[Snupes]

Hi, everyone! How are you doing? Shitty? That's cool! It's been a while.

Guess what I've discovered? No, not that I'm retarded. No. No. No, I discovered a new band that I absolutely love. They're called Мельница! No, that's not "Mepibhnua", it's, approximately, "Mel'nitsa". Basically pronounced "Mell-neat-sah". Which (I think) means "Windmill" in Russian. Oh, the band is Russian. In case that wasn't obvious. I've been learning Russian...very...very...very...very slowly. Honestly, so slowly that at this point I can simply read Cyrillic at a Russian kindergartner's reading pace and I can tell you where I am and inquire about the location of several things. But, yes, because of this learning I've been exploring Russian music for the past month or so.

It's been a while since I found an artist I love so much that I want to listen to their entire discography (the last time was probably in 2013 or 2014), but it's happened. So I'm gonna do it.

I'm excited!

[Snupes]

Дорога сна (Doroga sna / Sleep road[?])
Studio album


Recorded: August - November, 2002
Released: April 2003

Lineup - where bold denotes a band member, and non-bold denotes a session musician

Наталья «Хелависа» О’Шей / Natalia "Helavisa" O'Shea (lead vocals)
Александр «Грендель» Степанов / Alexander "Grendel" Stepanov (guitar)
Алексей «Чус» Сапков / Alexey "Chus" Sapkov (guitar)
Наталья Филатова / Natalia Filatova (flute)
Наталья Масевнина/ Natalia Masevnina (violin)
Дина Нигматулина / Dean Nigmatullina (cello)
Роман Прощенко / Roman Proshchenko (percussion)
Павел Давыдович / Paul Davidovich (percussion)

All tracks authored by Natalia O'Shea, except where noted

1. Дорога сна  (Doroga sna / Sleep road[?])  (3:13)
2. Горец  (Gorets / Highlander)  (Robert Burns)  (3:24)
3. Ольга  (Ol'ga / Olga)  (Nikolai Gumilёv)  (4:39)
4. Лорд Грегори  (Lord Gregori / Lord Gregory)  (Robert Burns)  (2:20)
5. Змей  (Zmey / Snake)  (Nikolai Gumilёv)  (5:52)
6. Тарантелла  (Tarantella)  (1:56)
7. Зима (Zima / Winter)  (4:21)
8. Оборотень  (Oboroten' / Werewolf)  (5:51)
9. Рапунцель  (Rapuntsel' / Rapunzel)  (Tatyana Lavrova)  (2:42)
10. Воин вереска  (Voin vereska / Warrior heather)  (5:52)
11. Мора  (Mora / Sea)  (Alain Kosachev)  (4:11)
12. На север  (Na sever / North)  (3:34)

Review

This is actually oddly different from most of the Мельница albums I’ve heard up to this point. I’m used to their folk rock style, but it usually sounds more fantasy in the vein of Tolkien, or like fantasy-tinged rock music, but this is straight-up seafaring Pirates of the Caribbean stuff. It’s most evident, fittingly, in their sea-themed tracks (”На север”, ”Мора”), but the vibe is there through the whole album.

The whole record is, on a track-by-track basis, probably the most solid album of theirs I’ve listened to. Granted, I’m listening now biased as someone who loves them, so maybe those other albums will turn out to be even more beloved on a second go. All that said, anyway, It’s probably got the least outstanding tracks overall. I liked them all a lot, but there aren’t really any I loved. It all kind of blended together, for the most part.

IF I had to pick favourites, I’d probably go with “Змей” and...I guess ”Тарантела” or ”На север”.

Overally very good, but I’m excited because next is Master of the Mill and I’m going to squee all over that review.

[xasop]

>not writing band members' names in Cyrillic

[Pete Svarrior]

Fuck yeah, I forgot about Мельница. I'm looking forward to epic mill shenanigans

[Snupes]

>not writing band members' names in Cyrillic

Honestly, I thought about it, but then I didn't do it. I thought people would just find the Cyrillic annoying, but had to do it for the songs since that's how I see their titles. But what the hell, may as well.

Fuck yeah, I forgot about Мельница. I'm looking forward to epic mill shenanigans

w0w I wasn't expecting to find another Мельница fan amongst people I know. That's crazy. Awesome, though! Which of their stuff have you heard?



Master of the Mill
EP


Recorded:
Released: 2004

Lineup - where bold denotes a band member, and non-bold denotes a session musician

Наталья "Хелависа" О'Шей / Natalia "Helavisa" O'Shea (lead vocals)
Александр «Грендель» Степанов / Alexander "Grendel" Stepanov (guitar)
Алексей «Чус» Сапков / Alexey "Chus" Sapkov (guitar)
Наталья Филатова / Natalia Filatova (flute)
Инна Бурлакова / Inna Burlakov (violin)
Наталья Масевнина / Natalia Masevnina (violin)
Дина Нигматуллина / Dean Nigmatullina (cello)
Наталья Котлова / Natalia Kotlova (cello)
Роман Прощенко / Roman Proshchenko (drums, percussion)
Александр Филатов / Alexander Filatov (clarinet)

Lyrics by various, as noted

1. Master of the Wind  (Manowar cover)  (6:03)
2. Голем  (Golem)  (Alexander Stepanov)  (2:06)
3. Двери Тамерлана  (Dveri Tamerlana / Tamerlane's doors)  (Natalia O'Shea)  (3:36)
4. Луч солнца золотого  (Luch solntsa zolotogo / Golden ray of sunshine)  (Gennady Gladkov)  (2:42)
5. Травушка  (Travushka / Little grass[??])  (Alexey Sapkov)  (4:00)
6. Дракон  (Drakon / The dragon)  (4:13)
7. Гогиня Иштар  (Boginya Ishtar / The goddess Ishtar)  (2:58)

Review

This one's interesting. I was curious why I kept not finding it in дискография (diskografiya) torrents of theirs, but it seems that it was a very, very, very limited, very rare release. Specifically, it was only given out at a few concerts of theirs, and there were only 1,000 copies. It's just weird to me, because this was the very first album of theirs I heard, so it's my main impression of them. Odd to know my main impression is a rare one that's probably been heard the least out of all their work.

For me, this is a huge improvement on their last record. I love their folky folk sound with a bit of rock inspiration. Natalia’s voice is a work of art, and the extent to which most of these songs sound like epic fantasies is wonderful. My favourites on this are easily the incredibly beautiful “Двери Тамерлана” and the impassioned battle cry that is ”Богиня Иштар”.

I don't have a ton to say about this one, because it's a very simple folk rocky album in Russian, I just tend to enjoy that sound a lot and I thought Мельница executed it incredibly well. It's gonna be a few albums before we get to the next one I've heard, and I'm going to listen to some of Natalia's solo work under the name "Helavisa" as well, so strap in!

[Ghost Spaghetti]

Looks interesting. What other bands do they sound similar to?

[Snupes]

Looks interesting. What other bands do they sound similar to?

Oh gosh, I don't know...none that I'm familiar with. Look up "Двери тамерлана" оr "Богиня иштар" on YouTube. Whatever those sound like to you, though most of their tracks have more of a rock edge. So check out "Неперелётная" for that.



Перевал (Pereval / Pass)
Studio album


Recorded: 2004 - 2005
Released: 25 March, 2005

Lineup - where bold denotes a band member, and non-bold denotes a session musician

Наталья "Хелависа" О'Шей / Natalia "Helavisa" O'Shea (lead vocals)
Александр «Грендель» Степанов / Alexander "Grendel" Stepanov (guitar)
Алексей «Чус» Сапков / Alexey "Chus" Sapkov (guitar)
Наталья Филатова / Natalia Filatova (flute)
Инесса Клубочкина / Inessa Klubochkina (violins, vocals on "Весна")
Наталья Котлова / Natalia Kotlova (cello)
Александр Леер / Alexander Leer (percussion, drums)
Евгений Чесалов / Eugene Chesalov (bass guitar)
Владимир Филаткин /  Vladimir Filatkin (drums on "Господин горных дорог", "Ночная кобыла", "Чужой", "Прялка")
Юрий «Юра» Лахметкин / Yuri "Jura" Lakhmetkina (guitar on "Господин горных дорог", "Ночная кобыла", "Чужой", "Прялка", "Королевна")
Александр Филатов / Alexander Filatov (clarinet on "Прялка")

Lyrics by various

1. Ночная кобыла  (Nochnaya kobyla / Night mare)  (Natalia O'Shea)  (4:04)
2. Господин горных дорог  (Gospodin gosnyx dorog / Mr. Mountain Roads)  (O'Shea)  (5:18)
3. Весна  (Vesna / Spring)  (Alexey Sapkov)  (3:43)
4. Фуга  (Fuga / Fugue)  (3:16)
5. Чужой  (Chuzhoy / Foreign)  (O'Shea)  (4:32)
6. Ворон  (Voron / Raven)  (Sapkov)  (5:16)
7. Голем  (Golem)  (2:06)
8. Мертвец  (Mertvets / Corpse)  (Sapkov)  (3:55)
9. Вереск  (Veresk / Heather)  (Sapkov)  (4:11)
10. Прялка  (Pryalka / Distaff)  (O'Shea)  (6:14)
11. Королевна  (Korolevna / Princess)  (O'Shea)  (5:13)

Review

With this, I can really see Мельница’s transition from falk with hints of rock to rock with folk influences. It’s a little more in the middle of the two, and there’s not more than one or two stand-out tracks, but I enjoy it more than Дорога сна for a listen. One change they did make with this was featuring a male vocalist on several tracks, which...to be honest, I’m not fond of. It just goes to show how much of what makes Мельница’s music great is Natalia O’Shea’s wonderful voice. His isn’t bad, it’s just kind of boring.

It’s increasingly clear the fantasy direction they’re inspired to head in with this one. It honestly reminded me of Ulver’s ”Kveldssang” at times, in a very good way. Partly because instrumental sections are much more prominent on this, which is something from a lot of my favourite tracks of theirs. I love when they give Natalia’s voice and the band’s instrumentation both ample time to shine.

My favourites on this are pretty easy. ”Ночная кобыла”, “Голем”, which is a remake of a track on Master of the Mill, and “Королевна”, the closing track, which is 15 minutes long—albeit with a few minuts’ break before a calming instrumental section that feels very much like a send-off for the album.

So far this is my second-favourite in my listen-through continuity, just behind Master of the Mill.

[Ghost Spaghetti]

I'm liking them. There are definitely bands that they sound similar to, but I can't place them at the moment.