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Eter-K - Watching The Universe CD (album) cover

WATCHING THE UNIVERSE

Eter-K

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

3.95 | 4 ratings

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memowakeman
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Review originally written for www.therocktologist.com

Fortunately, here in Mexico we have a new label called Azafran Media, that is editing and distributing albums from very talented musicians from the whole world, some of them are Anekdoten's Nicklas Barker or Senogul, and there is a cool Peruvian band named Eter-K whose music was unknown to me until last year when I got their latest CD. Eter-K are a band who have been together for several years, actually, their roots come from the late 80s, however, they had a long hiatus and then returned. So in 2011 a new album saw the light, entitled "Watching the Universe", this might be their best work so far (based on reviews, because I have not listened to their previous works), so if you have the chance, give it a spin.

What will you find here? Five compositions and a total time of 55 minutes, only the first one is below the 10-minute mark, the other are long tracks. The music is progressive rock in the space and psychedelic vein. Since the first song "Nebula Rasa" we can appreciate that a band like Ozric Tentacles had to be an influence, the sound is similar without a doubt, but not a copycat; also, Eter-K are a three-band member, so the atmospheres, textures and nuances they create are an example of their quality as composers.

With "Flying with Mihalis" the long trips begin, with songs that have a repetitive structure, but an enormous quantity of variations, figures and elements. The song flows and it has some little changes in tempo, though its goal is keeping you hypnotized, perplexed by its spacey sound and believe me, they do a good job. "Watching the Universe" is the longest track here with almost 15 minutes of a journey. The special feature of this song is the introduction of a flute, played by a guest musician; that flute adds a peculiar flavor, like mid-east meets the space, because it is greatly accompanied by percussion, guitar and bass as background, while the flute appears as the main instrument. Here I can listen to some Third Ear Band hints at least in the first four minutes. Because later it changes, it becomes rockier with drums and a new structure is being built. Great song, I don't really know if this is a jam, an improvised track or was actually written, anyway, the result is awesome.

"Like a Fish in Water" is another very cool track that belong to the space realm, in the same vein of Ozric Tentacles, Oresund Space Collective or Quantum Fantay. This song has a great moment after five minutes, when the drummer starts a new rhythm, faster than the previous one, implementing more power and dynamism. The guitar is great, always doing different figures, like an endless riff, while the bass plays numerous lines-notes-scales that support the building. The last song of the album is "Collapse in the Sylvian Aqueduct", whose first two minutes are an explosion of psych-spacey-kraut, which all of a sudden is stopped for a second, in order to open the gates to a brief solo bass lines that leads to a new explosion. Then the jam continues, but the trip has to finish somehow.

Very good album by this instrumental Peruvian trio, worth buying! If you like space prog, then this is for you, not a perfect album, but a very solid one. My final grade, 4 stars.

Enjoy it!

memowakeman | 4/5 |

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