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The idea for ROZ VITALIS was conceived by St. Petersburg composer and multi instrumentalist Ivan Rozmainsky in 2001. Since the inception of his keyboard-dominated studio project, he has produced an impressive number of recordings combining elements of solo instrumental, sacred music, experimental, and modern folk with art-rock and avant-prog. In accordance with his conceptual vision, all that was about “overcoming the chaos, unmasking the evil, and achieving the transcendental clarification”. A number of good musicians accompanied that quest through the years: Nadezhda Regentova (keyboards, voices, texts), Vladimir Polyakov (keyboards, texts), Vasily Raskov (voices), Klara Metelkova (block-flutes, harmonica, voice), and Yuri Verba (clarinet) to name a few.
In 2006, an Italian record-label Mellow Records included ROZ VITALIS’ version of “Words You Say” to the label’s “A Tribute To The Moody Blues: Higher And Higher” compilation. For music samples and booking please visit ROZ VITALIS MyspaceMusic page.
Roz Vitalis / Live at Mezzo Forte, Moscow, September ’09 (2009) / CD $11.00
Recorded at the Mezzo Forte club on September 27, 2009, this is the first official live album by ROZ VITALIS. It also features for the first time a new band's line-up with fully fledged rhythm-section: Ivan Rozmainsky (keyboards, winds), Vladimir Polyakov (voice, keyboards, percussions, horn, noises), Vladimir Efimov (guitar), Vladimir Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (bass) and Philip Semenov (drums, percussions). The performance includes both newly arranged compositions from earlier albums and previously unreleased songs. The album demonstrates an obvious departure from the experimental chamber-prog style and tends towards more song-oriented traditional art-rock material with all lyrics written and sung in English. (8 tracks - 54 min.)
PRESS CLIPS
"This is a very arty prog album that reminds me of Gentle Giant and in particularly Islands era King Crimson in its style and approach. Not only is its approach in the vein of avant-prog/RIO, but it also uses text from poets (Elliot, Dryden, Yeats, Davies and Donne), and to very clever effect as it adds atmosphere and dimension to the whole concept... If you are of the more adventurous nature and are willing to try something slightly different, then you aren’t going to go far wrong with Roz Vitalis. I honestly think you may genuinely be surprised with what you hear. I was. (Conclusion: 7 out of 10)" – by John O'Boyle of DPRP (UK) (March 2010).
This album was also reviewed at: HeadBanger (Russia), Sea Of Tranquility (USA), MerlinProg (Norway), Manticornio (Mexico), HeadBanger's interview with Roz Vitalis (Russia), Metal Library (Russia), Arlequins (Italy), Background Magazine (The Netherlands), Babyblaue (Germany).
Roz Vitalis / Lazarus Abridged (2009) / F R E E - T O - D O W N L O A D (zip-file w/ artwork)
"Lazarus Abridged" is a retrospective take to mark the band's shift from home-studio digitized format towards tout-ensemble sound with live keyboards, guitars and drums. Originally performed by: Ivan Rozmainsky (keyboards, assorted instruments), Nadezhda Regentova (voices) and Vladimir Polyakov (keyboards). Track 1 is taken from The Threesunny Light Power EP (2004); tracks 2, 3, 5 are from Lazarus LP (2003); and tracks 4, 6, 7 are from Painsadist EP (2003). The three aforementioned original albums are long out-of-print items now. All songs were re-mastered for this compilation by Ivan Rozmainsky in 2009. Original artwork by Vladimir Kabanov. Published as a free-to-download mp3-album exclusively (61+ mb - 7 tracks - 34 min.).
Roz Vitalis / Compassionizer (2007) / CD $11.00
The line-up for the ROZ VITALIS’ fifth studio album is: Ivan Rozmainsky (conception, keyboards, recorders, percussion, samples, virtual synth), Sydius of DIOGENIUM (guitars), and Yuri Verba (clarinets). This is a sort of conceptual effort with the purpose, as you may guess from the project manifesto, “to unmask and reveal the spiritual evil of the modern humanity’s materialist vainglory…”. The whole instrumental music flows in between prog-rock (one of the compositions even develops the ideas of KING CRIMSON’s “Matte Kudasai” from the Discipline album), chamber avant-garde, and experimental electronic territories producing a specific effect: rock-orchestrated fragments – with weird keyboard symphonization and delicate touches by guitars and clarinets – sound a bit schematic and too cinematic in the sense of the progressive rock tradition while more abstract and liquid experimental passages are still deprived of its meditative purity with some nervous and spasmodic programmed beats. All in all, Rozmainsky and the partners managed to avoid many cliches of the mentioned genres and stepped the obscured land of so-called dark-rock experimentalism. Arguably, Compassionizer is the most coherent effort of their own to the date. (9 tracks - 52 min.)
PRESS CLIPS
"The music of Roz Vitalis is instrumental, and borders between electronic and savage progressive rock. The opening cut "Tragic Fate" is an aggressive piece, somewhat like a collision of King Crimson and Magma, with jagged guitar lines and plenty of synthesizer blasts. A similar ominous & foreboding feel can be heard on "Autumn of Hypocrisy", this time with various keyboard sounds creating the drama. Some of the songs have a more lighter, fusion element floating to the surface, like on "Elusive Goodness" and "Disruption", and the presence of Verba and his clarinet usually contributes a sort of Canterbury flair on some of these tracks. Elsewhere, Rozmainsky's moody and at time eerie keyboard textures steal the show, whether it be on dense & dissonant chamber rock numbers like the title track or dark prog-rock territory such as "Wakatte Kudasai", which has a brooding ambient feel happening as well to go along with the repetitive rhythms and synthesizer blips. The fact is, much of the music on Compassionizer is very hard to describe initially. It's not till after multiple listens that some of these pieces start to open themselves up a little, and even then, the dissonant and harsh nature of the arrangements don't always lend themselves to accessibility. That being said, if you like dark instrumental prog with many layers, this latest from Roz Vitalis will be a good choice to add to your list of future CD purchases. (Score: 3,5/5)" – by Pete Pardo of Sea Of Tranquility (USA) (April 2007).
"The music guided by the keyboards which change sound from time to time in accordance with the mood Roz Vitalis want to create. The music roams around freely, and yet it has defined structure and theme, and moves forward and isn’t experimental for the sake of experimentalism, but for the sake of creating something different. It is intriguing, explorative, with a weird and somewhat gloomy atmosphere... A journey album." – by Avestin of ProgressiveEars (USA) (June 2007).
"The music throughout the album is very dark moody and at times has that eerie vibe I hear in the first two Univers Zero albums. If you enjoy dissonant arrangements combined with dark instrumental prog, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of Compassionizer as soon as possible." – by Ron Fuchs of ProgNaut (USA) (July 2007).
"It is serious music that demands many listens to be appreciated fully... their music is challenging, original, more classically oriented than rock and with a touch of experimental and avant-garde music, cast in a gloomy mood." – by Michel F of ProgGnosis (USA) (January 2008).
This album as well as earlier releases were also reviewed at: Metal Library (Russia), Manticornio (Mexico), El Retorno del Gigante (Argentina), Hatross (Russia), Arlequins (Italy), Babyblaue (Germany), Background Magazine (The Netherlands), DPRP (UK), ProgArchives (USA), ProgressiveWorld.net (USA), iO Pages (The Netherlands), HeadBanger (Russia).
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| CD | $11.00 | |
| mp3-album | free download | |
| CD | $11.00 |
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