Space Odyssey "Embrace the Galaxy" CD
[Regain]
Okay, well, first things first, I guess technically the band is called "Richard Andersson's Space Odyssey", according to the front cover. So who the hell is Richard Andersson? And why is this band in a sense named after their keyboard player!? I mean, shit, keyboards play a large role here, but by no means whatsoever are they all that critical. And I still don't know the answer to the whole "Who the hell is Richard Andersson?" question either. I did some quick reading up and all I can say is that the guy's in a few bands that I've never heard of, some of the other musicians in this band have played in other bands I'm not really familiar with, and this is total power metal. And it's not that bad. Truth be told it did take me a few songs to start getting into this, and I do think it could be better, but after settling in I started appreciating it. I don't know how I would describe it other than to say that the writing is strong, it's not totally cheesy, but there's a major 80's influence happening, as well as a certain progressive edge. I can hear some writing techniques that are reminiscent of Dan Swanö's more progressive work, and the lead vocals sound like David Coverdale during Whitesnake's better moments (but deeper), etc. Yeah, there are some really crappy moments (the cheesy medieval sounding orchestrations and pitch shifted spoken vocals in the middle of "Emposium", for example), but at the same time there are some really creative riffs and chord progressions, I really like the melodic virtuoso styled lead playing, and moments are really catchy. Midway through the record the masturbatory shredding of "The House With a Hundred Windows" gets a bit stale and tends to slow the progression of the disc, but other than that the songs all handle their five- to six-minute slots well enough (and the closing instrumental, "A Perfect Day", drops some fucking stellar harmonies and guitar/keyboard interplay). The recording isn't bad. The vocals are a little dominant, and the guitar tone, while nice and dry, needs a bit more texture and force to really work, but you can hear the bass, and the rigidity of the drums tends to be kept in check. The keyboards muddy up some of the details a little, they sound good, but obfuscate some of the guitar playing, and overall I think I just want to hear the rhythm guitar tone get a little heavier... I like the thick neck pickup sound of the solos, however. And then the layout is fucking hideous, with enormous photos of the band members plastered all over the place and tons of generic "outer space" images that would have probably been tolerable were it not for the band shots being faded in amongst them. I can't really address the lyrics because I just don't care about content when it comes to this whole style, unless they cover topics I can identify with (which they almost never do). I'll say that this band doesn't get too far out there lyrically, which is nice, but I'm still not interested in what they're covering. I like this more than I anticipated I would. Fans of the style should certainly look into this. There are indeed many moments that are basically standards of the genre, but they're good at what they do... and for me the nostalgia value sort of kicks in and makes it worthwhile. (7/10)
Running time - 50:30, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Despair and Pain, Grand Opening, A Perfect Day]
Regain Records - http://www.regainrecords.com

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