UKKOSSALAMA

EKTROVERDE were a rather large band from Finland who had a six album run from between 1998 and 2003. "Ukkossalama" is their final release from 2003 worth 72 minutes, but only four tracks. Yes they like to jam. The final two songs are both over 26 minutes. This album was recorded and mixed on March 6 and 7, 2001. Over a dozen musicians are involved here, and this is mostly current and former members of CIRCLE who are an amazing band, but we also get some people from MOONFOG PROPHET, PHAROAH OVERLORD and more.

There is a surprising amount of vocals on here, although that's nothing new when it comes to CIRCLE's music. The opener and second track are both over 9 minutes and both have the same vocal style which reminds me of the singer for OUT OF FOCUS. These guys really do jam continually but with the large cast of musicians we get some different flavours. Love the sax on this record and the guitar as well. Lots of spacey synths and swirling music. Kind of like the OZRICS but much better, and I'd say that about CIRCLE as well, in fact their "Pharoah Overlord" and "Terminal" records are incredible from the mid 10's.

The two long tracks also impress big time. Again for the same reasons, and that third song "Kaski" features vocals that are chilled like on the first two songs. Trippy music with some great sounding guitar after 8 minutes and sax around 13 1/2 minutes. It gets intense late. The closer also has vocals but here they are more in the extreme style, yelling out followed by guitar that also cries out. A beautiful sound to this one early on, and by the half way point it's powerful pretty much to the end.

If your into that jamming, psychedelic style of music like CIRCLE, the OZRIC TENTACLES, ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE and the like, you might just fall for this one. Remember this has vocals though. They apparently did many live shows mostly in Finland, but also in Belgium before calling it a day. A solid 4 stars.