darXtar – Aged to Perfection

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Since I introduced myself in all that space rock thing few years ago, I thought that this genre is stricly based on lengthy improvisational jams and is less (or not at all) song approachable. As much as this has been proven to be true, there are exceptions when space rock is exactly built up on a classic song structure, meaning that some bands are not doing it in a „one, two, three, rec!“ way, but rather lay down the tracks for every instrument in the mix.

Swedish darXtar are considered as space rock-revival pioneers in the early 90′s and the album in question is the band’s seventh opus, released on May 14th on CD, limited vinyl edition and digi download via Transubstans Records.

What has become a standard in space rock genre we know is not typical for these Swedes. Although, there might be found the improvised beats of Aged to Perfection, this album is a release in which was put a lot of thought. With space rock that is „in conflict“ with Øresund Space Collective‘s style, darXtar comes as a missing link between Pink Floyd‘s 1960′s psychedelic and 1970′s space/progressive eras. Though I couldn’t be less clicheic in this comparison, darXtar‘s Aged to Perfection is, as its title suggests, an aged album that is keeping the pace with previous works. The obvious space rock elements such spacey effects and delayed guitar tunes justify the genre label, but this record is much more than that. Aged to Perfection is employing the elements typical for other genres as well, thus being atmospherically ambient in Mörkret 2 or recalling southern rock vibes in In Great Light or hard rocking in Tired Nature are just but a few of these elements creating the darXtar’s pattern on the album. Having employed a violin and saxophone the album is crossing over the experimental, folk and avant-garde.

Sometimes it feels like Aged of Perfection is a try of uniting the heavy rock and laidback styled psychedelia, but however you turn, whatever this album is trying to do, it’s doing really good. What Mars Red Sky’s self-titled album from 2011 is for stoner rock, darXtar’s Aged to Perfection is for space rock. Highly recommendable!

Tracklist:

01. Aged to Perfection
02. In Green Heat
03. Mörkret 2
04. Tired nature
05. Some Things
06. In a Time
07. Moving Along
08. Fiska På Gräsmattan

Line-up:

* K. Soren Bengtsson – vocals, guitars
* Marcus Pehrsson – bass, vocals
* Patric Danielsson – drums, vocals
* Per Hillblom – synth, keyboards
* Fredrik Sundkvist – violin

Links:

www.darxtar.com

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