Sunrise Auranaut - 2017 - The Ocean of Unspoken Words

(50:14; Rock Company)

Track list:
1. Perseids 7:01
2. In a Room with Many Mirrors 3:01
3. The Last Meeting 5:02
4. Who Is There? 5:57
5. The Ocean of Unspoken Words 7:18
6. Free Wind and Home Draft 4:29
7. The Secrets of Nightlife 3:55
8. The Great Dumb (Cinema) 5:07
9. Late Night Is Early Morning (After the Holiday) 8:24

Line-up:
Vitaly Kiselev - guitars, bass, programming
Alexander Malakhov - synthesizers


Prolusion.
Russian project Sunrise Auranaut is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Vitaly Kiselev, and for the past decade and a bit he has released a steady stream of albums under this moniker. The most recent of which appeared now in the fall of 2024. The album "The Ocean Of Unspoken Words" dates back to 2017, and was released through Dutch label Rock Company.

Analysis.
It doesn't take all that long to be able to conclude that it is symphonic progressive rock that is at the heart and soul of this album. While other instruments are very much in place, this is a creation that revolve around the keyboards, and keyboards played in a more expressive manner at that.

This all instrumental production comes with a fairly wide array of impulses too. The organ will often be used in a manner that gives me associations to sacral music, and the piano as well as quite a few keyboard motifs spread throughout the song does indicate to me that we have a composer that does know his way around a bit of classical music too. Much the same can be said about some of the structure and arrangement choices used throughout this album.

More bombastic and theatrical escapades and passages with a more flowing and atmospheric laden mode and expression take turns here, with plenty of keyboard solo passages that are flamboyant, majestic or that combine both of these aspects. More careful sequences and start and stop dynamics are used on a regular basis too, with the more expressive aspects of the latter not uncommonly explored in the second half of the compositions. Whereas the first half often will be more energetic in nature.

Those who treasure the keyboard as a lead instrument and find joy in hearing a musician that knows his way around the tangents will find a lot to enjoy on this album. In many ways I experience this album as one that perhaps is made for a specific niche: Fans of symphonic progressive rock that love and treasure the keyboard above all other instruments.

For my sake I do find the album to be a little bit too uniform and perhaps a little bit too sterile to really grab my attention. That is obviously a case of subjective taste in music, as well as me perhaps not being quite as fond of the keyboards as a clear and dominant instrument. At least not quite in the manner that is the case for this album. Hence I note this album down as one where subjective taste will dictate how much or not these compositions will appeal, and with a bit of a probability for this creation to possibly have more of a narrow and niche appeal.

Conclusion.
Sunrise Auranaut as of 2017 comes across as a venture that creates music very much aimed at the symphonic progressive rock interested crowd, and with the all instrumental aspect of this album and the clear keyboard dominance this is an album that for me at least will have more of a finite appeal. Those with a passionate interest in keyboard dominated instrumental albums in the symphonic progressive rock tradition seems to me to be the perfect audience for this album, and those with a keen interest in the classic era of that tradition in particular should have a good chance of finding a lot to enjoy in the landscapes explored on this production.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, September 2024

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/sunriseauranaut
https://rockcompany.nl/