"Compassionizer have returned with a conscious experiment in long form progressive rock with their As Smoke Is Driven Away EP. For the first time they have recorded a sidelong suite, one consisting of an esoteric and evocative soundscape defined by the band's brilliant clarinets and meant to symbolize the Mystery of the victory of good over evil. The track develops in surprising fashions, yet remains tightly cohesive in its course. I found the synths across the suite to also be particularly resonant, especially in the final minutes of the piece. As usual, Compassionizer as a whole have delivered excellent performances with this EP, as has their guest viola player Lyudmila Poletaeva. As Smoke Is Driven Away leaves me hungry for more from the band and excited for the possibilities as they begin to release longer songs."
(c) LearsFool
www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2921144
***
"Good, good. My favourite is such mysterious dizzy elegance.
An over-20-minute suite "As Smoke Is Driven Away" released on April 20, 2023 features neo-classical agents and repetitive but transitional processes in a delicate manner, in addition to their mystical chamber rock as usual. This delicacy launched by them would mean fragile smoke modifying and vaporizing itself ... from the very beginning we get veiled deeply in soft smooth clarinet-oriented aroma. Their brilliant sound creativity is fascinating as well. It's also good that Lyudmila's viola playing is not only soft and gentle but also sharp and critical. Ivan's Kalimba produces a sublime atmosphere massively with comfortable instability. In the middle part uptempo percussion sounds induce credible ethnicity. The last run consists of slight anxious fancy and clear future hope and anticipation. Guess they might say that 'smoke' be something like anxiety under the tough situation nowadays. It sounds like the artists and the audience are trying to break the situation away and grab bright tomorrow together, at least for me.
Found another niche in the conventional avant-progressive scene."
(c) DamoXt7942
www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2919168
***
"Earlier this year Compassionizer returned with a single lengthy track, more than 20 minutes in length, which they released free of charge as an EP. It is the same core quartet as with the previous album, but this time we have a viola player as a guest in the form of Lyudmila Poletaeva. Again we are firmly in the world of modern classical combining with RIO, but there are also times when percussion provides a strong focal point. Although there are only five musicians this time around, both Ivan and Serghei are multi-instrumentalists who bring many different styles and textures to the arrangement. There is far more space within this recording, with the clarinets almost plaintive and calling at times, allowing the listener to be fully immersed in what is taking place.
This never feels like a collection of different songs cobbled together, which is sometimes the case with longer numbers, but instead always feel as if the music is following a logical progression even if the listener is unsure what that actually is. This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of work and a wonderful introduction to the band and what they are trying to achieve, so given it is available free of charge why not jump over to Bandcamp and give them a listen for yourself?"
(c) Kev Rowland
www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2937117
***
"An epic 20 minutes instrumental track with classical influences which creates a dark ambient mood. This time the trio spin off of Roz Vitalis has two important guests: Andrey Stefinoff at Clarinets and Lyudmila Poletaeva on the Viola. I don't know much about them, but their work is excellent.
In a dark ambient situation, clarinet and viola are a perfect addition for setting the mood.
Percussion appear here and there and fit always well in the soundscape. Unusually, Rozmainsky's keyboards are just in the background, While the lead is alternatively taken by the other instruments.
Back to the classical influences, I think I hear a bit of Debussy mixed with a bit of Stravinskij, in particular in the section around minute 11, but I'm not familiar enough to classical music to be sure about my impressions.
There's also room for a real Avant section started by the bass which gives the abbrivium to the return of the repeated 11 to 13 notes of the main theme which are overplayed by the other instruments.
In the past I've often used the adjective "dreamy" in describing the music I was hearing. This is the case, too. The suite developes like a dream, with increasing dramaticity but without forgetting the principal themes in a way that gives consistency to the whole.
The clarinet solo backed by bells in the last two minutes of the suite has made me remnind of GonG's "Flute Salad". It hasn't the same humour, it's quite dark also, but technically speaking I see some similarities with the GonG of the FLying Teapot trilogy in this final part.
Unfortunately, it ends suddenly leaving the listener with a sense of suspension. Another 20 miutes long "side B" would have been appreciated.
It's a "Name Your Price" on Bandcamp. Give it a try"
(c) octopus-4
www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2918608
***
""As Smoke is Driven Away" is an album with its roots in Indian meditations and branching out into ambient. The mini-album consists of one 20-minute long composition, alternately changing with various kinds of meditations, while maintaining a gloomy and intense coloring. An amazing interweaving of clarinet, synthesizers and recognizable keyboards by the leader of the project Ivan Rozmainsky, which have long become the hallmark of his bands. The general, rather uncharacteristic gloominess of the music is manifested here with might and main with its dark apocalyptic landscapes, replacing one passage after another. The entire viscous and dense sound palette is made at the highest level, which will not leave indifferent even those who are not ardent adherents of the genre. And for fans, this is another must have masterpiece for a collection, not to mention a clear and interesting cover. The music itself will tell the rest, since it is amazing."
(c) Devolvator
www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2924923
***
"Compassionizer has recently presented a new album called As Smoke Is Driven Away. It consists of a single track giving its name to the whole album. As many of the compositions of this talanted team this piece of progressive rock can be called a meditation having a plot. And may be more than other works since the authors entitled their work as the Mystery of the Victory of Good over Evil which imposes not just a plot but a quite specific plot, may be the most ancient one. The team is detailed and inventive in depicting the both sides of this eternal battle. As always the album features a great team-work with an amazing contribution made by the guest Lyudmila Poletaeva as the Viola. A new amazing success of Ivan and his team."
(c) Vanamonde
www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2921839
***
"Half a year after their last album An Ambassador In Bonds, Russian quartet Compassionizer is back with their new EP As Smoke Is Driven Away, which consists of a single twenty minute long track. If there ever was a band whose sound defined the genre “chamber prog”, it would be Compassionizer, even if they didn’t invent that peculiar stylistic approach.
You shouldn’t expect an entirely new sound after six months, but what makes As Smoke Is Driven Away so great is how this epic track feels like a miniature symphony with all kinds of moods and movements, surprising the listener with every new twist and turn. Even though the quartet can be broadly summarised as a progressive rock band, the main instruments here are not guitar, bass and drums, but rather clarinet, bass clarinet, haunting synths and occasional percussive elements. Ok, there’s a little guitar here and there, but it fits right into the overall mix.
This is a rather unique piece of work, and still I feel reminded of other outstanding composers and artists. The bleak and dark beauty of it all makes me think of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, also a piece written during a time of war (and probably in even darker circumstances) that has a lot of religious imagery. This is exactly something that Compassionizer and their keyboarder Ivan Rozmainsky, also known as member and name giver of Russian progressive rock band Roz Vitalis, is fond of doing. Other thoughts that popped up in my head were Peter Hammill’s 1974 album In Camera which has a similar unusual, gothic texture, and also avant prog bands like Univers Zero and Art Zoyd which are best listened to late at night with the lights dimmed.
If you are looking for an easy-listening experience, you should quickly walk away. As Smoke Is Driven Away is so far Compassionizer’s most ambitious work to date. The album can be downloaded for any price you like on their Bandcamp page, and streamed on most streaming sites. Those who enjoy their progressive music dark and demanding should be delighted by this mammoth piece of music."
(c) Pascal Thiel
www.disagreement.net/reviews2023/compassionizer_assmokeisdrivenaway.html
***
"I've reviewed a couple of Compassionizer albums now and the Russian chamber prog collective are usually pretty concise with their songwriting, even if they split a song up over multiple parts. Each of the albums I've reviewed has featured just one long piece of music, the thirteen minutes of Bear Ye One Another's Burdens on An Ambassador in Bonds and the fourteen of Kramatorsk on Narrow is the Road; nothing else on those albums came close. Well, here's what I guess we should call an EP, because "single" doesn't seem to cut it when the one track on offer is twenty minutes long. As you might imagine, there's a lot going on in this instrumental, which is easily the most expansive I've heard from Compassionizer.
The other surprising note is in which instruments are dominant. Ivan Rozmainsky has always been the driving force behind Compassionizer and he's primarily a keyboard player. Sure, he does add a kalimba and a vibraphone here too, but much of what he plays is on various different synthesisers. As such, he's all over this track but mostly in the background for a change. He seems to be content this time out with providing an atmosphere for the track against which the lead instruments can perform. Sometimes that's minimal and sometimes more expansive but he's rarely the lead. Even when he's dancing around that vibraphone late in the piece like he's the whole twinkling night sky, there's a clarinet or a guitar there to dance with him.
Mostly, the lead falls to the clarinets, which have never been a typical rock instrument the way the flute became because of Ian Anderson, but which felt right on the first Compassionizer album and ongoing. Clarinets are such inquisitive instruments, almost the raccoons of the musical world They are always seeking out new truths or new absurdities and that makes them a flexible way to help us visualise music. The bass clarinet here is played by Leonid Perevalov and the rest come courtesy of AndRey Stefinoff.
And there is a story here, or at least a theme, for us to visualise. The concept here is all about "the Mystery of the Victory of Good over Evil". Certainly there's a general sweep from dark to light and from jagged, avant-garde rhythms and phrases to more beautiful, traditional ones. I would expect that the bass clarinet is playing a dark role here, whether it's meant to be specific or general, and what I presume is a soprano clarinet represents its eternal counterpart. However, if the piece aims at deeper storytelling like we might expect in thematically ambitious pieces in classical music, I'm not hearing it. This feels more abstract, so that we can all conjure up our own interpretations but never be far wrong.
Talking of rhythms, the drums are a player in this game too. Not everything features percussion, a state of affairs that may be in part because Serghei Liubcenco, who plays traditional drums, doira and other forms percussion, is also the guitarist and bassist on this piece, so he's wearing a lot of hats this time out. When the bass clarinet is dominant, the drums often back it up like an army, a show of force to overwhelm delicacy. His guitar is even more fascinating, showing up not to play a rhythm or a riff but perhaps to depict the power of chaos.
I wasn't intending to assign characters to the different instruments, like Peter and the Wolf, but I guess I'm kind of doing that anyway. Unfortunately, I don't have a cast list and there may not be a cast list, so I'm stabbing rather blind. For a start, there's a firm transition halfway through that's done on viola and I have no idea what that represents. Of course, it may not represent anything at all and so I'm never going to find that answer. The piece also drifts away and it feels like there may be a reason for that which I'm blissfully unable to see.
Of course, there's never been a requirement to make sense out of any piece of music, even if it has a conceptual theme. You can just back and enjoy. This is certainly an engaging piece that ought to keep fans of Compassionizer happy until their next album, but the longer the pieces they play, the more I feel like there are meanings to be found. Maybe there are no answers and Rozmainsky just likes prompting us to ask questions. And should that ever be surprising in progressive rock?"
(c) Hal C. F. Astell
www.apocalypselatermusic.com/2023/05/compassionizer-as-smoke-is-driven-away.html?m=1
***
"COMPASSIONIZER, c’est le projet expérimental de musique de chambre et de rock progressif d’avant-garde du russe Ivan ROZMAINSKY, claviériste de la formation ROZ VITALIS qui livre ici une pièce instrumentale de plus de vingt minutes, disponible sur « Bandcamp » depuis avril, sur la thématique de la victoire du bien sur le mal, dans une période où plusieurs nations sont ébranlées par la folie d’une guerre qui s’enlise. Il est accompagné de Serghei LIUBCENCO à la guitare, à la basse et aux percussions, et de Leonid PEREVALOV et d’Andrey STEFINOFF qui offrent l’élément remarquable de cette œuvre, le chant triste omniprésent des clarinettes. On retrouve également, Lyudmila POLETAEVA à la viole.
Ils nous offrent une pièce qui offre de grande similarité avec une œuvre classique, parlons ici de classique moderne, avec des arrangements complexes aux signatures rythmiques étranges et un long développement axé sur des touches atmosphériques insufflées par les clarinettes plaintives, avec de la polyphonie, et des sonorités accrocheuses et étranges dans une atmosphère rêveuse, mystérieuse et enchanteresse. Un genre de symphonie miniature, dans le genre « Pierre et le Loup » pour adultes, qui se montre très cohérente dans sa longueur mais exigeante, car un brin morose, avec un aspect cinématique certain.
Perso, j’ai bien aimé, et cela se laisse jouer en boucles pour pouvoir capter toutes les subtilités et contributions instrumentales atypiques. Vu la dominance des instruments à vents, cela pourra certainement plaire aux amateurs de SHAMBLEMATHS. Sur « Bandcamp », vous pourrez décider du prix à payer. Très recommandable. Bonne écoute!"
(c) Mario Champagne
www.profilprog.com/quick-reviews-2/Compassionizer
***
"COMPASSIONIZER y una nueva bocanada de aire frescamente avant-progesivo
HOLA, AMIGOS DE AUTOPOIETICAN, LES SALUDA CÉSAR INCA.
Hoy presentamos el nuevo trabajo fonográfico del ensamble avant-progresivo ruso COMPASSIONIZER, un EP que dura poco menos de 20 ¾ minutos, conteniendo solamente la suite que porta el mismo título del disco: “As Smoke Is Driven Away”. Este ítem fue publicado el pasado 20 de abril, hace muy poco. El concepto detrás de este despliegue instrumental consiste en una meditación sobre el misterio de la victoria del Bien sobre el Mal. (“Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: / let them also that hate him flee before him. / As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: / as wax melteth before the fire, / so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”) Para este disco, la alineación de COMPASSIONIZER está conformada por el antes mencionado Ivan Rozmainsky [sintetizadores Eko Panda 49, Roland Juno D y Korg Micro X, kalimba y vibráfono], Serghei Liubcenco [guitarra, bajo, doira, batería y percusiones], Leonid Perevalov [clarinete bajo] y AndRey Stefinoff [clarinetes]. El colectivo recibe la colaboración de Lyudmila Poletaeva a la viola. Tras el proceso de grabación de esta suite progresiva – una muy hermosa suite, permítasenos adelantar –, Anatoly Nikulin se hizo cargo de la mezcla y la masterización del presente registro. La portada es de autoría del músico y artista plástico kazajo Vyacheslav Potapov (VP).
Veamos ahora los detalles de la suite ‘As Snow Is Driven Away’. Todo comienza con un despliegue de colorido moderadamente ágil en base a las maderas y la percusión tonal, siendo así que la batería, la guitarra y el bajo emiten unos ornamentos parcos mientras aguardan su momento de irrumpir de manera más sistemática. La delicada maraña de florituras melódicas ostenta, a pesar de su patente fulgor, algunas vibraciones nebulosas: estamos aquí en un terreno intermedio entre RATIONAL DIET y los ISILDURS BANE de inicios del milenio. Ya cuando un groove percusivo cuasi-tribal entra a tallar sobre la frontera del segundo minuto, las cosas adquieren un vigor renovado, pero aún se conserva una ceremoniosidad que obliga a la meticulosamente creciente extroversión a instalarse de a pocos. Más o menos, lo que se va consolidando aquí es una remodelación del paradigma de UNIVERS ZERO (etapa 1981-84) con añadidos resabios de inspiración folklórica. Es alrededor de la frontera del minuto 11 ½, que las cosas llegan a un nivel de auténtica intensidad en el swing, lo cual viene acompañado de una mayor dosis de densidad en la atmósfera sónica global. Esto dura poco, pero cumple eficazmente su función de armar el clímax adecuado para lo que se estuvo trabajando desde el inicio. Prontamente, se abre espacios para algunos recursos deconstructivos que sustentan una refinada (y ligeramente perturbadora) confluencia de efluvios disonantes y climas ensoñadores. A su vez, esto sirve como un puente para el regreso de los grooves y atmósferas que signaron a la arquitectura sonora entre los minutos 3 y 11. En los últimos minutos, el ensamble regresa aún más atrás, al colorido cristalino que marcó a la sección prologar, pero esta vez, en base al matrimonio entre las exuberantes florituras del clarinete y los aleteos etéreos de los sintetizadores. Con los ornamentos casuales de guitarra y otras maderas, el aura de inquietud sigue vigente a despecho de la naturaleza aparentemente serena del esquema sonoro.
Así es esta suite, así este EP de COMPASSIONIZER. El maestro ruso Ivan Rozmainsky y sus compañeros de viaje se han vuelto a lucir a lo grande con esta nueva oferta dentro de la escena progresiva del año 2023. Ésta es música avant-progresiva de alto nivel y elevadísima inspiración, cuyo único “defecto” en esta ocasión específica es que dura menos de media hora. Eso sí, ajustándonos a los hechos concretos y sin detenernos en detalles cuantitativos, “As Smoke Is Driven Away” es un EP hermoso y cautivador que no debe faltar en una colección mínimamente buena de arte musical; de hecho, bien puede totalmente recomendable, sin duda."
(c) César Inca Mendoza Loyola
autopoietican.blogspot.com/2023/05/compassionizer-y-una-nueva-bocanada-de.html?m=1 
