Mumiy Troll — Comrade Ambassador Review — 411mania.com

Mumiy Troll — Comrade Ambassador Review

So maybe you wanted to visit Siberia some day, but just can`t seem to find the time, or there`s the pesky cost of airfare and all those passport entanglements. Why leave home? From the depths of Siberia comes one of Russia`s top rock bands. Check out their first American release.

Mumiy Troll
Comrade Ambassador
March 2009
Real Records

Comrade Ambassador

1. Mamy Docherei (Mothers and Daughters)
2. Hey, Tovarishch! (Hey, Tovarishch!)
3. Prospali (We Overslept)
4. Muzykant (Musician)
5. Yadernye Stantsii (Nuclear Stations)
6. Yadovitaya Zvezda (Venomous Star)
7. V Jetom Svete (In Our World)
8. Pyanaya Struna (Drunken String)
9. Koroleva Rocka (Queen Of Rock)
10. Metel` (Snowstorm)
11. Svideteli (Witnesses)
12. Pospi, Rock `n` Roll (Sleep Rock `n` Roll)
13. Gori Jeto Vse (Burn It All)
14. California Snitsa (California Dreaming)

I am a fan of really good music sung in a foreign language. As a travel lover, it`s no big surprise that that might be so. Maybe Rammstein was the first album I got done entirely in a foreign language. There`ve been a number of David Bowie tunes that he did in various languages (Italian, German, and Mandarin). So I`m always on the lookout for something done in another tongue. One of the reasons might be that there`s less of a focus on the words at first, especially if in general you can`t understand them, and more of a focus strictly on how the music works or comes together.

Mumiy Troll`s Comrade Ambassador is entirely in Russian, including the bonus track of “California Dreaming.■ But there`s easy access to what they`re singing about with the lyrics in the CD booklet in English. So after giving the album multiple listens, I took a look at what they were actually singing about, which can either enhance or detract slightly when it comes to listening to a band singing in a language other than English (unless you speak said language).

Ah, but let`s take a step back. Who exactly are Mumiy Troll? They have eight full-length releases to their name. Comrade Ambassador is not one of them, instead a collection of material from their seventh and eighth albums, AMBA (▒07) and VIII (▒08). Their first studio album appeared in ▒97, but they had an independent release back in ▒90, and they actually formed all the way back in ▒83. There was a hiatus or temporary break-up when founder, Ilia Lagutenko, the band`s guitarist and vocalist, served in the Russian army.

The band hails not from the obvious cities, such as Moscow or St. Petersburg. Their home city is Vladivostok, deep in Siberia… so deep in fact that it borders China and North Korea. You see on the cover of this release not the stereotypical Russian bear, but more in line with Siberia, the representative Siberian tiger. That alone interested me, wondering what a band from that area would sound like.

So when Mumiy Troll began, there wasn`t exactly a bursting music scene. On the contrary, in the 80`s when the Iron Curtain was firmly in place, such music was considered dangerous and subversive. The Soviet government was taking notice, and not in a good way. Toward the end of the 80`s, some of the band`s illegal live performances resulted in the band being jailed. Then the Soviet Union fell and freedoms followed. The scene changed. Mumiy Troll garnered popularity in their home city of Vladivostok, and eventually all of Russia.

So there`s the band`s rather interesting history. As for the style, I`m seeing one description here in the press packet of “a nuclear meltdown of The Bravery, Tom Petty and the Afghan Wigs.■ Being relatively unfamiliar with all three of those, I`ll throw my own comparison into the ring and say that to me there`s definitely some Talking Heads, a bit of the Clash ala Combat Rock, some 90`s rock, and a heaping dose of something uniquely distinct, which I`m sure comes out of Siberia.

Tracks of note?

Mumiy Troll picks four great beginning tracks. Opener “Mothers and Daughters■ has a dark, yet hopeful atmosphere. This is one of those tracks that brings to mind that cold expanse of Siberia, which might share some common elements with the U.S.`s long stretches of the Midwest, sometimes desolately barren.

“Hey, Tovarishch!■ has that sound slightly reminiscent of the Talking Heads. There`s a level of intelligent quirkiness to some of the lyrics, and just listen to the beat and rhythm style of the beginning here. Mumiy Troll deviates by bursting into pure melodic rock on this one, which also contains a nice sax flourish.

“We Overslept■ is a fun pop-ish track, complete with great bass line, piano work, and claps to go along with the percussion. The subject of this one, though, is not necessarily pop lightness. It seems to be talking about some nation that overslept while the rest of the world made a grab for the goods.

Finally, of the first four, we have my favorite, “Musician,■ with its reggae beat and strange vocal sampling. Here might be that vaguely Clash-ish touch, mostly with the band incorporating reggae into rock in a different way, as did the Clash.

So if the first four get you, you`re in pretty good shape. Of the 14 tracks, there are a couple tracks that are slightly less memorable. But it`s not many. Other standouts include the big rocker, “Queen of Rock,■ the rather sarcastic “Witness,■ “Snowstorm,■ where the guitar work ends up evoking large snowflakes, and “Nuclear Station,■ another tune that for me gives a slight nod to Combat Rock era Clash. And of course you have “California Dreaming,■ quite odd to hear in Russian. And if you want to get really trippy, my Korean girlfriend immediately recognized this American song remade in Russian, even before the chorus kicked in.

The 411: To summarize, the genre is a blend of pop and rock, with something distinctly Siberian. If you like that style, and/or want to hear some really good Russian music, go with Mumiy Troll. They`ve been around and it shows. The music is quite good. If you`re stateside, you might even catch them live, as they`re touring through early March in the U.S.

Final Score: 8.5 [Very Good]

Jesse Coy