Link: http://www.astrosoniq.com/

There is something going on. You wait and wait, and the anticipation is killing you because you know whatever that is going to happen will be big. You can feel it in your bones.

The anticipation transcends to being teased with wailing guitars, subtle spacetronics and finally Fred Van Bergen boasts, “We ain’t gonna stay no more. In this lifetime just waiting for a sign.”

And right before you scream that you just cannot take it anymore, you get the sign and Astrosoniq explodes into a cacophony of hard-edged stoner rock that will spin your long locks into a tornado of head-banging fury. Bergen trades sentiments for “We ain’t gonna leave” as the fury of the guitars screeching and screaming with vocal howls spiral you into the wall.

And this is the first five minutes of Quadrant. By the time “Faustian Bargain” ends, you have to pick yourself up off the ground and wonder what the hell just happened. But “Clouds of Decay” kick you until you are back down.

I may not have been born when Deep Purple explored their range in “Child Of Time,” that was two years before my time, but becoming familiar with the song, it was a simple statement of power and expression. This was power rock that breathed for over 10 minutes.

This is what goes on with “As Soon As They Got Airborne…” It’s a 14-plus minute testament to the power and glory of rock. Beginning with a gyrating bass line, this is a guitarist’ song. Ron Van Herpen turns his axe into a lover, seducing the notes and giving them a life all its own that end up making love to Tuen van de Velden’s cosmic synth playing. Somewhere during this time, you get lost in the moment. Initial sequence takes place and the song turns into jet fuel and one of the greatest power rockers you will ever hear. 9 minutes in and the song is set to unfold into the great beyond. It it’s loud, it’s not loud enough.

Confident and brazen, Astrosoniq has created a masterpiece that boldly looks to everything they have done in the past and focuses on all of the elements that make this band unique while packaging it into an album that is more powerful than they have gone before, more exploratory and dives deeper into their musical versatility.

Quadrant is the definition of a metal album.