Rubicon – Demonstar

Rubicon
Demonstar
Rock City Music Label
July 16^th, 2021
Playing time: 59:54

A band from Russia, but with international support. That’s Rubicon. The band exists since 2008, but except for a demo, not much happened in the first ten years. It was not until 2017 that the sIngle “Crom Prayer” was released. One year later, the debut album “Welcome To Wasteland” was published on their own. Now follows the successor “Demonstar”. According to the press release Rubicon play classic Heavy/Power Metal of US-American style. And singer Ivan Bulankov is compared with Bruce Dickinson. That made me curious, of course.

Right at the beginning is the title track “Demonstar”. A speed metal grenade. The drums and the bass boom. The guitars scream. But not only. There is also an outstanding solo. And yes, the comparison of Ivan Bulankov with the Iron Maiden frontman cannot be denied. With “Neon Gladiators” and “Last Floor Of Hell” it hardly goes slower. Especially the latter contains some Thrash references. Here you can also clearly hear that Rubicon have a keyboard player in their line-up. And so the Russians bang out one riff storm after the other. And it is also sometimes anthemic, as you can convince yourself with “Down The Darkness” or “Snake King”. And “Speed Of Night” stomps partly majestically before itself. Although also here again and again speed attacks are to be heard. “If It Bleeds” has a slightly progressive impact thanks to tempo and rhythm changes. Many beautiful melodies and Katerina Pobedinskaya can “let off steam” on her keyboards. “The Darkness Machine” is then again a great Power Metal anthem. Singer Ivan Bulankov shines with high metal screams, in best Dickinson manner.

They still exist, the true gems in Metal. Rubicon definitely belong to them for me. The musicians show that you can produce very good albums even without a big label behind you. Or maybe even because of that? The musicians were able to give free rein to their creativity. That’s the big advantage that small independent bands have. They don’t have to constantly release new albums. Here the music can still grow up. And the result of such a process can be heard on “Demonstar”.

Lineup:

Ivan “Ian” Bulankov – Vocals
Dmitry “Belf” Safronov – Bass, Arrangements
Katerina Pobedinskaya – Keys
Bob Saliba – Lead & Acoustic Guitars

Session Musicians & Guests:

Dmitry “KIV” Korolev – Rhythm Guitars, solo in “Line Of Dreams”
Richard Fisher – Main Guitar solo on 1.
Vladislava Sahanevich – Additional Vocals in “Snake King”
Xenia Vaulina – Epigraph Voice in “If It Bleeds”
Humanoid Lambothrondth – Drums

Label: Rock City Music Label

Out: July 16^th, 2021

Playing time: 59:54

Track list:

• Demonstar
• Neon Gladiators
• Last Floor of Hell
• Down The Darkness
• Speed Of Night
• Snake King
• If It Bleeds
• The Darkness Machine
• Robot God
• I, Immortal
• Line Of Dreams