MARSBÉLI KRÓNIKÁK (MARTIAN CHRONICLES)

Make sure to get a thorough physical and stock up on the Tang before you get pulled into this deep space nebula and its nods to Grainer/Derbyshire, Tangerine Dream, Goblin, and Vangelis circa Cosmos but still with enough hard rock to form an edge. Not exactly Spacerock, Electronic or Symph per se, this is closer to the death knells undoubtedly played between flameout rounds at Carousel for the impatient crowd. Solaris' The Martian Chronicles is absolutely unashamed astro-rock spectacle, and that's pretty cool if derivative and impure.

The nearly vocal-less set is a continuous sprawl of oft-changing but always focused numbers that are both simple and developed, and you don't have to be an electronic rock fan to enjoy it thanks to Istvan Cziglan's fine neoclassical guitars and the well-suited drums of Laszlo Gomor. The title cuts bop the galaxy, Rob Erdesz's concert hall pianos taking up the empty space over the gargling foam of the band's synths. 'Ha felszáll a köd' is when Solaris may begin to remind of anyone from Tull to Eloy to Saga, but this is more an incidental byproduct of the music than direct influence. 'Apokalipszis' is a solid bit o' prog that covers all the bases beautifully with the wailing squeal of hardcore synths and driving rhythms, great heavy metal bluster on 'Solaris' and a return to the black matter of 'Orchideak' with overtones of Goblin and John Carpenter. Nice. I paid ten bucks for this and it was well worth it.