INCUBATION

The Flow was a progressive space rock band from Patras, Greece. They where active during the years 2000-2012 and they managed to record one album called "incubation" (self-released in 2003). Their music has elements of progressive rock, krautrock, and psychedelia of the 70s and 80s. One can easily hear influences from bands such as Agitation Free, Cluster, Ghost, Soft Machine, and Ozric Tentacles. Somehow, they manage to retain their own personal style by using Greek folk instruments and melodic passages. The band broke up in 2012. The first track, "flow", is an excellent mixture of jazz rock-progressive and psychedelia. The clarinet solo is very atmospheric and adds a certain darkness to the whole mood. "Touch Of Frost" is the most progressive-rock track of the album. It has clever and sudden changes of rhtythm together with ambient-like sounds from the keyboardist Thanos Economopoulos. The second part of the song is instrumental and has more electronic sounds the blend nicely with the drum machine rhythm and the krautrock guitar arpeggios of guitarist Akis Mbousias. "Morning Bliss" has a rhythm with elements of hip-hop that develops into a dynamic psychedelic-rock Groove. "Cancer" has a kind of groovy rap rhythm that changes into a weird hard rock rhythm on the refren. The vocals sound spaced out. "Emerald Sea" is a short psychedelic ambient track that relax me after the previous dynamic tracks. Nice cosmic sounds from the synthesizers and guitar. "Watching The Sunset" is the highlight of the whole album and the most recognisable track of the band. The lyrics are weird and reminds me of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade Of Pale". The music is relaxed with santana-like guitar passages and psychedelic bosa rhythm that changes into a freaked out fast groove just like an LSD experience. "Pissing In The Lake Of Tears" - What a title! This instrumental track is full of psychedelic surprises and is maybe the most experimental of the whole album. There is extensive experimentation with radio waves and various other vocal samples. "Reflecting Love" is a romantic ballad that develops into a fast groove and returns to the slow theme. There are plenty of beautiful moments such as the "whale" effects on the guitar and the brief old fashioned minimoog synthesizer solo . The bass line and drums are equally impressive. "Paradox" is another short instrumental composition with a fast innovative rhythm. "Mushroom's Dream" is one of my favourite tracks of this album. Nice vocals harmonies together with clever changes of rhythm. Synthesizer drones and oboe melodic lines inspired by the music of middle-east, contribute to the psychedelic atmosphere of this track. "Spacestation 61" is equally impressive. It's an instrumental track that reminds me of Ashra-Tempel and Agitation Free. It begins with a long synthesizer effect that sounds like a spaceship taking off. Soon the guitar and bass provide a nice background for the synthesizer melody that sounds out of space. Towards the end of the piece the rhythm changes into a fast one and reaches a climax with the synth providing a theremin-like techno melody. The closing track "A Simple Day In Life" is written by the keyboardist Economopoulos, and is a mixture of lounge-electronica and space-rock. It begins with a slow melancholic guitar loop that repeats through out the piece and develops into a dynamic fast groove with (almost) Industrial drum samples and vintage synthesizer bass. My general impressions of this album is that its an essential masterpiece of progressive psychedelic rock and a must have for collectors. Also its one of the few Greek progreesive-rock bands of our times that manages to sound as good as the progressive rock masters of the past!