Category:
Rock

Try if you like:
Burning Star Core, Can, Pink Floyd

Italian band Comet III aim to set a course for Space Rock, and they hit it warp speed with Astral Voyager. While some of it is as clichéd and lazy as that last sentence, most of it is not, as the band. This is a five track exploration of ambient sound that, with the occasional eerie vocal and welcome but somewhat more troublesome horns help it rise above the pretentions that could have grounded it. Said vocals by Shirin Demma provide an emotional punch that helps center the sounds in the present; they give you a comforting reminder that humans are behind this trance.

 

Likewise the sax, which on one tune can’t help but sound like the lick from Floyd’s “Us and Them” in context, also is a welcome cooling of the engines, a chance to take stock in the middle of the ride.While the only thing risky about this release is the flirtation with pretention, Comet III do themselves proud with this release. It is a solid space jam with enough of the human touch to save it from the coldness of space and the shiver of the obvious.