This is the first Prog-Metal band I've heard from Russia. It's nice to hear that this kind of music is played in every corner of the world, and not only in Sweden, Germany, Japan and America. I don't know how many Prog-Metal bands there is in Russia, but Azazello have to be one of the premier bands there. They're are all quite good musicians and their music is high quality too.

As with the majority of other Prog Metal bands, Azazello's biggest influence is Dream Theater. They're also influenced by bands such as Symphony X, Kansas, Marillion, Queensryche and Gorky Park to name a few. The main different is that Azazello's album has been recorded in the Russian language. Russia is a very big country so they have chosen to sing in Russian. I guess that it's very hard to reach outside their homeland too, so why bother to sing in English. It doesn't bother me though, because the music stands out for itself.

The recordings are made in a cheap studio, so the sound quality is suffering a bit from that. But all in all, this is a very good album with good musicians, and I think that if they only get a chance, they would surely make it big outside Russia too.

If you're into Prog Metal bands such as Dream Theater, and are brave enough to try out the Russian alternative, I recommend you to give this album a try. Unfortunately I don't have a clue how to get this album, but I guess that a good start would be to send an email to band member Alexander Kulak: a_kulak@hotmail.com.