SYMBIOSIS

If only the album panned out to be of the quality standards of ''Pangaea'', then I would say that SYMBIOSIS is one of the great examples of modern space rock. It's got the world music influence and synthscapes of the Ozric Tentacles at their best, but throws enough rock into the mix to be different. It's got discernible sections of different dynamic levels and the whole transitioning of the piece is rather smooth. It's easily the highlight of the record.

Then the rest of the album hits and only ''Kanem Boss'' and ''I-Mantra'' can even sniff what ''Pangaea'' did. That ''same-y'' feeling that I get by the time ''Jahwarp'' is rather disappointing considering the psychedelic promise of the epic finale. It's one of those decent albums that really frustrates me when I try to describe it because there's plenty of great potential in the whole bubbly space rock, but the dynamic level never really elevates except on the last track.