ASTRAL MAGIC – SACRED MYSTERIES – 2023 (Bandcamp)

‘Gobekli Tepe’ gets the album off to an excellent start, an instrumental with organ, swishing and swirling synths, thumping bass, and all the essential space rock ingredients. There are Hawkwind-y vocals on the haunting ‘Puma Punku’. ‘Mystics from Outer Space’ is Kinks-like in the guitar, another vocal track with a nice retro feel. The music is, as usual, as much psychedelic as space rock, no more so than on the infectious ‘Blow Your Mind’, and you might be even be able to have a wee dance to ‘Watchers’. There is sax on ‘Phases’ and closer ‘Close Encounter’ has a memorable melody running through it. This prolific project has attracted our attention before and will continue to do so in the future – watch this space!