TerrestrialsIridescent

Terrestrials have been sleeping underground – pun very much intended.

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These Melbourne lads have consciously stepped into deep and wide footwells made by progenitors Karnivool, The Butterfly Effect, Dead Letter Circus; that unmistakeable Oz prog sound. So is their take on it for album number one any good? Here’s the headline, mack: it sure is.

If gang vocals and ethereal male voices swirling around you is your jam, then go out and buy this album immediately. Scotty Alexander’s tenor traces air on (kinda) opener One of Us, a tripped out slow jam replete with Oz prog’s finest one-trick that never gets old: the plucked guitar reverb riff. Single Hollow Hands has a downright funky groove that’s ripe for radio airplay, if only radio stations could remove their craniums from their posteriors and actually play such wonderful things. Delicate, glacially paced songs (Fragments, Naysayer, Dreamstay) flow into the big riff bois like Canyons, recalling the pure rock swagger of contemporaries Amplifier or Cog. Those high note choruses – ooft! Same goes for those brain-tickling acoustic licks peppered throughout.

Time well spent on songwriting and honing their craft has yielded a bounty of sumptuous prog rock that will delight and satisfy even the most casual listener. A real triumph.

Even their foray into contemporary AOR Into Minds recollect laid-back rockers like The Tea Party or the Red House Painters, soul and fire infused in large amounts. If 90s nostalgi-rock is your thing, Precious Time fits the bill, as does an oblique yet accessible Perennial Trials. A song carried away by weighty bass and strident vocal lines, a holy union of A Perfect Circle heaviness and Anathema (RIP) style floaty bliss. If there’s a rock n’ roll style that Terrestrials hasn’t tackled, just give the album another run through and you’ll find it – hell, it’s all wrapped up in a bow for you on closer Can You See An Opening.

If Terrestrials aren’t touring Europe as kings of prog next year, I’m going to eat my very delicious hat. Time well spent on songwriting and honing their craft has yielded a bounty of sumptuous prog rock that will delight and satisfy even the most casual listener. A real triumph.

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Soen, Karnivool, Cog
STANDOUT TRACKS: Hollow Hands, Canyons, Perennial Trials