(Post-Rock, Alternative Rock, Art Rock) [CD] Aican - Art Saves / Kills - 2011, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Music by Roman Varaksin - Arkady Filatov - Aican (1,5), Heid - Aican (2,7.1), Krikston - Aican (3,4,7.2), Roman Varaksin - Aican (6)
Arrangements by Krikston.
7. is dedicated to KC
Recorded at "FA-Studio", Yekaterinburg in 2009-2010
Mixed and mastered in 2011
Engineers: Krikston (1,3-7), Arkady Filatov & Krikston (2)
Graphics by Heid
Design by Enmort / ZonderZond
Aican are a relatively new band hailing from central Russia that play their own unique blend of instrumental post-rock. Assembled by Ilya Maltsev (guitars), Vitaly 'Krikston' Pereladov (guitars), Roman Varaskin (drums) and Vyacheslav 'Heidi' Bal (bass) in 2009, this young and talented group of musicians has just issued their promising debut effort entitled Art Saves / Kills, for the Russian label RAIG.
Drawing on influences from Mogwai, Tool and King Crimson, to name just a few, Aican have constructed an engaging seven track, forty some odd minute journey that is guaranteed to grab the listener and take them along into their magical labyrinth of varying moods and multi colored textures. Beginning with the first two tracks "Golem" and "Infinite Light", the quartet proves to be seasoned veterans at compositional construction and re-construction. Tension is slowly built and atmospheres are carefully established, as the twin assault of Maltsev and Pereladov cut a bold swath through the mix with their effects laden guitar work, while 'Heidi's' rubbery bass lines and Varaskin's constantly evolving, muscular patterns, guide the explorations further out into the stratosphere. The band's writing and arranging expertise is fully revealed on the eleven minute title track, but this is only the beginning because this is where things start to get even more interesting. No sooner has the smoke cleared on the spacey and raging thrust of "(You're Part Of My Freedom), before they throw a superb curveball at you with "Gentle Kick". This track ventures out into distinctly jazzier territory, thanks in large part due to the scorching sax contributions of guest musician Anton Churakov. Art Saves / Kills concludes with "Primal Earth - Primal Breathe" which is dedicated to King Crimson. A roaring three headed beast featuring some absolutely blistering guitar work, this nine minute epic is the perfect way to bring the album to it's rousing conclusion.
With Art Saves / Kills, Aican have created a moody and heavy, yet melodic, debut album that has tons of upside, but more importantly, reveals a lot of promise for the future as well. - Sea Of Tranquility
From the Russian town of Yekaterinburg, some 1800km east of Moscow on the Eastern side of the Ural Mountains, Aican really do come from the back end of beyond, both geographically and from a Western influence point of view. Luckily for them in these days of the interwebby thang, you could be on the Moon and still stream all the latest cool sounds from anywhere you like, so their geographic isolation is not really felt sonically on this their first album.
Formed in 2009 Aican offer a line up of two guitars, bass and drums, and on Gentle Kick a guest saxophone, who together cook up a storm of post-rockisms with a slight leaning more towards the “rock” rather than the “post.” They have an innate understanding of the power of dynamics and light and shade and the album veers from simple melody to crushing Mogwai style heaviness within the structure of one song with an ease belying their comparative inexperience – opener Golem being a prime example.
Yekaterinburg is famous a centre for Russian classical dance, but there is no effete pirouetting from this bunch, although they are capable of nice subtle moments such as the atmospheric opening to Infinite Light. There are some generic metalisms present, the sort of syncopated riffing that Tool and dozens of others were doing years ago (Infinite Light again), but I don’t hold that against them as for a first album it’s an accomplished if not stunning effort. Any soloing is kept brief and to the point, the band preferring tight ensemble playing, which is the right choice as far as I’m concerned.
Pulse builds and fades in a nice fashion and leads into the title track Art Saves/Kills which at eleven minutes long is the “epic” of the album, although I found it a bit predictable, following the Mogwai template a bit too closely. If an instrumental can be a love song then You’re Part Of My Freedom wins that award. The smoky sax on Gentle Kick adds another dimension to the music, and the guitar work on this song shows another side to the band – nice!
According to RAIG Records Primal Earth – Primal Breathe is the band’s tribute to “the KC veterans”, but to these ears it is more rock oriented than KC and has a fine wah guitar interlude as it builds in intensity. It also reminds me of the heavier end of Porcupine Tree. There are worse things to be influenced by, it has to be said.
Art Saves/Kills is a worthy if not groundbreaking debut for Aican, and this is certainly a band worth keeping an eye out for in the future for they show enough ability here to indicate that they could be capable of producing something special down the line. - dprp.net

Aican is:
Roman Varaksin: drums, percussion
Ilya Maltsev: guitar
Krikston: guitar
Heid: bass