CONNECTED

ASTRALIA are a band from Italy and this is their first record, a concept album about an old sage named Rabin who travels to this planet called Astralia.The songs deal with different subjects as Rabin journeys through this beautiful world with it's special music.The band compare their music to RUSH, QUEENSRYCHE and KING CRIMSON on their web-site. It is quite heavy at times with lots of guitar and drums, but there is a spacey element that constantly appears, and even a Neo flavour that is probably more to do with the singers vocals sounding somewhat like Peter Nichols from IQ.

"Connected" is the only instrumental and my favourite track. It opens with some sampling before a guitar melody arrives and some chunky bass. Actually the bass absolutely dominates the first two songs. Amazing ! It can be heard in a limited way in the third song before taking a back seat the rest of the way. There are some blazing guitar solos that come and go on this first song that has a spacey ending. "Dedalo's Torment" deals with difficult father and son relationships. The spacey atmosphere from the first song blends into the start of this one. Vocals and heavy bass come in. It really kicks in after a minute. Oh,yeah ! The climate changes a lot in this song but the bass is so prominant and the heavy passages are great. "Signals From the Unconscious" deals with the topic of dreams being a mind trip. There is singing and speaking in this very average tune.

"The Conquest" is about searching for self confidence and is the longest track. Another spacey intro changes to a catchy beat with pulsating keys and some beautiful flute. There is some soaring guitar and passionate vocals as well. Lots of spacey synths to end it. "Genesis Doubt" opens with piano and becomes bombastic with some fusion like guitar. The heaviness comes and goes."Vagrant Thought" is all about the Nichols sounding vocals and heavy guitar. "Breaking the Silence" is about troubled relationships. The metal-like intro is fantastic. Lots of terrific organ in this one. "The Arrival-Part 1&2" opens with the sound of a party going on before we are treated to some beautiful acoustic guitar melodies, reserved vocals and flute. Part 2 starts almost 5 minutes in and consists of a lot of spacey synths.

I really liked some of these songs,and loved some of the heavy guitar driven passages. Not quite enough here in my opinion to warrant 4 stars though, but a good debut nonetheless.