MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE

The overall sound of the record is quite trance-oriented and dominated by shimmering layers of synthesizers. For comparison to other artist I would associate this music with Hawkwind's "Alien I Am"-era sounds, but with more ethereal space sound textures and yet more hypnotic drone compositions. Drums support both this trance drive and the modern tones, and more earthbound elements are delivered by Michael Blackman's guitars and singing. The vocals are quite scarce; Alisa's quite echo-treated and Michael's being heavier growling - later being maybe the weakest link for me personally here, but not ruining the listening experience however. Some of the tracks are merged as continuous sonic entities, boosting the experience of ambient voyaging, underlined by the steady drumbeat. As the latter mentioned mingles with layers of distorted guitar, some industrial metal flavors are brought the album's sound also. The minimal composition elements are used for both building of tension, and cascades of instrumental textures. The long album has a good quality balance on the songs, so it is difficult to name a favorite or weaker moments from the tracks. The song titles and lyrics deal with ancient civilizations and mythologies, which have links to different mystic theories and dystopic impressions of the future.

This pleasant mixture of space rock and heavy metal elements are really carefully recorded and mixed, and the great depth and clarity of sounds united to long tunnel visions of the songs made this as one of the favourite listening for cruising with a car admits the dark winter city landscapes of my home country. I have not heard group's debut album, so for me this record released in early 2006 was the first touch to their cosmic music. Album covers are really pretty too, and I would recommend these lovely synthscapes and delicate aural UFO encounters for the fans of modern sounding heavy space rock and cosmic trance beats. Those interested of Von Däniken's theories might wish to check this CD out also.