THE EFFICIENT USE OF SPACE

The Finnish space rock band MOONWAGON started as a quartet (their first two albums featuring synth expert Ami Hassinen known from the long-lived electronic music group NEMESIS) but the remaining trio of guitarist Joni Tiala, bassist Janne Ylikorpi and drummer Jani Korpi has become a very tight unit, a true power trio, with both Tiala and Ylikorpi handling also keyboards. This is the Kokkola-based band's fourth full-length album, and although there may not be significant stylistic changes since The Rule of Three (2015), I think the end result is more rewarding. Perhaps the compositions are more diverse and less riff-oriented, and the use of synths naturally more developed.

Aptly titled 'Banzai Boogie' is a fast-paced opener in which the HAWKWIND-like psych/stoner rock meets a tight RUSH instrumental with powerful guitar & synth interplay. The nearly 9-minute 'Far Apart' offers bouncy and pulsative space rock. The first half builds tension by a desperate distant voice repeating the word "connecting", and later that tension is released with more opened up playing and proper vocal sections.

Another extended track 'Waiting for Tomorrow' is pretty many-sided, almost to the point of being disjointed, containing both CAMEL-reminding melodic prog fusion and psychedelic heaviness with some freaky synths and attached vocals in a Hawkwind manner. 'Left Dangling' starts in a relaxed mood, especially the synths sound charmingly airy, but the elements of psychedelic space rock get thicker towards the end.

Brief 'Strange Encounters' practically only serves as an intro to 'Nights of Neon', a relatively synth-heavy piece with a slight Giorgio Moroder retro feel. The distorted vocal parts on it and a couple of other tracks are in my opinion rather unnecessary. The longest piece 'Smoke & Mirrors' (10:40) is undoubtedly the most diverse too, as it shifts between delicate elegance -- worth remarking is the cool bass line! -- and harder sounding space rock. The album closes with its calmest and the most keyboard oriented piece 'Orbits' that takes the listener into a dreamy celestial journey reminiscent of ASHRA.

If my rating is again somewhere around 3½ stars, it's now time to round it upwards. It's an unquestionable benefit that despite being about 17 minutes longer, this album succeeds to maintain its high spirit actually better than The Rule of Three (sometimes it feels almost hilarious in a happy way). The album title is not futile.