Pre-release review | Colonel Petrov's Good Judgement

Don’t ask me how Colonel Stanislav Petrov ends up on many Sludge Rock/Metal albums – the only explanation I have of that is that he saved the world from a nuclear war in 1983, he saved us from our Doom. (another band with a cool track on the Colonel is “Beehoover”).

I have received a digital copy of “Moral Machine” from the band prior to its September 2nd release, and I had enough time to give it more listens before writing a review and actually well get addicted to it. I did not need to remind myself to listen, the album called for me. I am a fan of instrumental and experimental music with its strange sounds and oncoming musical doom.

COLONEL PETROV’S GOOD JUDGEMENT have made a good album and I cannot wait to hear other reviewers’ and listeners’ opinions. I would definitely suggest to the band to release a lyrical video of the track “Dark Star”, but before I move forward with the review, let me list the track names. I must point out that there are references to history here, so if you spot more references, please share them in the comment section.

1- Everybody’s Gut One

2- Dark Star (a film from 1974 which is set in the far future where mankind has spread in the Galaxy, and a crew is set on a mission to destroy “unstable planets”)

3- Moral Machine (a project on teaching machines to take the right decisions)

4- Sappattack

5- Hole of Love

6- Launch on Warning

7- Dick Laurant is Dead (a character from a movie called “Lost Highway” about a saxophone player accused of killing his wife)

8- Next Time We Might Not Be as Lucky

The music is instrumental Jazz, rock, noise, grunge, sludge, fudge and mayonnaise. The album opens with with the chaos and noise filled track “Everybody’s got one”, lead with jazzy drums and strange vocal screams that isn’t easy to digest at first listen, but becomes the track’s signature on repetition. We move next to “Dark Star”, which for me stands out as the album’s best mood, its darkest and strangest – could also be that I like the strange sound of wind instruments mixed with dark tones (any Ihsahn fan would agree). Bells on “Moral Machine” borrows Pink Floyd’s sound but Mastodon’s chucking guitars. The album does not have any clear particular influences; it has elements of many musical styles and bands but definitely its own sound, and with a first album like this, I can only expect a great future for the band.

Now to speak briefly about the production and other forms of art: the recording quality is great, the sounds blend well and are carefully crafted for a “Noise” Rock album. I have listened to this album on bad earphones, laptop speakers and HD headphones and on the best equipment, it is well mastered magic. The album art is quite simple, but does carry the message; for me it symbolizes how we are trapped in what we are, our chemistry, our nature, and how we strive to gather the energy of the world and fight for it. It is a little baby with a man’s face trapped in a carbon allotrope molecule called Buckminsterfullerene. The reason I would mention this scientific name is that this particular molecule has very strange properties and blends in it properties of other material that are sometimes inexplicable.

Back to the tracks, I did enjoy every track on this album. I liked the fast running paste of “Dick Laurant is Dead” and enjoyed the Doomy long closing track “Next time we might not be as lucky”.

To count weaknesses in the album, I could mention the need for an additional track or two to make the journey complete, as I felt the album missed on something in its tour. Another thing that I would have liked to hear is one single track with lyrics to showcase the band’s music writing that could swirl around sang words.

I would highly recommend this album to anyone who enjoys Rock instrumentals with an edge and anyone who invites all kinds of music to his ears and dares to hear a major blend and read its layers.