Dura mater is the medical term for the tough, fibrous membrane, which lines the cavity of the skull and spinal column, and surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Of course we’re not going to talk about Biology or something like that. I’m going to try to review the first full length album of Dura Mater, the band.

Not only the name of the band is impressive, so is its music. Grab a bit of psychedelic rock music from the Seventies, add a pinch of King Crimson and add a little fluff of Primus, and there you go, you have Dura Mater.

Of course it’s always easy to use a couple of bands as reference, but it never covers the whole essence. Dura Mater is best described as an instrumental band that runs the gamut of prog to fusion to space and noise rock.
For a debut full length, the packing of the cd is pretty cool. It comes in a digipak with some cool artwork and fits the music perfectly. Also, Dura Mater play their version of “Devotion”, a song of Mahavishnu Orchestra founder John McLaughlin.