ALISA CORAL'S NEUTRON STAR: S/T CD£12.99
Formerly a CDR by Mirrors called "Neutron Star", this is now completely remastered and remixed to vastly superior quality, on every level, as well as having a near ten minute bonus track, taking its running time to over seventy five minutes.
From Russia, a simply fabulous CD of 'real' space synths music, featuring two lengthy tracks (nineteen and twenty-eight minuets respectively), four shorter tracks, the extra nine minute tarck, and all of it absolutely superb. Played and produced in a top quality manner, the album sets the scene before moving onto the two epic tracks, of which Neutron Star' at twenty-eight minutes, starts with a very full-sounding slice of lead synth flow below which assorted synth layers drone and glide, while on top the tones change from high register to more bottom-end as all the various layers intertwine, the composition constantly moving, with the subtlest of bass sequence style lines running underneath, as the lead synth line flies and soars in cosmic splendour. Throughout the rest of the track, the main, lone synth lead lines are kept simple and uncluttered with a sparse soundscape that conveys the feel of vast, deep space, but more the unknown rather than the familiar, after the half-way point becoming quite eerie and continuing the ever-darkening mood, as more sounds gather to convey the feel of the stark and the surreal. The other long track, 'Black Hole', at 19 minutes, follows and is another fantastic journey into the realms of the celestial and space synth music, with a variety of cascading and tinkling synth rhythms underneath as the main body of the piece slowly flies, drifts and glides, seemingly hanging motionless in the gloom at several points, but a classic slice of, again, more stripped-down sounding cosmic music, but, in this particular case, a track that will have you absolutely wrapt up in it for the duration of the piece, as before, the mood being one of combining dark with ethereal, the human touch always present. After this, the shorter tracks appear, 'Dying Star' having a stuttering sequencer line underpinning a most gorgeous and, again, simple, lead synth melody line, a neat idea that works a treat, while 'White/Black Quark' is a three minute track that starts with waves of full-sounding, dark synth soundscapes, beginning a travelogue that sees a variety of electronic sounds coming out over a deep bass synth undercurrent. 'Over Jupiter To Eos' is a 'more full-sounding space synths track that emulates the third epic track in many ways, with four minutes of shimmering stark synth space. The bonus track, 'PSR 0220+02' starts with warm flowing synth clouds that well up from below as bass rumbles sound along the bottom of the mix, the whole thing having very much a tranquil feel, and parts of it almost reminiscent of a track whose title escapes me from the album 'Zero Time' by Tonto, only here given a much superior space music makeover, the sonic delights slowly unfolding as the warmth allies with the cosmic to provide a richly textured, evolving, end track that rounds off a simply brilliant new take on cosmic synth music. In all, a fine debut album.

SPACE MIRRORS: The Darker Side Of Art CD£12.99
Quote from Aural Innovations main man, Jerry Kranitz:
Hey Andy,
Alisa tells me you're about to release her new Space Mirrors CD on Dead Earnest. I just listened to her samples at soundclick.com and I've gotta stock this sucker in my catalog. Let me know as soon as they're ready. If the whole CD is as good as the couple of samples I heard then I'd say you've got a winner on your hands.
Jerry
Well, it's ready now, it IS that good, and it will be a winner……………….
Alisa Coral's second album following the immense cosmic synth music splendors of the debut CD, but this is altogether different - and something very special. Recorded in collaboration with Michael Blackman (Alien Dream) with four tracks featuring Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One) and one featuring Steve Youles, this is a space-rock album through and through, but also a consistently fine one too. Opening with nearly six minutes of scene-setting instrumental cosmic-rock that sounds like it's comes from the middle section of an early seventies Hawkwind set, as synths, guitars, drifting, barely heard female voice, swooping space synths and bass all create a magnificent instrumental introduction that is classic sounding stuff. Then it's into 'At The Crossroads Of Worlds' with a driving space-rock rhythm, guitars firing off all around the place and synths soaring and swooping in between to create a tension-building, driving slice of space-rock that is just fantastic, and when the added bonus of this glorious glissando-like slide guitar figure emerges over the top, the effect is stunning. Then it all drops down to an eerie scenario of space synth swoops, heartbeat drums, distant guitars and more Hawkwind-style space synths all around and distant female vocals, before the rhythms kick in even stronger than before and the whole thing, slide guitars, electric guitars, synths, bass and drums, all cruise effortlessly upwards and onwards for nearly six minutes. 'A Trip Through Inner Space' is more textural instrumental stuff, with a more relaxed feel than on the first track, while the music, solid it has to be said, wafts and drifts throughout, synths creating some magical cosmic-rock moods. 'Your Soul's Been Sold' starts with a solid, chunky rhythm as the space synths and electronic backdrops soar from horizon to horizon, as the gorgeous female voice drifts around from the back while a new guitar lead emerges and gradually builds to provide a steaming slice of space-rock with more layers of synths and guitars than you can throw a comet at, yet all superbly produced and arranged, the guitar work really electrifying the proceedings as then synths fly and soar over the ever strong rhythmic motor. More layers are built with barely discernible voices, as the piece slowly dies to a spacey finale. 'Pale Ghosts' opens with a hail of guitars, fuzzed, wah-wah, lead and rhythm, as drums roll in, bass thunders below and synths fly all around, and another driving, mid-paced slice of space-rock magic blossoms into flower, the guitar really spiraling as the huge wealth of sound is built up and powered along, this all continuing for a mighty eight minutes. 'It's Cold Today In Underworld' is the album's first real song, with guitar and vocals provided by Lucassen, over the backdrop of driving space-rock rhythm guitars, space-synths and rhythms from the main conspirators, another spiraling slice of classic space-rock. 'Black Dragon' is another more spacious but full-sounding excursion from the synths and guitars, bass and percussives, into deep space and beyond, again building and layering as it goes, always changing, always sounding firmly "space-rock" in its approach and feel, and just wonderful music. The album ends with the most driving track of all as 'Dark Jedi' features a pummeling drum rhythm, solid lead guitars, space synths flying all around, thunderous bass and the more distant vocals from Alisa as the guitar then rises to the surface and this lead blitz of soloing space-rock guitars, thunders out into the night skies, the sound so solid from top to bottom, then suddenly the rhythm decelerates as this monster cauldron of guitars, synths, electronic drums, bass and more guitars travels in juggernaut fashion through the airwaves, laying waste to anything in its path, gradually dying away, only to reveal yet another new twist as the synths, guitars, bass and rums, rise to an almost unbearable climax and the whole thing just drives unstoppably, taking no prisoners inside its awesome, multi-layered, intense sonic soup. Near the six minute mark it drops to acoustic guitars, flute-like synth lead, space-synths surrounds, bass rhythm backdrop as yet another new direction is brought in, working to an absolute treat. Just over eight minutes it changes again as a cosmic synths backdrop adds space-vocal narration over the top, briefly, then this huge mass of synths and electric guitars emerges from nowhere and the piece just takes off even more than it has so far, absolute space-rock bliss achieved to perfection, and just short of twelve amazing minutes of music, it drops down, only to re-emerge seconds later, drums and bass still propelling the synths and guitars as it all suddenly fades and all you are left is wanting to play the whole darned lot over again from the beginning. You can't argue with an album as good as this.

SPACE MIRRORS: Memories Of The Future
The follow-up to the groundbreaking space-rock debut album 'The Darker Side Of Art' finds keyboards/synths musician and drummer Alisa Coral reunited with the electric lead, rhythm and bass guitar talents of Michael Blackman with guest appearances from Litmus' Martin Litmus (one track), Meads Of Asphodel's Metatron (2 tracks) plus ex-Hawkwind and Starfield's Keith Kniveton (1 track), and on three tracks a vocalist, Amber.
The first thing you notice about the album, following the spacey intro, is the intensity - this is an album that takes no prisoners. Produced to sound loud to the point of explosive, this massive brew of synths, drums, bass and guitars and female vocals, strides a giant-like path through your skull as space synths swoop all around the place and this huge sounding amalgam of instrumental is positively jaw-dropping, the dirty guitar riffing allied to the soaring multi-synths and pounding rhythms, occasionally breaking it up for extra and amazing dynamic effect, the final five minutes of the twelve minute track, featuring lead guitar work that will make your hair curl as the album cruises and drives to a crushingly heavy space-rock finale. 'Travelling To The Core' pretty well begins where 'Creatures Of The Twilight' left off, with a huge sounding sea of rhythms and synths and guitar riffs, above which this incendiary lead guitar goes nuclear as this awesome solo flies out of the mix and carves a path through your head. Then, with the rhythms chugging along like a juggernaut, a synth solo ensues that allies to a world of space synths swooshing all around, and the re-entry of the lead guitar, combined with this soaring synth solo, simply takes your breath away, thundering their way through to a nine minute final point that ends considerably more sedately. 'Eternal Search' starts sedately with space synths before suddenly erupting into another ocean of synths, lead guitars, drums and bass, only this time they throw even more of the kitchen sink in, as the angelic but strong vocals from Amber enter the whole sonic soup and soar alongside the cannon fire of instrumentation that is currently whacking holes in your head. As heady a psychedelic brew and as heavy a slice of space-rock as you'll hear. The near ten minute 'Death Inc' continues the crushing assault on the senses and this time adds voice samples into the proceedings for even greater dynamic effect, this time the combination of miles upon miles of guitars, rhythms that could sear holes in diamonds at long ranger and synths that go nuclear all sounding so unbelievably overpowering that you are transfixed to the sea of space-rock fury that is being unleashed, and I promise you that, up to now and beyond, you've never heard a space-rock album as heavy as this.
But then, a surprise as the pace decelerates for 'Mysteries of an Ancient Race', as a wailing synth lead is heard over solid fuzz guitar, chiming leads, mid-paced rhythm section, swirling space synths only for a steaming guitar solo to enter briefly before giving ground to the synth lead once more as the whole track slowly marches forward, at this point in the album, the intensity giving way to mid-paced lightness, albeit still solid and full-sounding, and coming across as a beautiful exercise in album dynamics, seeming to last a lot longer than its four minute running time - a good thing, I hasten to add. 'Feed The Serpent' is another similarly paced number but this time with a much more expansive, almost choral, synths-based backing, allied to swooping space synths, while the multi-tracked bass and drums and distant guitar riffs gallop onwards, and over all of this, we have the icing on the cake as Alisa Coral delivers a vocal that intones in almost Nico-esque fashion as the slightly echoed, mutli-tracked voice glides eerily on top of the dense instrumental backing, the guitar riffing climbing higher in the mix as the intensity increases, a corking five and a half minutes of building, sizzling, slowly driving space-rock. The final 3 tracks and nearly fourteen unbroken minutes of music go under he banner 'Dune Trilogy', presumably inspired by the legendary sci-fi book, and starts with slowly moving seas of cosmic synths before a lone synth lead heralds the arrival of a huge space-rock juggernaut of instrumentation as guitars, synths and bass/drums move slowly forth, this time Amber's vocals, slightly higher register than Coral's, deliver the song as they soar above the musical maelstrom swirling down below, the vocals in classic space-rock vein and providing that extra touch to a steaming track that dies down right at the end only to segue directly into this roaring morass that is 'The Space Crusade' where the Meads of Asphodel's vocalist Metatron adds a Lemmy-like vocal over the supercharged arrangement of rampaging rhythm section, swirling fuzz and lead guitars plus cascading synths that fall from the skies as the song scorches onward in a blaze of space-rock fury, ending on lone synth and echoed percussion before once more segueing into the final part of the continuous track, with a solid drum beat and expansive synths/guitars/bass backdrop as the song drives ever on, with Coral's vocals now right upfront and soaring away, so perfect sounding in the context of such a solid space-rock arrangement, her range really showing through on this finale to the epic track, and a vocal performance to climax a massive, solid and wholly consistent second album of driving, intense, but never overbearing. space-rock taken to its almighty and quite logical extreme of power and clarity, excellently composed and arranged, played to perfection and a stunning album overall. A final, bonus, track features their take on the two Hawkwind tracks 'Opa Loka' and 'Uncle Sam's On Mars', here done as a ten and a half minute medley that stomps the original and any subsequent version into the floor as the musicians and co-lead singers of Alisa & Metatron turn an insipid original into a burning track of comet proportions as the massive sound turns the Calvert menace into a big bang of epic nature and you won't find a finer version on the planet.

+ GUEST APPEARANCE ON:

ALIEN DREAM: Chaotic Nature Of Infinity CD£11.99
This is a new review, now having heard the whole album……………………..
With guest appearances from Space Mirrors' Alisa Coral on synths on two tracks and vocals on the opener, this is the most assured, consistent and cohesive albums from the Australian multi-instrumentalist, composer and long-time Hawkwind fan, Micheal Blackman. The opening track, 'Hidden Realms' starts with swirling space synth effects, string synthsand delicate percussion and bass guitar as the phased, ethereal vocals of Alisa are heard in the background, creating a seriously atmospheric spacey intro as the guitars begin to emerge, the percussion strengthens and the track takes off in a hail of gloriously soaring electric guitar melodies, while all around these space synths swoop and soar over a now strengthening slowly driving rhythm, the whole effect a sort of mellow but high-flying psychedelic space-rock ambience that just climbs higher and higher to great effect. The whole album features 11 tracks over fifty minutes, is nearly all instrumental. The music is composed to perfection - nothing allowed to outstay its welcome, no ideads overdone and everything kept tight, but music that really flows. There are similarities to early Ozrics but more in the swooshing synths dept with acres of spacey synths that dive and soar like comets all over the mix. On 'Wizards Brew' there a shimmering line of synths and guitars over a loping line of chunky drums and languid bass, while all around the synths play as layer upon layer is gathered to create this huge spirally array of magnificent psychedelic space-rock ambience that eventually fades into the night sky. For the tracks 'Fighting For Peace' and 'Tiers Of Eternity' you'll hear extra flowing, melodic synths courtesy of Alisa, who positively soars on a magical lead line on the former, while Blackman's emotive electric guitar work fires up on a bed of distant drums, chunky percussion and solid electric bass, the melodies climbing and spiraling to glorious effect. 'Tiers Of Eternity' is a more muscular, driving slice of space-rock with assorted guitars providing the heart of the track as a heady guitar lead solos to maximum impact over the driving rhythms and surrounding synth atmospherics, the production sounding hugely expansive and deep. Three further tracks continue this mix of space-rock with a synthesizer bent, melodies and magic pouring out of every track, before 'Shattered' appears as the first and only song on the album, Blackman's phased and distant voice appearing on the opening of the piece before it veers off into less powerful, incredibly uplifting finale of soaring synths, searing, chiming electric guitars and solid rhythms. Three further corking examples of sky-high synths/ guitars-led space-rock-meets-electronic music finish what is a faultless album on every musical level and this is one that will appeal to a wide cross section of the space-rock, psychedelic and electronic music audiences alike.

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