SYMBIOSIS

Showing a major influence from the Ozric Tentacles, Hidria Spacefolk's debut album Synthesis is stuffed with the same sort of shimmering dance music/space rock crossbreed that the Ozrics made famous. In fact, that's rather a flaw with the album - it's so close to the Ozrics, it could be mistaken for a long-lost Ozrics album. And when the Tentacles themselves have already repeated their formula to the point of self-plagiarism, do we really need more people getting in on the act? It's a reasonably good stab at the Ozrics formula, but the Ozrics have done better - and have done better frequently enough that there's little reason to get even more albums in this vein unless you literally cannot get enough of them.