Progressive rock musician Andrew Roussak was born in Russia in 1968, and he has released three solo albums so far. Namely No Trespassing (2008), Blue Intermezzo (2010) and Storm Warning (2019, see review). Crossing The Line is his fourth album, and it contains seven new tracks all clocking over six minutes and more. The final song is called Suite En La Gavotte Et Six Doubles, a “cover” of the original piece composed by J.Ph. Rameau, who lived from 1683 till 1764. All instruments were played and programmed by Roussak, and he even did the lead and backing vocals on this album; however, singing is not Roussak's best quality... The opening track Invisible Killer truly reminds me of good old Emerson, Lake & Palmer and it contains some nice, melodic guitar work. Favourites of mine are the two instrumentals' Nations For Sale (very powerful) and the title track featuring Arena-like musical elements. Just One Life Is Not Enough surprises with lots of diversity, orchestral passages and obvious ELP and Yes characteristics. Suite En La Gavotte Et Six Doubles is the eleven minutes instrumental “cover” of the classical harpsichord suite composed by Rameau and I think that Roussak did a fine job with this modern rendition of a classical piece. All in all, Crossing The Line is a highly enjoyable melodic symphonic prog rock album, and I would especially recommend it to fans of keyboard-driven progressive rock music. ***+ Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
