ALMAGEST

Egyptian Kings is a new and promising band from Portugal that are playing music with influences from No-man and Pink Floyd on the space rock side, Labradford and Sigur Ros on the post-rock side and Tangerine Dream and Brian Eno from the Electronic side. The results are a very interesting and captivating album.

As you can tell by the art cover and the tittle of the songs, They're aiming at a very spaced out album (literally!) and I think they reached their goal quite nicely and in a enjoyable way too. To words can pretty much describe their sound and they are gentle and cosmic. The songs are very mellow and atmospheric. The synthesizers add a nice and delicate atmosphere on the whole album while the flute, as the main instrument, adds an organic feel to it and an emotional and mellow side to the music as well. Most of the song are made of ambient and atmospheric sounds rather than using instruments. The instruments are used sparsely and only when needed. The best song on the albums is obviously the 15 minute Low Mass Stars. It has all the elements of their sound in it starting with ambient sounds a la Sigur Ros and slowling subsiding to make place for the mellow flute playing that echoes Camel in its sound and quiet and chilled drum playing in the back and ends with a nice surprise at the end. After the song finishes one is left with a wow feeling. The song takes you to places deep in space all with a certain emotional charm to it. The same thing can be said to the whole album. I personally enjoy the feeling of the album. You can and will get lost in their sound and it's a nice experience.

The band shows a promising start with this album. If you enjoy bands like Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno and No-man with their delicate ambient sounds or you're a fan of space and everything related to it then this is a nice addition to your collection. It makes for a great late night and relaxing listening looking at the stars while sitting outside.