I know. The use of organ, mellotron and flutes will hardly get any of our readers enthusiastic.
A combination of progressive and symphonic rock with Nordic folk and jazz tunes won’t get many out of their chairs either.
Fact is the Waterclime, a solo project by Mr. V, manages to melt all these sounds into truly impressive tracks and more important a more than solid album. Take for example the opening track ‘Mountains’; one that isn’t only remarkable for the many different musical elements, but also because of the excellent shift from rock to metal vocals and back. In my opinion quite extraordinary.

The second song features a second surprise. Again it’s the vocals that truly makes the difference. Delightful jazzy vocals with pure soul combined with a perfectly built up composition that feature more than one highlight. This is truly original and even more important of truly incredible. Another thing I absolutely dig is the warm sound and the driving tempo of the seventies orientated prog. This makes ‘The Astral Factor’ sound more modern than any other ‘post-prog’ release. This one has genius written all over it. I’ve never listened to an album that was easier to rate than this one!