CORVUS STONE : II (Arvostelu Soundi-lehdessä 1/2015)

Multikansallinen progressiivisen rockin kokoonpano Corvus Stone on Pohjolassa jäänyt melko tuntemattomaksi, mutta maailmalla alan piireissä sen tekemiset tunnetaan. Kitaristi Colin Tenchin, kosketinsoittaja Pasi Koivun, basisti Petri Lemmy Lindströmin sekä rumpali Robert Wolffin muodostama ryhmä eteni jo toiseen pitkäsoittoonsa.

Vaikka pelkistetysti nimetty II nojaa suurelta osin instrumentaalisiin esityksiin, sen raidoilla kuullaan myös laulua englanniksi ja suomeksi. Asialla ovat muun muassa Timo Rautiainen sekä Big Big Trainissä uraa luonut Sean Filkins. Taiteilija Sonia Motan näyttävästi kuvittama albumi poimii kulmiinsa vaikutteita perinteisestä sinfonisesta progesta, folkista, hardrockista ja maailmanmusiikista.

Muusikot soseuttavat keitoksen, joka ajoittaisesta hyppelehtivyydestään huolimatta maistuu herkulliselta. Kokonaisuuden helmeksi hioutuu teos A Stoned Crow Meets The Rusty Wolff Rat. Klassisen akustisella kitaralla alkava sävellys heittäytyy askelittain intohimoisen kimurantteihin kielisoitinjameihin. Santanamainen lattarityylittely Scandinavians In Mexico sekä Deep Purplelle syvään kumartava Purple Stone osoittavat, kuinka laaja-alainen Corvus Stonen näkemys on.

Juha Seitz

Juha Seitz

"Corvus Stone II" album review by Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck

Progressive Rock Review: Corvus Stone II

Release Date: 20th Oct 2014
Label: Melodic Revolution Records
Website

Corvus Stone is a multi-national project which came together in 2012, ostensibly as an accidental meeting up on social media sites. There was initially a core trio forming Corvus Stone, but soon more people became involved and their self-titled debut album in 2012 (digital release followed by a physical CD) involved no less than 8 people. Fast forwarding to the release of album No 2, called Corvus Stone II, sees the original core trio expanding to 4 and another 8 guests contributing.

The original members of Corvus Stone were Colin Tench (guitars), Petri Lemmy Lindstrom (bass) and Pasi Koivu (keyboards), with Robert Wolff (drums and percussion) joining the band just after album No 1 had been recorded. The guest musicians include Blake Carpenter, Sean Filkins, Phil Naro, German Vergara, Andres Guazzelli, Timo Rautiainen and Stef Flaming, all contributing to the vocals on various tracks, with Sean also adding percussion and harmonica and Stef adding guitar and keyboards. Victor Tassone also was involved, contributing drums and percussion.

Corvus Stone II is a 16 track album with a running time of 79 minutes, which is certainly value for money with 80 minutes being deemed the longest time available on CD without compromising the quality of the recording. Four tracks have playing times of 2 minutes or less, with track 4, “Sneaky Entrance into Lisa,” the shortest at only 30 seconds. The penultimate track, “Moaning Lisa” is by far the longest track on offer at a touch over 14 minutes. (14:08)

Corvus Stone literally defy musical description in that the range of directions the music moves off in means that any attempt at a definition is meaningless. One moment you are in blues mode, then rock, ballad, heavy rock and then back again. The band themselves, on the sleeve notes (showing my age with that comment), state “This album is extremely varied. It does not follow any imaginary rules. It is not genre safe!”

The opening track to II is “The Simple Life” (2:00) which is almost a “feel good” song, with gentle harmonies and a delicate undulating vocal (Phil). This is an interesting short track which leads into “Early Morning Call” (3:52) with great organ/guitar interplay. Another track which epitomizes the same “what a great day to be alive” feeling. Midway through the track, the piano and bass get a little spotlight and the track meanders along with more guitar passages (Colin) and at times moves towards the film soundtrack border.

“Boots for Hire” (8:58) is a more bluesy based track which allows more guitar string bending and there are subtle “string” appearances. Vocals are very clear (Stef) and almost delivered in a chanting style around the 2 minute mark and the track takes a slight swerve around 2:45 minutes into a more keyboard driven mode. This allows some more guitars to interplay with the keyboards, all the while retaining that bluesy feel to proceedings. There is a little passage of “random noise,” before the vocals reappear above an excellent band workout. The track moves steadily to its finale with some superb bass being heard as the overall sound is stripped away, leaving the bleeping of a “heart monitor” and then it is gone.

“Purple Stone” (3:22) is a little tilt towards Deep Purple and is a slice of out and out rock, with vocals by Blake and Andres. Beauty and a pastoral feel exude from the start of “A Stoned Crow Meets The Rusty Wolff” (7:37) and when the band all pitch in after about a minute, there is still a feeling of gentleness, albeit with some out of kilter drumming. The soundscape continues to shift time patterns, enveloping the listener in the music, as the track moves into a guitar and keyboards passage. Edging past the 5 minute mark there is a hint of space rock about the proceedings which still seems to fit seamlessly within the track. This is an excellent example of a band of excellent musicians working well together, while at times have their tongues firmly in their cheeks and don’t seem to be taking things too seriously.

With “Mr Cha Cha” (4:50), track 8, we have the fourth “guitar rock” orientated track with Colin showing an amazing variety of styles. The other tracks fitting into this quartet thus far are “Boots For Hire,” “Purple Stone” and “A Stone Crow Meets The Rusty Wolff.”

“Dark Tower” (1:48) although short has a superb piano, some more delicate guitar and great vocals (Blake), before leading into the samba styled “Scandinavians In Mexico” (5:06), with a tribute to one Carlos Santana, as Colin’s guitar playing reminds the listener of the sweet sound of Santana, ably backed by the brilliant keyboards of Pasi.

Acoustic guitar leads into another Deep Purple sounding work out on “Mystery Man” (6:37) with organ and the characteristic slow heavy guitar associated with Deep Purple. Certainly there has not been any point at which the listener has any time to drift from the music on display. Blake again takes on the vocals and there is also an amazing instrumental break with melodic, then sawing, guitars over a burbling reverberating organ.

“Camelus Bactrianus” (8:42) is a very somber dramatic soundscape and sounds almost like the background music to an execution or at the very least, generates a feeling of foreboding. This is a stunning slow grower of a track, with vocal, in Finnish, by Timo adding to the overall mysterious atmosphere.

The tour-de-force of the album is “Moaning Lisa” (14:08) and is another switch in style and sound. Some wonderful acoustic guitar backed by unobtrusive bass and the voice of Sean all adds up to a sea shanty/folk styled track. Around the halfway point, there is a marked change of style with a harder rockier sound taking over. The gentler folksier side of the Stone then resumes before some violin adds a different element. The final track is a simple acoustic number sung in Finnish, again by Timo.

Corvus Stone II is an excellent follow up album and again highlights the difficulty in trying to put the band into a specific genre. The album gets both stickers and my simple advice is…..”Go and buy this album, at once.”

5/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Dark Tower, Camelus Bactrianus,  Moaning Lisa

Tracks:The Simple Life
Early Morning Call
Boots For Hire
Sneaky Entrance In To Lisa
Purple Stone
A Stoned Crow Meets The Rusty Wolfe
Lisa Has A Cigar
Mr Cha Cha
Dark Tower
Scandinavians In Mexico
Mystery Man
Camelus Bactrianus (Tuolla Tuonnempana)
Uncle Schunkle
Eternal Universe
Moaning Lisa
Campfire (Tulen Luona)

Jim “The Ancient One” Lawson-Sr. Reviewer Prog Rock Music Talk

December 22, 2014

Review Provided By Prog Rock Music

"Corvus Stone II" is out

Corvus Stone´s sensational second album II is out in Running Moose´s Distribution! 

The original text appears on  http://www.runningmoose.fi

Already highly noticed and reviewed all over the prog world, this second album of Corvus Stone is now available in USA by Melodic Revolution Records and rest of the world by Running Moose Productions. The band is: Colin Tench (GB) (guitar), Pasi Koivu(FIN) (keyboards), Petri Lemmy Lindström (FIN) (bass) and Robert Wolff (USA) (drums). The special guests on this album are: Timo Rautiainen, who sings two songs, Phil Naro,Sean Filkins and Blake Carpenter (all vocals) among many others. The album cover art is by Sonia Mota.
Available in Japan by Garden Shed and in France by Musea Records. For more, tag:
http://www.gardenshedcd.com/http://www.musearecords.com/ 
http://www.corvusstone.com

Corvus Stone II album review by Lucas Biela

Excerpt of Album Review by Lucas

As announced in preamble of this review, this album is a festival of musical sounds, as diverse as the origin of the musicians involved. While music in general is in the field of progressive rock, it's easy to notice that the band doesn't care about labels. Progressive rock is a means to sublimate their influences rather than an end in itself. Therefore, you will hear pop (the baroque echoes of the harpsicord in the opener with beatlesque vocal harmonies, the pastoral accents of "Eternal universe"). Other popular forms of music are also represented. Let's start with blues-rock. First with the cover of Murky Red's "Boots for hire", where the virile voice is provided by none other than Murky Red's frontman, Stef Flaming, yet in a context slightly different from the original version, through its spacey keys and arabesques. Then, the blues influence is also obvious in the languid "Mystery man", with its eerie keys and reminiscences of The Beatles' "I want you (she's so heavy)" in the closing section. Rock'n'roll is there as well with the hellish "Purple stone" and a short wink to Deep Purple's "Highway star". Folk music, highlighted by the use of finnish in the lyrics ("Campfire"), has also its place in this monumental album. On the other hand, "Uncle Schunkle" with its groovy rhythms and its vintage hammond, recalls the golden age of jazz-funk. And obviously, since Corvus Stone are regarded as a progressive rock act, the instrumental "A stoned crow meets the rusty Wolff" is a piece that goes in this direction, with many rhythm changes and colourful keys. The title of the song is a pun on the drummer's name but might also be a reference to Happy The Man's humorous piece "Stumpy Meets the Firecracker in Stencil Forest". Besides those influences, some dances are honoured throughout the record: salsa ("Scandinavians in Mexico"), cha cha cha ("Mr Cha Cha"), waltz ("Early morning call" with echoes of Stranglers' "Golden Brown"), bolero ("Camelus bactrianus"), flamenco (Colin's guitar opening to some tracks). Moreover, some neo-classical interludes intersperse the album, be it in a mozartian way ("Lisa has a cigar"), or romantic fashion ("Dark Tower"). More surprising is the pastoral symphony in four movements "Moaning Lisa" (two movements in the tradition of british songs of the elisabethan era, separated by a mouth organ-lead boiling instrumental movement, and a final waltz closing the symphony).

1.  The Simple Life – 01:59 
2.  Early Morning Call – 03:51 
3.  Boots For Hire – 08:58 
4.  Sneaky Entrance In To Lisa – 00:30 
5.  Purple Stone – 03:21 
6.  A Stoned Crow Meets The Rusty Wolff Rat – 7:37 
7.  Lisa Has A Cigar – 00:46 
8.  Mr Cha Cha  - 04:49 
9.  Dark Tower – 01:48 
10. Scandinavians In Mexico – 05:06 
11. Mystery Man – 06:37 
12. Camelus Bactrianus (Tuolla tuonnempana) 08:42 
13. Uncle Schunkle – 04:37 
14. Eternal Universe – 03:52 
15. Moaning Lisa -14:07 
16. Campfire (Tulen Luona) 02:17   

Total time: 79:06

CORVUS STONE 2 line-up 
Colin Tench - Guitars 
Petri Lemmy Lindström - Bass 
Pasi Koivu - keyboards 
Robert Wolff - Drums & Percussion 
Sonia Mota - All artwork and video work 

Special Guests: 
Sean Filkins - Vocals 
Phil Naro - Vocals 
German Vergara - Vocals 
Timo Rautiainen - Vocals 
Blake Carpenter - Vocals 
Stef Flaming - Vocals
Andres Guazzelli - Vocals
Victor Tassone - Percussion

Pre-order the CD: http://mrrcorvusstone.bandcamp.com/album/corvus-stone-ii

Corvus Stone II Album Art & Final Track Listing Revealed

Corvus Stone II Album Art & Final Track Listing Revealed

Corvus Stone Return With Classic Lineup:
Colin Tench: Guitars, Petri Lemmy Lindström: Bass, Pasi Koivu: Keyboards and the newest addition to the outfit is Robert Wolff: Drums & Percussion.

Once Again The Album Features Some Very Special Guests:
Emmy Award Vocalist Phil Naro (Talas, Backhand, Druckfarben), Sean Filkins: Vocals (Solo & Big Big Train) German Vergara: Vocals (Aisles) Timo Rautiainen (Solo & Trio Niskalaukaus).

The Album Also Features Some Returning Guests:
Blake Carpenter: Vocals (The Minstrel’s Ghost, Voice of the Enslaved) Victor Tassone: Percussion (Unified Past, Andy John Bradford’s Oceans 5) Andres Guazzelli: Vocals (CTP/Colin Tench Project, Solo). 

Artwork by Sonia Mota. 

1. The Simple Life
2. Early Morning Call
3. Boots for Hire
4. Sneaky Entrance in to Lisa
5. Purple Stone
6. A Stoned Crow Meets the Rusty Wolff Rat
7. Lisa has a Cigar
8. Mr Cha Cha
9. Dark Tower
10. Scandinavians in Mexico
11. Mystery Man
12. Camelus Bactrianus (Tuolla tuonnempana)
13. Uncle Schunkle
14. Eternal Universe
15. Moaning Lisa
16. Campfire (Tulen Luona)

Album is available for pre-order at:
http://mrrcorvusstone.bandcamp.com/
http://melodicrevolutionrecords.com/album/corvus-stone-ii

Timo Rautiainen mukana Corvus Stone -levyllä

Äskettäin yhtyeensä Timo Rautiainen & Neljäs Sektori kanssa levyn "Toinen varoitus" julkaissut suomalaisen rockmusiikin voimahahmo Timo Rautiainen on mukana myös Corvus Stone -yhtyeen alkusyksyllä ilmestyvällä uudella albumilla joka on saanut nimekseen lyhyesti ja ytimekkäästi "Corvus Stone II".

Rautiaisen lisäksi levyllä ovat mukana jyväskyläläiset muusikot Petri "Lemmy" Lindström (basso) sekä Pasi Koivu (kosketinsoittimet). Rautiaisen tulkitsemien laulujen nimet ovat "Tuolla tuonnempana" ja "Tulen luona". Ensimmäisenä mainitun laulun on säveltänyt Lindström ja jälkimmäisen Koivu. Pitkän päivätyön suomalaisessa musiikkimaailmassa tehnyt Pax Romana -yhtyeen jäsen Matti Kervinen vastaa edellämainittujen laulujen suomenkielisistä sanoituksista. "Tuonna tuonnempana" ja "Tulen luona" saivat osakseen myös Kervisen loihtimat laulumelodiat.

Rautiaisen tulkitsemien laulujen kielenä on Corvus Stonelle poikkeuksellisesti suomi. Yhtye käyttää useita eri laulajia uudella levyllään. Rautiaisen lisäksi kansainvälisesti tunnetuimmasta päästä levyllä laulavista artisteista mainittakoon esimerkkinä entinen Big Big Train -yhtyeen jäsen Sean Filkins.

Lindströmin ja Koivun lisäksi monikansallisen Corvus Stone -projektin muut jäsenet ovat vanhat tutut Colin Tench (kitara) sekä Robert Wolff (rummut).

Lindström on pitänyt itsensä kiireisenä myös luotsaamansa Progeland-yhtyeen tulevan levyjulkaisun johdosta. 1970-luvun äänimaailmaan vahvasti pohjautuva Progeland yhdistää hard rock -soundia tehokkaasti progressiivisiin elementteihin. Lindströmin lisäksi yhtyeen muut jäsenet ovat Tomi Murtomäki (laulu), Juha Kaski (kosketinsoittimet), Matias Kangasniemi (kitara) ja Pasi Manninen (rummut). Sävellystyöstä vastaa Lindström ja albumin nimi on "Gate To Fulfilled Fantasies".

Lindström tekee eräällä tapaa "tuplat" sillä Corvus Stone ja Progeland julkaisevat levynsä käytännössä lähes yhtä aikaa. Yhdistävänä tekijänä on myös levyt julkaiseva amerikkalainen levy-yhtiö Melodic Revolution Records. Kansitaiteen on molempiin levyihin suunnitellut ja toteuttanut Sonia Mota.

Levyjen oletettu julkaisuajankohta on lokakuu.

Kuvissa:

Timo Rautiainen (Timo Rautiainen appears by courtesy of Johanna Kustannus Oy)

Petri "Lemmy" Lindström (basso, Progeland ja Corvus Stone)

Pasi Koivu (kosketinsoittimet, Corvus Stone)

Robert Wolff (rummut, Corvus Stone), Colin Tench (kitara, Corvus Stone), Petri "Lemmy" Lindström (basso, Corvus Stone), Pasi Koivu (kosketinsoittimet, Corvus Stone)

Progeland: Juha Kaski (kosketinsoittimet), Petri "Lemmy" Lindström (basso), Pasi Manninen (rummut), Tomi Murtomäki (laulu), Matias Kangasniemi (kitara)

Note: this information is exceptionally in Finnish

Timo Rautiainen on the new Corvus Stone album

Corvus Stone releases its second album "Corvus Stone II" soon and Timo Rautiainen is the latest special guest singer on the album. Timo sings two songs on "Corvus Stone II". 

TIMO RAUTIAINEN

Timo Aulis Rautiainen (born 25 January 1963, in Sulkava, Finland) is a Finnish heavy metal singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is best known as the singer and songwriter of Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus. He has also sung in the bands Lyijykomppania and Aku Ankkuli.
He was graduated from the University of Jyväskylä as a teacher of special education - a quite uncommon profession for heavy metal musicians. In the early stages of Trio Niskalaukaus, Rautiainen was commonly represented in the main media as "The Grim Teacher", because of his strong and rather gloomy lyrics and his occupation. However, in later years he concentrated solely on his musical career, resigning from his educational activities. Despite his earlier and solemn representation in Finnish media, Timo is actually a man with good sense of humour, and on stage he is characterized by his laid back nature.

In December 2004, Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus announced that they would be going on break for an indefinite period. While the band was on hiatus, Timo starred on Finnish talk-show 'K-Rappu', which concentrated on culture. On 1 November 2006, Trio Niskalaukaus announced that they would be breaking up.

After the breakup of Trio Niskalaukaus, Timo Rautiainen published his first solo album titled Sarvivuori in 2006 with a crew gathered from different bands. The album featured the talents of e.g. Nightwish founder Tuomas Holopainen (who also wrote one song) and former Children of Bodom guitarist, Alexander Kuoppala. In the drums debuted renown Finnish actor Jussi Lampi.
Initially Timo was supposed to do only one solo album, but after the album's good reception and the band's highly successful summer tour he changed his mind, and in 2007 his second solo album, Loppuun ajettu, was released. The line-up changed a bit, and Jarkko Petosalmi, former Trio Niskalaukaus guitarist joined Timo's solo band. The album went into the Finnish charts at #5 on its first week.

In 2010 Rautiainen released his third solo album "En oo keittäny enkä myyny" including guitar players Jarkko Petosalmi and Peter Engberg, drummer Jussi Lampi and Valtteri Tynkkynen (known previously as a bass player, backing singer and composer of the band YUP).
In 2012 Rautiainen formed the band Timo Rautiainen & Neljäs Sektori and the debut album "Kunnes elämä meidät erottaa" was released.

In 2013 Rautiainen became interested in folk music and he's started to perform folk gigs as a solo and also with other artists.

Timo Rautiainen & Neljäs Sektori released its second studio album on 8th August, 2014 with singles "Synkkien puolue", "Oma arkipyhä" and "Kaikki maailman aika" getting lots of radio airplay. The line-up included Peter Engberg (guitar), Jussi Nikula (drums), Jarkko Petosalmi (guitar), Timo Rautiainen (vocals, guitar)and Valtteri Tynkkynen (bass).

In 2014 Timo kindly approved to make a guest appearance on Corvus Stone's new album "Corvus Stone II" and the rest is history. Timo sings two songs on that album.
Interestingly enough both Petri Lemmy Lindström (Progeland, Corvus Stone) and Timo Rautiainen were previously members of Lyijykomppania.

Corvus Stone musicians playing on the album: Colin Tench (guitar), Pasi Koivu (keyboards), Petri Lemmy Lindström (bass) and Robert Wolff (drums).