Jupiter Society – Terraform

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A progressive album with a space theme usually means one thing. Hawkwind. Fortunately keyboard player Carl Westholm’s (Krux/Carptree) all-star project sound a lot more like a sinister Ayreon than any kind of ’70s nostalgia. A sequel to 2007’s First Contact/Last Warning in many senses, some of the characters and stories from the original songs are revisited here in a darker way, and the whole album turns out surprisingly down-beat and ominous (Siren’s Song/Black Hole is practically doom metal), even in the lighter moments. The same vocal trio of Mats Levén (Krux), Öivin Tronstad and Nils Erikson handle all of the singing, along with most of the same collection of bassists and guitarists as the first album, including Candlemass bassist Leif Edling. New additions to the Jupiter Society fold are Tiamat’s drummer Lars Sköld and Royal Hunt’s Marcus Jidell, who provides all of the guitar solos. More so perhaps than its predecessor, Terraform touches several bases, from the necessary progressive edge that a concept album inevitibly has, to doom and traditional metal, with plenty of riffs and soaring vocals for the regular fan, and equal of solos and technicality for the prog fan. Everything is that bit more sinister though, more or less like a combination of Krux and Ayreon could be expected to sound, which may make the album a little tougher going for some. Nevertheless, one of the finest albums of 2009.

Written by Andy Lye
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