THE HIDDEN STEP

The Ozrics take a trip to Egypt with the "Hidden Step", performing a fantastic set of spacey jams mixing their trademark style with a heavy dose of ethnic effects and flavor. For fans of the Ozrics or those seeking a fun instrumental/electronic music, "The Hidden Step" does not disappoint.

The album starts in true Ozric fasion, with groovy psychedelia giving way to Ed Wyne's outstanding guitar work. If anything will make you an Ozric fan, it's this song's depth and variety-- it goes from ambient, to eletronica, to hard rock, to trance and back again effortlessly. Great stuff.

The next few tracks break the Ozric mold somewhat, emphasizing a departure into ambient, effects, and sample-driven songs. From here on in most songs feature at least a little bit of that middle-eastern flavor, using sounds taken from a market place or, such as the excellent song "Tight Spin", Wyne's use of ethnic acoustic guitar. The balance between upbeat and mellow tunes is perfect. The album closes on a somber, mystical note, completing what is a fantastic journey and one of the band's most varied and interesting offers yet.

Recommended, especially for those new to the group or genre!

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: NA Style/Emotion/Replay: 5