TRACKS

PROLOGUE SEQUENCE
TEUTONIC VOYAGE
SAILING ORION
CELESTIAL MECHANICS
RENDEZVOUS
DEEP OUTPOST
ASTRAL NAVIGATION
DISTANT EDENS
THE FAR SIDE OF I.O.

REVIEW

I believe this is the first European release for Alpha Wave Movement AKA Gregory Kryryluk if, like me, you've not heard much of his music before then this is a good place to start. While the music has that spacey feel that Americans are so good at running throughout with rather cool spacey titles to match!), the album as a whole is far more varied than many 'spacey' offerings while the opening Prologue Sequence starts in the grand cosmic tradition it soon picks up a head of steam with slow, powerful rhythms gritty lead soloincatching your attention in no uncertain fashion.It's good to see a more rhythmic form of EM mixing so well with the spaced-out motifs, a blend that is used to best effect on the atmospheric trance of Celestial Mechanics which really motors along without sounding totally overwhelming provides a contrast to the high-quality melodic tracks that make up the lion's share of the album, such as Sailing Orion which was recorded live in 2003 with the help of one Christopher Cameron which reminds me very much of Ron Boots' earlier work,Deep Outpost,Rendezvouz,Astral Navigator all of which benefit from an expert fusion of melody & atmospherics.

Cameron reappears on the other live track, the 15 minuteTeutonic Voyage which also features the additional talents of Jim Cole who provides 'harmonic vox' to quote the sleeve notes. While there's a strong sequenced element to be found here the rhythmic latter stages mean that such considerations are not the be-all end-all of AWM's output. As the album reaches it's climax Distant Edens proves itselfan invitingly serene piece, effective chords mixing the sounds of nature for a piece that is full of 'Picture Music' possibilities while the mysterious ominous closer The Far Side Of IO is another potent demonstration of Kryryluk's abilties in another musical sphere. The imposing bass chords strings are of such quality to make you wish this piece was far longer than it's 2.11 duration. With this release Alpha Wave Movement has completely exceeded all my expectations to deliver a superbly crafted album that proves that cosmic music doesn't always have to be float.