This Ukrainian musical project (a hybridisation of Neo-Classical with modern metal) was created by composer and Ph.D. philosopher Andrey Komisarenko, and guitarist Alexander Glavniy, with work started on January 18, 2010 at Autumnia Studio (Glavniy's own recording space).
If indeed Komisarenko is best known in musical terms as a neo-Classical composer (hum...that reminds me...you know, it's funny, how where Classical or Neo-Classical music is concerned, one always talks about composers, but in music areas outside that field one usually speaks about songwriters...some kind of chauvinism there, perhaps?), it is not thàt amazing that he got in league with Alexander Glavniy, as they both were founder of the Ukrainian Doom Metal act Mournful Gust, where Komisarenko played the bass. True enough, he only played with the band from its foundation until somewhere early in 2000, but he díd hang onto the band as their vice-manager until 2002. He'd started his Classical Music education (acoustic guitar as instrument, but also musical composition, musical theory, as well as harmony & polyphony) in 1999, and started his solo career in 2003.
From his side, guitarist Alexander Glavniy (whom was also a founder, in 1998, of the still active Black Metal act Vae Solis, which he left in 2000 contributing only to two demos and 2000's tape-EP The Blazing Shadows Beyond Eternity) stayed on with Mournful Gust into 2001 (contributing to the album She's My Grief) and later returned to guest on their 2008 album The Frankness Eve. In 2003, he also started up the still active Melodic Doom/ Death Metal band Autumnia, delivering 3 albums to date. He also participated to the 2009 ...Of Celestial album Strange Infinity, and recently released his solo album Without Waste Words.
The total process of recording the album took long enough. With Glavniy providing all electric guitar and bass, Komisarenko played acoustic guitar (on at least the four tracks “Praeambulum”, “Old Saga”, ”Naturalis Garmonica” and “Sounds Of Silence” it is the only instrument) at the beginning, additional musicians were invited to complete the picture. First, one Larysa Horychenko was came in to play the cello parts on the album, and later on Elena Alfyorova took on the piano parts. It wasn't until November 2011, that Julia Karch came into the project to provide the sparse flute sounds, and it wasn't until mid-April 2012 that the recordings were all done. Glavniy then took care of all further mixing and sound processing.
Critique Of Musical Reason, although completely instrumental, is a conceptual album. On the one side, in the structure of the songs, which has several genres incorporated to show some innovative ideas of non-standard interpretation of Metal. The main style is Symphonic Metal, but the tracks also include elements of Classical, Dodecaphony, and Polyphony, which has allowed to make the album dynamic, full of contrast, and somewhat unpredictable. On the other side, a concept is hidden in the album and track titles, which all refer to the philosophical doctrine of German philosopher Immanuel Kant. If you're even slightly interested in the hybrid of Classical Music with Metal, then you should check out the music by the project, which can be found on SoundCloud, as well as on Glavniy's site (http://) alexanderglavniy.com.