Remnants of Life

Osiris The Rebirth is the new baby of Dave Adams and Milo Black, Spacerock stalwarts lately of Hawkwind tribute band Assassins Of Silence. An inattentive observer might have expected Remnants Of Life to be a Hawkwind clone but Osiris set out their stall early on: after a subtly amusing pre-flight check ["drive status steady at 57 kilobrocks"] we lift off with a full-tilt blanga riff; but the flight soon settles on a new path where every track has its own unique ambience - power-ballad [Technology], 15 minute Prog epic [End Of Something], spooky-pyramidal Ambient [Osiris, cover of the old Sphinx track], homage to Hawkwind [Siren], Ozrics-with-vocals [Starlight Scorpio], Classic Rock [Dragonslayer], or energetic instrumental [Colgate Valentine, Karmic Vortex] with glimpses of a little jazz and even classical. It might sound like a horrendous mish-mash of styles, especially when each song has a different vocalist, but it really does work - very, very well indeed!

Prog-Spacerock is at the album's core throughout; a bedrock of floating keyboards and effects that anchor our journey through many twists and turns, diversions and loops: sometimes fast and furious; at others gentle and ethereal; dynamic, structured arrangements that seldom stand still for long yet always entrance, often with surprising transits; sublime hooks and beautiful, serene melodies that quickly worm their way into a listener's brain. The whole album is suffused with an all-encompassing Spacerock vibe: a superb combination of programming and spacey effects; a lovely selection of keyboards including Mini-Moog and Mellotron [choirs yum-yum!!]; a quasi-conceptual space-travel theme with short link pieces [the eight main songs are dreams experienced on the journey, apparently]; and cameo contributions by some leading Spacerock musicians who bring their own special identities to the party - Nik Turner [ghostly flute, on Osiris of course, brilliant], Cyndee Lee Rule [exquisite Viper, brilliant], Sky [flute, brilliant], Bridget Wishart [mellow vocals, brilliant], Kim Novak [vocals, brilliant] and James Hodkinson [big-ballad vocals, brilliant] and Paul Blackman [sax, short but brilliant]. These special guests blend well into the core band underpinned by Adams' commanding bass and Black's outstanding guitar work.

My expectations were fuelled by online posting of completed songs and regular blogged progress reports from Black. I am not disappointed! It has been a good year for Spacerock releases and Remnants Of Life may just be the best of them all: a wonderfully varied collection of songs full of energy and vitality, excellently realised with a punchy production that does credit to everyone involved. If, as I suspect for such a niche product, this was recorded `on a shoe-string' then it really is a fantastic advert for what can be achieved with the right hands on the controls: a crisp modern sound but with timeless appeal. Can't wait for the follow-up [already in progress, I believe]!!