Flight 09 - Forbidden Lullabies

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Neurosis Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 46:29:00

Instrument-craft remains the highlight on Flight 09's second album Forbidden Lullabies, as the trio plays tight, and yet feels casual-loose. As with their first album Rifflections, Vitaly "Progressor" Menshikov has mixed and produced. Their sound retains the blues-rock feel of the debut, guitarist Igor Savitch as vocalist still sounds like Bob Dylan, this time cross with a bit, at least to my ears, of Alice Cooper. (For those who watch Late Night With Conan O'Brien, there are moments where I kept thinking of their spoof-Arnold Schwarzenegger singing... it's the accent, you see).

What fills out the sound of this trio - Constantine Savitch on bass and Art Piyanzin on drums and back vocals round it out - are the keyboards of Savitch, mainly in a supportive role, but it also adds depth to the arrangements. Especially when they are providing a subtle string backing as on "My Wheel." "Look Around" is a mellow, laidback ballad; it features the shimmer of strummed guitar and the soft presence of keys. Mellow it is, and yet also manages to strut like the best of whisky-soaked blues rock. Savitch's vocals roughen just enough to add a bit of a Brian Johnson (AC/DC) kind of rasp to the proceedings. Maybe Baltimoore would be a more apt comparison.

Many of the album's 8 tracks could be described as laid back, as the band get into easy and loose grooves - though a little more rockier than "Lullabies." Savitch's lead guitar has a high, sweet tone with just a touch of distortion. You'll hear clear-toned leads that just back the guitar sections pop ("Shade," for example). And the echoey guitar that begins "In The Darkness" gives Flight 09 a late-period Floydian feel, though the addition of flute effects (or a real, uncredited flute) gives this also a non-Floydian character.

By contrast, "Something's Wrong" is a chunky, dark, smoldering rocker - a point where the Cooper comparison comes to mind most strongly. "Both To Be Alone" begins as a pastoral, but by the time we're a third of the way in, we get something a bit more Floydian (The Wall period) with the heavily distorted and throaty dark guitars.

Forbidden Lullabies is an excellent CD, though Savitch's vocal style may not work for everyone.

Tracklisting:
You Got My Love (5:44) / Look Around (6:30) / Something's Wrong (5:12) / Both To Be Alone (7:02) / The Absolution (5:52) / Shade (5:45) / In The Darkness (6:08) / My Wheels (5:36)

Musicians:
Igor Savitch - guitars, keyboards, lead and backing vocals
Constantine Savitch - bass
Art Piyanzin - drums and backing vocals

Discography:
Rifflections (2002)
Forbidden Lullabies (

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UZ

Added: December 22nd 2003
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website: www.progressor.net/flight09
Hits: 2322
Language: english