THE ASTRONAUT DISMANTLES HAL

I was surprised to see this band is a trio with no keyboards or synths. Surprised because this is a Psychedelic / Spacerock band, and most bands of this genre use synths and keyboards to achieve that spacey and dreamy sound. Apparently the guitarist creates the spacey sound through his guitar, much like a Canadian band called Sianspheric does to splendid results.

"Continuum" is the almost 9 minute opener, it begins with experimental noise and then comes the spacey atmosphere that reminds me of some Post-Rock bands. It's building as heavy drums come in followed by vocals. Great sound ! It kicks in even heavier a minute later (hell ya !) as these contrasts continue. Just a killer track. "Into The Space Age" kicks in fairly quickly with a heavy rhythm as distorted vocals join in. Guitar starts to play over top. "For Marcia" is a laid back and dreary tune. Kind of dark actually. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes. "The Brain Room" is basically some weird affects for less than a minute.

"Everyday Combat" has a line repeated through it "fighting the man" and brings to mind PORCUPINE TREE and also ANATHEMA. Again the drumming is fabulous in this heavy tune. "Live Human" is another great song. Spacey with some good riffs, quite heavy. Again ANATHEMA comes to mind. I like the contrasts throughout. There is a hidden track that doesn't even sound like the same band. It's a lot lighter, sounds cool. Highly recommended.

They thank Bruce Dickinson and Melissa Auf Der Maur in the liner notes among others. For a long time this was the only recording I could get of this band so I valued it highly and got to know it quite well.