ELEMENT 115

It happens not very often that I discover an album which is exciting without finding something lacking or getting any doubts - 'Element 115' is one of them produced during jam sessions in 2001 with no pre-defined structures. You will immediately notice that SECRET SAUCER is a studio project consisting of several prolific space rockers. They are deriving from different US bands like STAR NATION, SUN MACHINE and QUARKSPACE (probably the bestknown). So a lot of know-how and competence is given and the musicians are convincing with much safety and joy of playing.

The ambient start with a bass/synth cooperation is soon followed by Sword Of Conneault, one of the finest songs they ever worked out. A top-notch rocking grooving jam with a repetitive hypnotic mood which really blows me away! Space rock is not a genre with very complex songs generally but they have the necessary intuition to make it suspenseful and worthwile. Greg Kozlowski's and Steve Taylor's dual guitar work is really striking. The floating Solar Winds is made up of a droning echoed guitar appearance and shows Taylor on the drums surprisingly. And that's significant by the way - barely one of the musician is playing only a single instrument. Another more mellow spacey song is Desert Of Existence.

The electric piano is brought into play when listening to STS-107 and Astral Progeny. This serves a slight jazzy contrast in the vein of Quarkspace. Atom Smasher is framed by swirling synths and decorated with diverse guitar moments - crashing but also floydy. Some songs are more in the Hawkwind vein, for example The Traveller with a chilled out note or others unchecked rocking grooving like AMBQSM and Beyond Time. The next album's masterpiece Duul might be designed as a reference to the Amon Düül 2 Yeti improvisations. It's the track name first but predominantly to recognize when listening to the bass lines. And here - as with most of the other songs - the psychedelic dual guitar work is to point out - this time with a melancholic touch - wonderful!

An album on a high standard headed by two masterpieces. Probably SECRET SAUCER is derived from 'A saucerful of secrets' and yes - they show some light references to the early PF phase. But this is not a clone though. 'Element 115' is proving this with a unique workout which contains a chilling component similar to Quarkspace - a worthwile investigation for space rock fans.