Band:	Kosmos
Album:	Kosmos
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	September 04, 2007
A review by:	jupitreas

01. Psycho
02. Dream
03. Grand Grizou
04. Yawa
05. Indu Kush
06. Much Too Old
07. Kosmos
08. Krautrock
09. Septial
10. Amerique Innavouable
11. Mothership
12. Messe Noire

Although it includes Voivod's Away in the line-up and features cover art that could easily be used for the famous Canadian psycho-thrash band's upcoming album, Kosmos has nothing to do with thrash or even metal. Instead, what you get here is space rock with influences from Hawkwind, Amon Duul II, Van Der Graff Generator and with perhaps some Camel and Faust thrown in for good measure. In short, this album will definitely satisfy fans of this kind of music, although regrettably it is also not entirely without faults.

The problem that many people (this reviewer included) have with the modern progressive rock and metal scenes is that so many contemporary bands focus too much on technique, composition and mathematics, foregoing what made the genre interesting in the first place: journeying into areas of musical weirdness. Kosmos is a progressive band by the original definition of the genre and they are capable of capturing that sense of wonder and utter bemusement with gusto. From the krautrock opener to the alien punk rock of "Much Too Old", this album offers more reality-bending than an entire season of Farscape. Long ambient/noise passages, Hindu mantras, electronic soundscapes dominated by blips - it's all here, and more.

The problem with this album is paradoxically also this sense of overwhelming musical freedom that the band projects. The constant meandering nature of the music does not make for an album that flows well, at least not as a rock record. The experience of listening to Kosmos is more like that of being engrossed by a soundtrack to a surrealist film. As experiences go, it is phenomenal, but it doesn't really lend itself to repeated listens. Thus, Kosmos might end up being one of those records that sit on your shelf for months at a time, and only filling your room with its aural landscape once in a blue moon.

Kosmos is an album for the real hardcore progressive rock aficionado. It is mind bending and like a drug in many ways: capable of expanding perception of reality, but only if taken in moderation.