ALIENTAR

For me it happens all too rarely these days, but just occasionally I hear a band I have never heard before, and think "this is fantastic". Having heard about as many bands as I have had hot dinners, I find these days that while I can still be impressed by a band when I hear them for the first time, I seldom find myself truly excited. I'm delighted to say though, that ALIENTAR provided one of those rare occasions. This is a wonderful album.

ALIENTAR hail from the West Coast of the USA, around the bay area. To date, this self titled offering is their only album. Their style is best described as Space Rock, and they certainly owe a significant debt of gratitude to HAWKWIND for their music, especially to the "Hall of the mountain grill" era of that band. ALIENTAR take the most melodic elements of HAWKWIND, add some excellent guitar work, and come up with an album which is simultaneously retro and yet totally current.

The album opens with "Sonic wave", and straight away we are into the driving rock of Hawkwind, complemented by a fine synth solo. "Music box" is the first of several feature tracks, running to over 8 minutes. The track is largely instrumental, with only a brief vocal section well back in the mix. There are hints of PINK FLOYD from around the time of "Meddle" with floating sounds and some fine guitar work. As the drums pick up the pace, the guitar sound changes to suit the mood of the piece, as it develops into a mighty sound.

The strangely titled "Kraz-E Naybr" has a more blues like feel, with some terrifically dirty guitar to close. At 9 minutes, "Good luck" is another feature song. The sound here mixes a bit of Tom Petty with the ubiquitous Hawkwind influence, the guitar work once again being the dominant sound. "Stuck to earth" is a gentler number, with an acoustic section to close, leading nicely into the appropriately titled "Bizarre". This nine minute opus starts with a heavy, beat laden riff the track featuring superb guitar and organ solos.

Only "Letting it ride" and "Hypnosis" come across as more prosaic; still decent tracks with fine instrumental passages, but with less to distinguish them.

The music here is not particularly complex in the prog sense. The tracks tend to be long because the band develop them fully, rather than because they jump from theme to theme, or constantly switch time signatures. This gives the album a feeling of great maturity, and indeed accessibility.

Had this album been made by a major band, it would undoubtedly be hailed as a major success, and listed among their best. It seems criminal that it seems destined to languish in relative obscurity. The good new however is that the album is currently available in full for downloading via the band's website. Do yourself a big favour, and give it a try!

Highly recommended.

Alientar has done such an amazing job of blending their own melodic breed of psychedelia with some classic elements of funk and blues music that when you listen to this album, it is almost impossible to believe that it was recorded in 2004, not 1968!

A lot of people say to me that they believe Alientar is the modern Pink Floyd, but that might be stretching it a little too far. Sure, the basic genre styling is there, but Alientar blends too much other genres such as blues and funk into their music in order for it to be the straight pysch experience that most modern bands can't seem to get a grasp on anymore.

Songs like "Good Luck" and "Kraz-E NayBr" are pure rock and roll songs to the fullest extent, especially "Good Luck", with its mild tempos and skipping keyboards. There are songs like those two scattered throughout the album that really take away from the psychedelic powerhouses on here such as "Stuck To Earth", "Bizarre" and "Hypnosis", the trilogy that ends the album in a huge blowout fashion. The screeching guitars and cymbal crashing is what one should expect to hear when a psychedelic album is being closed out. The keyboard solo in the middle of "Bizarre" just might be the greatest moment on this whole album as well.

All in all, this was a very ambitious effort by an unknown Western-USA to crack into the highly skilled and elite world of psychedelic rock fusion. When trying to accomplish something like that, you almost need to make a huge first impression on your debut release, but unfortunately for Alientar, this was only a so-so effort that probably won't get them remembered as a psychedelic act. The vocals were too straight forward rock and roll, and the musical aspect was too structured and less free form psych.

3 stars, a good overall package, but not that new millennium psychedelic experience you so badly crave.