NAXATRAS

While they are assigning their albums with simple (Roman) numerals for some time now, this Greek band NAXATRAS is staying true to their attitude somehow. But solely in this case, you should know. Regarding the new release John Delias (guitar), John Vagenas (bass) and drummer Kostas Charizanis have incorporated another member. Bravo! It's keyboarder Pantelis Kargas, certainly hired for adding a completely new layer to the sound. Which also brings them closer to a pure progressive rock expression. That's a big plus concerning the overall impression, and obviously was responsible for my decision to stick with it in the end. While starting with the Blues tinged Reflection (Birth) they are offering ten songs in total. Due to the evolving presence of the piano later on, the track unfolds some jazzy flavour too, as if they were playing in a very trendy bar or so.

Omega Madness sees them hurrying up then with a more heavy rocking attitude. Following on from that comes the album highlight Journey To Narahmon. A standout track. Brilliant guitar work over the course! The compelling groove, quirky synths, a nice female voice joining in, the overall atmosphere reminds me of fellow countrymen Hieronymous Dream a bit. They keep on rocking the boat with ease, exemplarily to name The Battle Of Crystal Fields. The closing acoustic guitar driven and percussion backed Shape Of The Evening rounds this album up in a very atmospheric manner. Ten new appealing songs, top accent free vocals, string arrangements, jazzy imprints. The production level is superb. A very solid result in any case, as for that definitely a suitable addition to your prog rock collection.

I fail to see a compelling reason to recommend this album to prog fans. The band is able to produce a pleasant sound. But none of the songs has an element of surprise, of something new. Their songs are reminiscent of bands from thirty to fourth years ago far superior to them.

But it is safe, it is dull, uninspiring. It gives me the feeling of elevator music. Or the type of music you hear when you are put on hold in a telephone call.

I feel compelled to write this review. The album has an equal ranking as some of the classics of the greats in prog. This makes no sense and is an insult to these bands.

I rate this 1 star.

Wow!

Website info. 'The Greek psychedelic rock band Naxatras (from Thessaloniki) have been well into the first decade of their existence and a significant number of milestones has been accomplished. After 3 full length albums that established them in the global underground as a force to be reckoned with, a new approach emerged in the most natural way. The Naxatras identity as a predominant jam band came to be challenged from within and a few of these traces of tunes finally found their way back into the game. Combined with the maturity and artistic savviness that time and extensive touring brings, the new music clicked with some of that old material and shaped the way this new era sounds like. The focus right now is on the actual song, on the solid build-up of musicianship and composition, that draws magic from the classic 70's prog rock and the master songwriters of history. On March 31st the band will start a 4 week European tour, visiting countries like Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Austria, Germany and The Netherlands. The current Naxatras line-up features John Delias ( guitar and vocals), John Vagenas (bass and vocals), Kostas Charizanis (drums and percussion) and Pantelis Kargas (keyboards and synthesizers).'

I am not familiar with their previous 3 albums but reading about the band I understand that this is interesting space rock, and the addition of a keyboard player is a boost to this fourth album. Well, from the very first moment I love Naxatras, wow! The hints are obvious, from Seventies Pink Floyd and Hawkwind to Porcupine Tree and Riverside, but Naxatras succeed to blend these inspirations with strong musical ideas and lots of variety. The focal point is the guitar player, he has the sound and intensity of David Gilmour, but not derivative, pretty impressive. In the opener Reflection a sitar-like sound in a sultry atmosphere (blended with piano and tablas). In Journey to Narahmon compelling and hypnotizing space rock in the vein of Hawkwind and Steve Hillage (but the interplay with the keyboards evoke Riverside). In The Answer a Floydian guitar intro with soaring strings and finally an intense guitar solo with howling runs. In Radian Stars (this could have been a The Wall track) he switches from funky rhythm guitar to an exciting solo with biting wah wah that sounds like 'Hendrix meets Gilmour'. In The Battle Of Crystal Fields and Reflection (Death & Rebirth) an exciting blend of psychedelia and space rock. And finally folky acoustic guitar and slide guitar in the dreamy and hypnotizing closer Shape of the Evening.

As I stated earlier the keyboard player is a boost for the band, he delivers very tasteful and varied contributions, from tender classical piano play, delicate electric piano runs and spacey synthesizer beeps and bleeps to soaring strings, pitchbend driven synthesizer flights and compelling organ waves.

The rhythm-section does a good job, they meander with the right dynamics and accents through the mellow and more powerful compositions.

What a very pleasant first musical encounter, this band has a huge potential, highly recommended to progheads who are up to space rock. And check out the Naxatras tour dates, I wish I could see this band, perhaps a live album from their European tour will follow this strong fourth effort?

Greek band NAXATRAS was formed back in 2012, and have been an active live and recording unit ever since. Besides numerous concerts both in their home nation and abroad, they have also released one single, one EP and three full length studio albums since their inception. "III" is the most recent of the latter, and was self-released by the bans in February 2018.

Vintage era psychedelic rock appears to be this band's specialty, with a wee bit of power trio aesthetics thrown into the blender for good measure. This latter aspect a secondary and supplemental one, but they do switch over to more of a hard rock expression here and there, even to the point of having a planned or accidental nod towards good, old Black Sabbath tucked into one of the songs here. But it is the psychedelic aspects that are dominant throughout.

This is a band that know and presumably love their vintage psychedelic rock. The play around with distorted licks and riffs, hovering distorted light tone overlays, reverbs and echoes aplenty and topping it up with liberal amounts of dreamladen, floating and elegant guitar solo sequences. Songs that ebb and flow and pulse and fluctuate in pace, intensity and arrangements, at times giving the impression that greater parts are improvisations built upon one or more core themes or foundations. While generally managing the transitions well and fluently, a slight annoyance is the band's tendency to use fake end points in many of their songs, usually in the second half, as a means to start over with the initial theme. But otherwise the songs flow nicely along, cleverly seguing from one phase into the next.

The band is best suited to instrumental efforts, and thankfully the grater majority of the songs here are either instrumental or close to being so. Their vocalist doesn't have a terrible voice, but it is on the weak side. In regular songs it isn't all that much of an issue, but in songs that demands a strong vocalist this aspect becomes detrimental, cue the concluding singer/songwriter oriented Spring Song. The band also plays around with distorted vocal effects on Prophet, perhaps to work their way around this aspect, but as far as I'm concerned such effects should be applied with a bit more care and subtlety than in this case.

As this is a mainly instrumental album, the vocals details is a minor point here however, and as far as the instrumental side of things goes this is a good and tight band. Not all the ideas are as good as the others, although this will most likely be a case of personal taste rather than objective quality. The band does cover a wee bit of ground though, with many songs focusing in on one particular aspect of the vintage era psychedelic rock of the guitar based and guitar driven variety. In terms of style, approach or effects applied.

If you love and treasure guitar driven psychedelic rock with a vintage era sound and expression and with a progressive orientation, Naxatras is a band that merits an inspection at some point. In particular if you enjoy ventures of this kind that focus on and are at their best when no vocals are applied.