OSMOSIS

It's my first encounter with Astralia, I didn't even took notice of the name before. What I heard here is an extremely well crafted album, with a rare sense of balance, this at several levels; in the atmospheres first, spanning from lush atmospheric sequences to really hard-edged ones; in the references to vintage prog versus modern prog, from VDGG to Porcupine Tree for example. There are strong elements in this music, first of all the warm, biting and fighting vocals of Massimiliano Biolo! Backed by a rock-solid rhythm section (kudos to the bass and Stick playing), he's nailing it down throughout with a voice that bears power and will! Then the keyboard chair; from the opening and closing church organ to a huge arsenal of sounds, all sounds are worked out and processed with care! Finally, the production that is as much satisfying as the music: clear, rich and detailed. So, yes, it worked fine for me, my ears and brain! Plenty of details spice it up nicely, like this bouzouki fighting against a wall of sound or this crazy voice sampling used in a short keyboard solo at break neck speed on track 7; or the nearly funky wah wah keyboard comping, alternated with Crimsonian syncopated guitar lines on track 4; you may even be reminded of the Crimson versions with Trey Gunn but it only remains a short flash passing by, the music has its own pace and story and it will keep you busy until the exit!

Dissonance or Dark atmospheric music ? There's a very thin line between these two extremes, of which one I hate and second one I can enjoy quite a bit. Hey, this album even isn't your normal cup of tea that is Psychedelic Prog - it's psych only in its meaning - crazy amalgam of various forms (strong-bass based parts reminiscent of likes Beardfish, heavier graduating parts of Birds & Buildings, previously mentioned dark/silent parts and so on, many more follow). Other than this, they rock with Rock, oh yeah, there is a lot of Prog Rock in their performance.

Really weird bunch of ... sounds. But I cannot say it is bad music, it is simply too uneven. Better 3.