The debut release from instrumental power trio Electrum is an intriguing and highly melodic piece of work which is mild on the progressive elements and heavy on the atmosphere.
There will be comparisons to Rush levied against these fellows, and I doubt that they themselves would dispute the influence: there are passages on Frames of Mind in which guitarist Dave Kulju sounds as if he is pulling a lick from Lifeson's book. His keyboard tone, too, is firmly rooted in the Signals era.
But this isn't a complaint, because Electrum manages to take elements of this sound and make it their own; they have skillfully avoided being derivative, a tricky task in music such as this.
Again, the compositions here aren't terribly complicated - no jarring time changes meant to impress, no unnecessary showmanship or flash. Just great melodies and confident performances. Frames of Mind will probably be of significant interest to fans of Hawkwind-style space rock, as well as progheads in general.
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