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So, here's a progressive Death Metal duo from Astrakhan, Russia, featuring Vladimir Ryabinin on guitars and vocals, and Natalia Lipina on drums. Should I somehow be more excited by now? Well, to be honest, I am not.

Brainteasers, as this duo is called, lives up to its name quite well. In fact, the duo's so-called progressive Death Metal tends to tease your brain pretty darn well; progressive it surely tries to be, but unfortunately ends up being pretty irritating and not so well-made after all. Somehow one gets the feeling that they try to sound excessively progressive for progressiveness' sake, kind of losing the original goal of what they were supposed to do. It does not help their situation much either that both guitar(-s) and drums suffer from a thin production. On top of that, Vladimir's occasional pig squeals work pretty much as a negative force. I just cannot stand these ultra-guttural, bestial death grunts more than just a couple of seconds.

On the other hand, there's lots of crazy instrumental wankery happening on this oddly titled record (15.01.1773). Unfortunately, just a little portion of it is somewhat good and ambitiously done, but most is directionless and without any true focus. At the end of the day, 15.01.1773 turns out to be forgettable and poorly made overall. If I was in your jogging suits, I really would not bother to check this out, unless you want to ruin your whole day.