I.E.M.

4.5 stars. Fans of Psychedlic / Spacerock and Krautrock will love this album. I'm not surprised to see "loserboy" rate this with 5 stars either, we defintely share a common passion for experimental music and Steven Wilson has had this love for a long time as well. This was the first I.E.M. album and it was released the same year as "Signify" in 1996.

"The Gospel According To I.E.M." opens with atmosphere galore,we can hear spacey winds as other sounds come and go. Drums a minute in. Mellotron after 2 minutes. Guitar before 3 1/2 minutes. This is great as he just jams for some time then it settles before 6 minutes and it becomes very spacey. It kicks back in before 7 1/2 minutes. A mellotron storm 11 minutes in as it calms down again to the end. "The Last Will And Testament Of Emma Peel" opens with different sounds coming and going including drums, piano, synths etc. It's spacey anyway. It becomes very spacey 2 1/2 minutes in. Quite dark and eerie at times. This soundscape gets quite loud before 5 minutes before settling back with mellotron. A real haunting soundscape late.

"Fie Kesh" opens with a gong before we get a beat with percussion, bass and knocking sounds as spacey sounds swirl. Acoustic guitar comes in.Trippy stuff. Electric guitar 4 minutes in.The beat stops late and it becomes quite eerie. "Deafman" opens with spacey winds as the guitar comes in . Drums join in as winds continue.This is uptempo and drum led. Vocal sounds come and go for quite a while. It becomes powerful before 5 minutes as the guitar lights it up. "Headphone Dust" is the only track that made me think of PORCUPINE TREE. Relaxed acoustic guitar to open as synths join in. Electric guitar joins in as well. Nice. Great track !

Of the three I.E.M. studio albums Paul Thompson from PlanetMellotron feels this is the best one. Hard to disagree. A must for all you space cadets.