Lost In Tyme Blog

Experimental Souvenir - 2009 - Cosmic Pill

Tracks :
1 Cosmic Pill
2 The Creation
3 Lavatory
4 Tert
5 Neutralized Man
6 The Rotten Side Of Earth

Musicians:
Gallo - Guitar, flute and noises
Kanaan - Drums and percussions
Awake - Synthesisers and noises on Neutralized Man
Erevos - Violin on The Rotten Side of Earth

Reviews :

1
Released in 2009, Cosmic Pill is the first album from the guitar-led musical collective Experimental Souvenir. It includes a vast collection of punchy, spacey instrumental epics with a flair to jazzy-metallic experiments. The instrumentation is simultaneously complex, spacious and exhuberant.

The album opens with the superb and gorgeously addictive Cosmic Pill. A truly propulsive heavy krautrockin' hymn dominated by energetic guitar riffs, thundering drum patterns and glacial synthesised effects. The Creation is a wild, free and dissonant hard rocin' exentricity, including weird effects and a flourish exotic mood. Lavatory can be described as an esoteric version of classic hard rockin epics with touches of pastorally flute notes and dynamical moody rhythmics. Tert (Greek dialect which means "Pontiac") carries on the schema of composition already explored in The Creation. It features an oriental-influenced heavy-jazzy rock hybird. Propulsive and mysteriously invigorating at the same time. The guitar soloing sections are surprisingly tranced out and explosive. Tert also features subtle references to Greek traditional music. Neutralised Man is an epically spacious metal track for aggressive guitars and cosmic synth grooves (by Jon Dimoulas "alias" Awake). This one is said to be influenced by the famous track Hallo Gallo from NEU!. The Rotten Side of Earth closes the album with an outer-space rockin improvisation floating in a toxic ambience. My personal favourite with the opening theme. Cosmic Pill achieves a solid balance between atonal jazzy metallic grooves and kraut-blissed out vibes. A convincing and recommended debut effort.
~P.B. (ProgArchives)

2
Experimental Souvenir are a new band, a duet, from Thessaloniki that was formed a few moths ago! And in those months they created "Cosmic Pill", an EP diamond from every point of view that follows an experimental/progressive path and is really a 35minute trip back to the psychedelia of the 60's and also indicates that the genre is anything but dead.

Though the influences from bands like King Crimson and Faust are evident, Experimental Souvenir manage to maintain the originality of their sound and their perceptive compositions. The record flows flawlessly, absolutely complete, amazingly homogeneous of style and at the same time rich in alternations and elements that make each song unique.

First, the self titled track, creates an unearthly, mystic atmosphere keeping from the beginning till the end its steady motif, still not being once monotonous. Follows the stronger track "The Creation", devided musically in 3 parts - Before The Creation, GenesisThe Experiment - with the initial eastern melodies binding beautifully with more jazzy elements and the continual changes being accompanied by intense emotional reactions. And then comes "Lavatory"! For most it'll probably won't be the strongest track of the album, but it magnetized me from the very first minute. Don't let the title predispose you, it's a wonderful, dynamic creation where the flute steals the show giving a lighter sensation. "Tert", which comes next, seems to bring us back to reality, preparing us for the album's darkest track, "Neutralized Man", that will surely impress every Neu!'s music enthusiast, since Hallo Gallo is the source of inspiration! "Cosmic Pill" ends with an epic 12minute masterpiece, entitled "The Rotten Side Of Earth", where the violin dominates the second part matching pefectly the subtitle Dark!

The production is limpid, a rarity amongst the greek independent bands, while the artwork is meticulous, simple and chaste as this genre's releases demand. On the whole, it is a project of high musical and technical inspiration. You will see it on your own that the musicians are exceptional and that applies to both Experimental Souvenir and the guests that surrounded them on the keyboards and violin.

Each time you hear it, the album becomes even more exhilarating, even more addictive. So, take your cosmic "trip" and hit repeat cause one time is definitely not enough!

For more info: www.myspace.com/experimentalsouvenir

10/10

Elina Kefala (metalhunter.eu)

Very interesting first work from this new Greek band !
If you're interest to buy or listen this album take the time to contact the band :
experimentalsouvenir@yahoo.gr