to be recognized as a full fledged phenomenon and that’s that. They earned it! While the genre seems to see many faces come and leave the stage in a continuous turnover The Grand Astoria is notable for their tenacity, stubbornness, professionalism and deep love for the music they write. Truth be told, the band rose to be what it is now thanks to Kamille Shrapodinov – the founder and the only permanent member of the band. To back up the praise of The Grand Astoria I got some pretty impressive statistics that can’t be ignored even by the worst of snobs: the band exists for 4 years, during that time they released 3 LPs, a split with none other than U.S. Christmas themselves, a vinyl EP and went on several European tours, which is uncommon for any band from Russia. On top of these enough impressive stats you can add 2 of Kamille’s side projects The Legendary Flower Punk and astonishing psychedelic Organic is Orgasmic as well as an upcoming 7-inch EP titled Then You Win which will be followed by a new album later this year.

Even if you consider a wide range of influences noticeable on the band’s LPs, The Grand Astoria’s minor works never fail to surprise. Between the records Kamille who in addition to playing the guitar also writes and sings all the lyrics spent a lot of time with a vocals instructor. As the fans of the band will no-doubt notice this time is well paid off on Then You Win. The main genres The Grand Astoria operates with remain stoner, psychedelic rock, heavy metal and punk with a newly added taste of progressive rock. How much of all these juicy mix you will hear on the title track of Then You win is hard to predict. The song starts off with tough intro as if written for the die-hard Iron Maiden fans, but is quickly and organically transformed into a furious and loud stoner punk. Naturally this isn’t the end of the hellish mix of genres because with The Grand Astoria it’s never easy. The style of the track shifts again in order to prepare the listeners to the songs heavy conclusion with the art-rock guitar riffs. The structure of the song is in line with The Grand Astoria’s resent works, but the quality of the record is on a whole new level. The second track on this EP is called With Meaning. The song is a more vocal-oriented ballad with space-rock accents here and there, which makes it atypical for the expected sound of the band. This doesn’t mean that the musicians are uncomfortable in this relatively new for them musical space. The level of quality is persistent: the acoustic riffs with prog touches and emotional chorus sound complete, interesting and fresh. Both songs share common characteristics. First of all their compositions are complicated which at the same time luckily doesn’t mean that they are overloaded with bloody smart-ass guitar solos. Second, thanks to a reasonable level of cleverness the drive of Then You Win and the expression of With Meaning are there to be comprehended without unnecessary barriers. Third, the songs don’t sound stiff but on the contrary natural and lively.

I don’t feel comfortable pouring praise to the band but such a release is a really great present for open-minded fans of any unusual and clever rock and metal music. The content, the format, the stylish art by Sofia Miroedova gives a sense of a complex vision of their music by the members of the band. Just for example – previous vinyl Ep of The Grand Astoria - Caesar Enters the Palace of Doom I kept on my desk just for the pure esthetically pleasure. Seems like I know what record will take its place there this spring because Then You Win will be released April 18th.

Words: Aleks

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Russian version: Metal Library
Translated by Alexander Druzhinin