COSMOS FACTORY

4.5 stars. COSMOS FACTORY took their sound to a new level on this 1976 release. And what an impressive name for a psychedelic band. The previous two albums were good but this is great. More complex, heavier and darker. Less mellotron but I'm willing to sacrifice that for the quality album they recorded here. Some killer guitar on this album and the vocals are well done and in Japanese despite the English song titles. They are a four piece, and yes out of Japan and I'm giving this the same rating as Andy from Planet Mellotron who appreciates their debut a lot more than I do. We agree on this one though.

I can't express to you how incredible the opener is. That title track just has it all. A nasty start with guitar and a full sound before the mellotron comes storming in. A beat kicks in sounding amazing as the guitar grinds it out over top. So good! Organ before 2 minutes and I'm banging my head here, that rhythm just moves me. The vocals make an entrance as he rebel-yells it then the sound turns nasty again. Themes are repeated on this over 8 1/2 minute piece of dynamite. "The Vague Image" is just over a minute of organ. "The Hard Image" is almost 4 minutes long and a pretty good rocker with vocals. "Crystal Solitare" is the ballad-like tune early but it's not bad at all. Piano, vocals and atmosphere to start and it does build to a fairly powerful sound before 3 minutes then winds back down. Not bad at all.

"A Wandering Young Man" is also a top three with the title track. It's almost 9 minutes long beginning slowly with reserved vocals, bass, drums and floating organ. How about those James Bond harmonies that come and go. The guitar puts on a light show that requires sun glasses. On fire then the vocals and earlier sound return. The guitar is back before 7 1/2 minutes as themes are repeated. Mellotron on this one too. Lots of wordless vocal melodies on "Days In The Past" and synths too making this one a little different.

Last top three is the closer "Mirror Freak" clocking in at 8 minutes. Organ to start but it's drowned by the powerful atmosphere. A calm with relaxed guitar follows then mellotron and drums before the vocals arrive around 1 1/2 minutes. This is dark, almost gothic sounding. Some cool guitar expressions after 2 minutes as the vocals step aside. The guitar starts to solo ending around 3 1/2 minutes as the organ takes over with piano. Another calm with vocals and floating organ. Vocals stop as it kicks in at 5 minutes. Nice bass here and depth to the sound. I like the vocal harmonies at 7 1/2 minutes then it gets crazy, an assault to the end.

Man this is one of the best albums I've heard from 70's Japan. A great psychedelic record.

COSMOS FACTORY were a Japanese band from the seventies and this is their debut, a heavy psychedelic recording for the most part. Lots of organ and guitar plus some welcomed mellotron. I was actually relieved to see Damo and Sagi's 3 star ratings as quite a few people consider this a classic. I find that half of this album is very good while the other half not so much. The title suite to end the album is incredible which makes it hard not to be giving this 4 stars.

"Soundtrack 1984" is a top three for me and an instrumental. A bass/ drum intro here as mellotron rolls in. I really dig the guitar, especially after 1 1/2 minutes. "Maybe" is heavy with floating organ. How good is the mellotron and vocal melodies before a minute. The heaviness will be contrasted with the calmer vocal sections with organ. Some nice guitar before 3 minutes that goes on and on until that mellotron/ vocal melody passage from earlier is reprised. This song sounds like a late sixties tune, I really like it.

"Soft Focus" features keys and harp-like sounds and is very much a ballad with sappy vocals. "Fantastic Mirror" has an RPI vibe with the keyboard sounds. Unfortunately this is contrasted with sugary sections where the vocals just don't sound very good. Not a fan overall but it has it's moments. "Poltergeist" is bouncy with pulsating keys and drums not fitting the title of the song in my opinion. There is guest violin on this one that I'm not into, sounds like acoustic violin. The guitar, organ and violin take turns leading the way.

"An Old Castle Of Transylvania" suite includes the last four tracks and the songs blend into one another. Other than the first track this is the highlight of the album. "Forest Of The Death" is dark and brooding, experimental too with organ and synths standing out. A change after 2 1/2 minute as the drums come in and slowly build and the organ arrives with power. Check out the guitar! Great tune and top three for me. "The Cursed" continues with the darkness as the organ floats in before it all turns dramatic after a minute with the guitar and drums joining in. Vocals before 2 minutes then the guitar returns as it will come and go. Excellent!

"Darkness Of The World" is similar in sound again but more uptempo and more powerful, at least until the vocals arrive and it settles back some. Powerful organ ends it as it blends into my final top three "An Old Castle Of Transylvania". Guitar joins the powerful organ and steady drums quickly. I like how the guitar soars before 2 minutes. Mellotron follows then vocals before 3 minutes. A minute later we get this stunning ending of thunder cracks, rain and wind. It's like your right there in this wild storm.

As I said earlier there's so much on here that cries 4 stars yet at the same time we get plenty of less than steller passages that have me wondering why they went that route. Well worth checking out if your into Psychedelic music.

The mighty have fallen!!

After releasing a nice debut cosmos factory changed their sound, evolved and released a very good second album. A year later the band returned with their third album which is no less than a masterpiece of heavy psychedelic prog, taking some clear influences from king crimson that period. One thing that is typical for them is changing their sound and style in every album, well this one is not different, in fact this is their biggest change of style. Out goes the crimsonian influences frippian guitars and wacky keys and in comes some funk influences and a more accessible rock style.

Cosmos are already a good band and are incapable of playing bad, so what we have here are a set of funky based rock songs played in a high level of musicianship. The songs are not straight forward but they don't evolve or contain big solos, although incorporating some flutes, saxophone and the keys they do not manage of sounding progressive. There are 9 tracks all are short and have one idea presented each time. The music is overall good and fun there is some good guitar moments featuring short solos. The keys are not bad and does have some nice moments but they are not prominent. Things are getting worse when the band tries to sing in english, the right word would be embarrassing, the accent is heavy and it's not working. In spite all of this there even some shining moments where the band is creative like in the silly titled 'sexy cats' with that wondeful acoustic guitar soloing, and a screaming sax, all sounds like an adrian belew song. 'Strato-dynamite' follows that and although starting out badly, the song is a wacko fast playing show which ends after 2.5 minutes failing to reach anywhere. The closing title song has hints of the amazing guitar on their pervious album, but they are just hints and the song does not evolve properly.

So if you are not familiar with the band avoid this one with all costs. Better start with their third 'black hole' , this may appeal only for die hard fans. Like i said before the album is not bad but doesn't interest prog heads at all. I was thinking of giving it 3 but i can't it's for fans only. 2.5 stars

This is just the beginning!

Where some bands realease a very good debut which they can't follow , other bands release a debut which only shows the band's potential which is being fully fulfilled in the next few releases. cosmos factory belongs to that second category that had to release a debut before reaching to the point of full development., not that it's a bad release god forbid...i heard far worse releases

Songs are not that progressive but more like rocky psychedelic 4 minutes long songs. i like it but it's nothing special either , thinking of other great releases that time. songs are sung in japanese which is nice , doesn't hurt your ear.. guitar sound is with heavy distortion , the riffs are slow too , there are actually no great solos either but good guitar parts and riffs. the overall sound is not rich , the rocky parts pretty much sound the same althought there are keys involved. i like their rockiness but it's the soft ballad 'soft focus' which really does it for me . clean beautiful vocals ( i can't understand a word ) with that piano and some kind of beautiful mandoline really good. 'an old castle of transylvania' is an epic divided in 4 parts , the music is still slow but there is a sense of an epic , not the greatest but it has it's moments , slightly better than the rest of the album. finally you can hear that there is a keyboard player over there , composition flows better and the guitar has more room , there is more space for every body to develop better.

The next album see the band develop a lot more , both in composition and in sound , but it's the third 'black hole' where they are kicking some serious butts!! my rating is 3.2 , nice debut but not the best place to start with this band.

Where is an old castle of Transylvania? And what can exist in the castle? You can enjoy the dramatic suite with the imagination.

We can't help discussing An Old Castle Of Transylvania suite at first when we talk about the debut album by COSMOS FACTORY. There are not any brilliant hope or happiness to live at all, but dark, painful and depressive ground and sky. Tsutomu Izumi was the songwriter of this suite - for the first listening, I wondered what he was aiming at. Again and again I've listened to it, and now I can realize he should draw the picture of his death, as a dark castle in the deep forest - which could not get any bright glimmer.

The first part Forest Of The Death is just right for the depressive story. Loud, heavy and repetitive sounds with keyboards, guitars and drums - slightly heavy symphonic style rather than psychedelic one - can exactly sound as if zombies shouting loudly get up and come here one after another! Particularly Tsutomu's keyboard sounds can remind us the darkest Sodom. Terrible...no, terrific ones! The Cursed has so melancholic voices and hearts. By the zombies, people should be cursed in the bloody river under the dead forest. Even if morning comes in the castle, and even if devils fall asleep, Darkness Of The World should be on...real morning will NEVER come into An Old Castle Of Transylvania, the last part of the suite. What a sadness, what a depression! We might not be saved anymore, might we?

Apologize for the discussion in reverse order... The first 5 short pieces are also great. With full of keyboard or mellotron sounds, almost all of Japanese rock bands in those days cannot play. Tsutomu's sensation can be shot absolutely with his another organ. Namely, the keyboard is his heart or his brain. Shinwa (Maybe) is a only song composed not by Tsutomu and (at least) I can feel this is also a only song with a hopeful development of life (though the lyric is about a lonely man - myself).

How can I explain about this great album? Heavily symphonic psychedelia? How do you feel? Please listen to it and let me know. :-)

Here is my review..''Soundtrack 1984'',about 3.5 minutes long,is a space-rock guitar song,with swirling keyboards.''Maybe'',about 6 minutes long,is a melodic rocker,with a blues edge to it.''Soft Focus'',a little over 3.5 minutes long,is a piano ballad,with beautiful vocals.''Fantastic Mirror'',4.5 minutes long,is a rock song,with keyboards,a'la ELP.''Poltergeist'',4.5 minutes long,is a rock song,with kind of a pop beat to it,and has a bit of violin work as well. The title track,a little over 18.5 minutes long,is broken down into 4 songs..''Forest of The Death''starts out with 2 minutes of mellotron-keyboard work,and the band starts jamming,continuing on for the next 4 minutes.Then,the song mellows down for the last 18 seconds,segueing into ''The Cursed''(4'41),which starts out with some keyboard- mellotron work,and turns into a melodic,steady paced rock song.''Darkness of the World''(2'53)segues into ''An Old Castle of Transylvania''(4'47),both of which are melodic rock songs.During the last 1'17 of an old castle of transylvania,you can hear some rain,thunder,and blowing wind sound effects.For those who like late 60's/early 70's guitar rock,with keyboards and psychadelic influences,along the lines of PINK FLOYD/DEEP PURPLE,you may like this.I got this from cd universe for US$28.50,and it was a small investment worth the price. I recommend this.the singer sings in japanese language,as well.

The debut album An Old Caste Of Transylvania by Cosmos Factory is one of my favorite Japanese progrock records, what a lush vintage keyboards (lots of Mellotron and Hammond). On their second album Cosmos Factory mentioned on the cover instruments like self-made symphonizer, tape effects, talking bag, funny cat, hitting a door and synthesized voice .. so prepare for a hypnotizing trip to a psychedelic world! Indeed, most pieces sound a bit freaky and psychedelic but some songs are more symphonic rock like the dreamy The Sea (early Pink Floyd sound) and Journey Of No Destination (great soaring Hammond organ). The opener Sunday's Happening has some bizarre parts and Hiver and Daydream are on the edge of nerveracking music, you have to be up to this kind of music. For me it is a bit too complex and experimental but at least you can say that this is adventurous progressive music.

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This is some pretty heavy stuff and I am almost certian one of the most innovative things coming out of asia as far as music is concerned..even by todays standards...and this was nearly 30 years ago. The music is drenched in organ and hard rockin' guitars with nice bass anchoring the music and keyboards adding a moody...almost sinister overtone in some areas. Black hole is the best track, especially the ending. considering how few prog rock bands came from asia, this must be rated 4 stars.

What can even be said about this album? Their 1973 certified classic. One of the best I've ever heard from Japan. Dark, haunting progressive rock drenched in gorgeous melodies. Features the absolutely fantastic guitar work of Hirashi Mizutani. I like the opening track but it's really on track two that this album becomes magical, in my opinion. The whole album oozes with creativity. Heavy prog brilliance. A stunning piece of work. Can you tell how much I like this album!?

The Japanese progrock band COSMOS FACTORY made a sery of albums in the Seventies with every time another sound. I prefer their debut-album "An Old Castle Of Transylvania" (1973). The long title track (around 20 minutes) is a mind blowing blend of psychedelia and progrock with great build ups and eruptions, very compelling with strong hints from early PINK FLOYD but the swirling movements also brings the long live tracks from URIAH HEEP, DEEP PURPLE, IRON BUTTERFLY, VANILLA FUDGE and Krautrock like early JANE and ELOY on my mind. It contains sumptuous keyboard play including heavy floods of Hammond organ and Mellotron along biting guitar. The interplay between guitar and organ is like "Set the controls for the heart of the sun" from PINK FLOYD. The other songs are also loaded with Hammond and Mellotron, a real 'keyboard nirvana' for the fans of 'vintage keyboards'.

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