Band : Corsair
Album Title : Ghosts Of Proxima Centauri
Label : Own release
Distributor : /
Release Date : 2011
Review : CDEP

As soon as this 6-track record arrived at my door I found myself grinning from ear to ear and the beautifully handcrafted disc almost immediately found itself in my cdplayer. Their previous 5-track CDEP Alpha Centauri was such a blast for me that I didn’t want to leave the newborn offering unheard for a second longer. And yes as stated in the previous review, this is heartfelt music that I will never get tired of. The sound is a tough one to describe, coming off as kind of a Slough Feg type of metal thing with Rush-like odd time signatures and varied comprehensible vocals and twin guitar work reminiscent of all good, and there’s plenty, NWOBHM in delivery and harmony. The psych seventies rock touch makes their sound a little bit similar to Hawkwind/Budgie/Blue Oyster Cult, so they definitely have their own personality.

Starting out quite calm, with clean epic guitarleads the first instrumetal track “Wolfrider” increases in intensity to a slightly mid-paced cracker. “Warrior woman” and “Burnish the blades“ display Corsair’s ability to craft NWOBHM-pounding riffs, peaking with an all out neck-snapping assault. “Centurion” offers piercing guitars, full throaty vocals and a slippery chorus which send this one straight to the heart. Paul Sebring and Marie Landragin’s guitar playing is again fun to listen to, as they capture groove and melody with the best of them and even though the riffage, harmonies, solos, guitar leads are reminiscent of all well-known twin lead guitar rock bands - Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Judas Priest, Trouble, Tokyo Blade, Satan,… - this album distills it all and still manages to sound totally different. The drumming is also a strong point, keeping up the backbone of the songs with a delightfully bouncy and catchy set of beats.  “Orca” with its brilliant foggy atmosphere is another amazing song where Marie’s clear vocals shine bright. There’s even a stunning videoclip of “Orca” made by Dragon Marie. “Eyes of gods” contains plenty of invention and surprising melodic twists and works with fascinating rhythm/tempo changes, which might make the mainstream metalhead shake his head, but could be interesting for Rush fans of their Moving Pictures-era, for example. Everything sounds very warm and open and the music flows very natural out of the speakers, like if you were sitting in their rehearsal room.

I'm so sold on this band, and I just hope they can make a good name for themselves because they've put together a collection of 11 excellent tracks (both CDEPs) that fans of aforementioned bands would do very well to check out.

Cosmicmasseur.