Epidemia - Zagadka Volshebnoy Strany (2001)Moroz Records

The year 2001 saw a very important change on the position of vocalist. Pavel Okunev was replaced by Maxim Samosvat of such bands like Mechanical Poet, Everlost, Lady Prowler and Alexey Strike. Another new musician on Epidemia's board was a keyboardist Oleg 'Beavis' Pokhvalin. The rest line-up was unchanged: Yuriy Melisov (guitar, backing vocal), Roman Zakharov (guitar), Ilya Knyazev (bass guitar) and Andrey Laptev (drums).

"Zagadka Volshebnoy Strany" ("Quest Of The Magic Country"), as its title suggests, has a fabulous concept. On this stuff, the Russian power metallers improve their style and make it recognizable. It doesn't concern instrumental parts only, but also very characteristic vocal lines proving that Maxim Samosvat is a great successor of Pavel Okunev. His singing is emotive and strong. One of his advantages is vocal modulating without any difficulty. Each track is based on numerous melodic guitar parts which are addicitve and lustrous. Although Edpidemia's musicians don't parade their virtuosity, the technical command of instruments is undisputed, and its evidence is audible in the instrumental composition "Proschanye S Volshebnoy Strany". Some narrative fragments vary the music itself and portend the next album. There is also one track in English called "Living In Twilight" that can be considered a kind of raisin among the rest tracks. As an interesting fact, I can remind you that the videoclip to "Ya Molilsya Na Tebya" was played on MTV!

Summing up, I must admit that "Zagadka Volshebnoy Strany" is not an usual album, it's a sort of musical story you have to sink into in order to understand it properly. Another great plus of the album is its clear sound that makes all details clearly audible. Listening to this music fills us with hope and positively inclines. It also makes us happy, and this is one of the most important roles of music. The musicians of Epidemia are themselves and don't copy any West groups. They are as excellent as Blind Guardian, but definitely have their own original style. Beautiful music! Beautiful language!