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Doctors of Space

The Astral Sessions Vol 5- Roadburn Redux

Review by Gary Hill

You can't go wrong with projects from Doctor Space. That's the pseudonym used by Scott Heller in his musical projects. Probably the most prominent of those projects is the band Øresund Space Collective. This is another of his projects, though. All of his stuff focuses on improvised space rock that's generally instrumental. This release consists of four epic length pieces, all of which fit that category, but have their own identities. You can always count on Dr. Space's stuff for quality, and this fits that prescription.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023  Volume 5 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review
El Rock Espaço Infernal
Synthesizer brings this in with a rather ominous vibe. The track grows outward gradually from there. This builds and evolves. At times it gets into nearly metal territory. The guitar really screams at points. Then there is an almost guitar hero like solo around the half-way mark. It drops to ambient keys from there. Bass that makes me think of early Black Sabbath gradually rises up. As this continues to evolve it remains mellow and the bass takes it in some unusual directions. Guitar brings some definite psychedelia as this continues. It eventually works toward more driving space rock sounds again. At just about 22-and-a-half minutes of music, this is the epic of the set, but not by much.
Heading Out To The Crab Nebula
This is the shortest track here. Given that it runs 14:45. that tells you a lot about the album. This comes in with synthesizer in sharp textures. It evolves from there taking on a pretty solid space rock vibe as it continues. This gets pretty driving and intense further down the musical road. Like most great space rock, nothing changes quickly, but it steadily morphs from one thing to another.
Stoner Heaven (load Of Fuzz)
At just under 15 minutes long, this is just slightly longer than the previous one. A killer electronic groove gets things going here, and they build it out from there. There is some seriously driving guitar based stuff that emerges as this continues. They get pretty metallic at times. The whole piece has a certain intensity and power to it that really works well.
Don't Trust The Ai
Trippy and ominous textures and a driving bass line creates a sense of danger at the beginning of this. The closing piece, this runs a little over 22-minutes. That gives them plenty of time to take it slow, and they do, bringing this up very gradually. They really do get this into some pretty rocking zones before it's over, and it works through a lot of different territory as we're taken along for a heck of a ride.
  
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