SHAPE SHIFT

This all instrumental duo cites TANGERINE DREAM, GOBLIN and RUSH among their influences, and they manage to blend all of these into a somewhat original style. Synthesizers abound and generate mellotronish soundtrack atmospheres, nowhere better than on "Interstellar Package". However, by the end of the disk it is clear that they have no idea how to nurture an idea. Every track promises more than it ultimately delivers; even GOBLIN soundtracks compensate atmospherics with dramatic flourishes, and both TANGERINE DREAM and PINK FLOYD know better how to envelope the listener in one mood here and another there. The ZOMBI sound suffers, not just from an excruciating lack of variety and development, but from an overly intense and yet unimaginative rhythm section, which defeats the very purpose of this type of music by insisting upon itself, drawing all manner of attention, only to further highlight a dearth of substance. Sometimes influence and inspiration are but two shiftless shapes that pass in the night.