ARRIVAL

Strong effort by US one man band Majestic here, and a substantial improvement over 2007's Descension. Of the four tracks on this most recent effort, only two of them really makes buying this one worthwhile admittedly, but as those two efforts clock in at 58 minutes alltogether that's still very good value for money.

Musically we're obviously treated to epic length songs. The style is pretty close to mid 70's Pink Floyd, rich symphonic and space-tinged backdrops over wandering clean and acoustic guitars as key features, strong and distinct lead vocals and a good mix of instrumental and vocal segments. The vocals in this case is mostly provided by a woman though, unlike Floyd, but Jessica's strong voice and controlled emotional delivery does fit this music well. Main man Hamel does blend in a few metal-tinged touches to these songs as well, which alongside a few subtle modern touches adds a slight Porcupine Tree sheen to the proceedings.

Still, fans of the symphonic part of the Floydian back catalogue is probably the main audience for this effort, and is an easily recommended album to that particular crowd.