Away was responsible for most of the sci-fi/cyberpunk concepts and all the album artwork for Voivod besides being one of the more unique metal drummers. Okay, so our guitar hero Snake passed on but not before leaving a lot of his guitar parts on his laptop so Away probably could sit on his ass milking that cow. They did release the damn good Katorz in 2006 and they will release another album under the Voivod moniker but that isn't the whole story and that isn't what this article is about. Away hooking up with his scene buddies, collecting and listening to obscure 70s prog rock LPs must be a fun drill. Forming a band and trying to compose and play that kind of music? The resultant product of this, Kosmos, is where all the real fun lies for both the musicians and us, the listeners. If you're familiar with more obscure prog rock names like Van Der Graaf Generator, Gong, Faust, Amon Duul II, pre-schenker UFO, Gentle Giant and some more from the Kraut scene, you're already mostly at home with what these guys have attempted.

Psycho features a very industrial beginning before leading into a bombastic swinging groove/riff that's full of moogs, horns and guitars beautifully interacting with each other. The bass is solid, groovy and locks in with the adventurous drumming. We're already made aware that this is a very keyboard oriented album but hardhitting nonetheless. Loved the way they play around with a theme with ups and downs and subtle variations to it throughout this song in question and very often in the album. It's also apparent that this is a sweet tip of the hat but the playing and production are well updated. Note Away's double bass during the last minute of the song when the song peaks; just makes it all better.

Dream begins with a typical kraut-rock like electronic beat and very moody space/cosmic keyboard sounds and some nice contrapuntal bass grooves providing the backbone. Interesting percussions over this beat show up through the second half of this. Contrasting that sober moment, Grand Grizou is the grandest hardest rocking big band swinging moogalicious song on the album and this is probably my pick too. Jon Lord and Ken Hensley would be proud. Yawa is an industrial-cosmic-noise track that lasts almost a minute leading to Indu Kush that has a hindustani vocalist aalaping with the tanpura and a subtle flautist backing him. Which of course is followed by thunderous mallet driven tribal beats over this and the more audible keyboard noise by then. The tanpura and the vocalist go mute as the beats go louder accompanied still by the electronics and the flute. Strange little impromptu experiment from these French Canadians but it works.

Much Too Old is an ass kicking cover of Gong featuring real vocals for the first time on the album. The guitar riff takes the centrestage on this song and is a great change of pace and tone. The song almost sounds like a punk rock band experimenting with electronics. The title song is again a one-minute industrial and space noise breakaway from the more regular previous track and this leads to a song aptly called Krautrock. Beginning with all sorts of calmness and eventually getting to the by-now familiar more-layered cosmic bliss. This reviewer almost expected Michael Knight and KITT to appear on the TV screen and solve yet another predicament.

Septial is driven by a solid synth bass groove and these sweet little trippy keyboard noises playing the thrilling melody. The next song, Amerique Innavouable, like the Gong cover is driven primarily by the heavily distorted power chord based riff with the vocal lines that's sounds like a speech in the French lanugage. This is an all-out rocker, 70s style. Mothership plays out like a soundtrack to a 70s sci-fi drama with the right chilling synths, moogs, the percussions that involve a vast repertoire of instruments including the tabla and the bongo. Messe Noire has the bluesy Deep Purple/Uriah Heep feel to it again. Nice harmonies between the guitars and the keyboards too. A dynamic and often chaotic jam makes sure this album ends in the right note.

The band is Alex Crow on Keyboards and Programming, Michel Away Langevin on Drums, Octapad and various sounds, Vincent Peake on Bass, Jetphil on Guitars, Fred Filteau on Kosmic Sounds Station, whatever it means. They've signed on to The End Records for two more albums. A good addition to the prog-rock revival and these guys have their own take on it. Recommended.



Year of Release: 2007
Label: The End Records

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