ALMAGEST

Ambient music with imagery of outer space that while pretty and of high sounnd-quality, it gets incredibly boring and non-eventful fast, making the second half of the album very dull, even if the album isn't even forty minutes long. The music is generally driven by ambient washes of sound, gentle synthesizers, and the flute. I think the album cover with its image of the Orion Nebula is appropriate, since this music sounds very spacey.

The highlights are easily the first 3 tunes, because it's the beginning of the ambient that gets old quick and is also the most eventful and musically interesting pieces.

Murmurs is well-done ambient music that serves as an introduction to the album. Believe it or not, it is the heaviest section in the allbum. Pale White Dot is dominated by a nice gentle flute at the beginning, then a soft minimalist electric guitar, and finally, the flute returns nicely in a more ambient finale. It's my favorite song in the album. Low Mass Stars starts losing my interest, it's nice, but it's way too much ambient, more than I can swallow at the same time. the first five minutes are generally boring to me until the flute starts, though it doesn't seem to have the same magic as in "Pale White Dot". At around minute 10, there is a quite ethereal drone sound that goes off for a while and a slow percussion eventually joining in, resulting in my favorite moment of the disc. The last two minutes are kind of boring though.

The rest that follows kind of bores me though. Spirit of the Water after the second minute sounds the same throughout until the neat percussion at the end. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is even more monotonous and very similar to the previous track, with a slow-tempo and basic drum pattern, and synth/flute soundscapes. Cosmos Celestial Movement is what's left after I've already lost complete interest of the album, aimless boring space noise with no memorable quality whatsoever, probably even worse than what preceded it.

If you want to get into the 'space rock', 'ambient' and/or 'progressive electronic' sub genres, this album is just not special. There are many better things waiting to be heard than this dull album.

1. Murmurs (2:03) - (B-)

2. Pale White Dot (9:31) - (B-)

3. Low Mass Stars (15:15) - (C)

4. Spirit of the Water (D)

5. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (D-)

6. Cosmos Celestial Movement (F)