Miler72
Might as well review the very first Ozric CD I ever bought, this was in 1997, I saw this one, as well as Jurassic Shift, both the American pressings on IRS, and I never regretted it! I was just so blown away to see a 1990s band of this quality. This one is often though of in a lesser light compared to Jurassic Shift, but in my opinion, it's one of their best! They take on a bit more guitar-oriented approach this time around, but Joie Hinton (and Ed Wynne) still provides some nice spacy synths to go with it, on top of Ed's over-the-top guitar playing. "Astro Cortex" is Ozrics at your most typical, heavy on guitar with spacy synths to go with it. The guitar playing borders on heavy metal. "Yog-Bar-Og" is a real interesting piece where it goes through several changes, including a really nice spacy synth solo. The title track has a real nice ambient feel it with, while "Al-Salooq", unsurprisingly has a Middle Easter feel to it. "Dance of the Loomi" has a more techno feel to it, a nice spacy synth rhythm to it, while "Myriapod" has more of that rocking Ozric feel. "There's a Planet Here" is another ambient piece where Zia Geelani gives some nice bass lines to go with it, while "Shima Koto" has more of a Japanese influence. I have often felt Ozrics make perfect nighttime listening, and they often come up with this mystical vibe I so love, so perfect at night. Thanks to this, and Jurassic Shift, it was no surprise that I dug deeper into the Ozrics catalog, and waiting for new releases when they came my way. I know many people believe the Ozrics have played the same song for 30 years now, but for me, they really delighted me with some of the finest space rock ever. Arborescence comes highly recommended.