Cosmos as name and theme for Zombi's debut album is only appropriate, given how freely indebted the duo are towards the 1970s-inspired style given the term spacerock. All it takes is the opening to "Orion," Jean-Michel Jarre-style keyboards arcing in with the main melody, and it would be more honestly surprising if it all suddenly turned to softly cooed twee-pop. The rumbling bass/drums grind that follows anchors it all further in darker styles equally prog and metal, and from there the album seeks to both revisit this mix of impulses and, arguably, refine it. It's still very much the work of a young band channeling key impulses rather than fully putting their own stamp on a sound -- if a song like "Serpens" is clearly wanting to be something that's part Blade Runner-era Vangelis and part Bernard Szajner at the start before fully going into epic into-the-unknown stateliness in the second half, there's also little doubt that's exactly what they want it to be. But the live drumming is often the key to where things will go next for the group, making their eventual signing to (and rerelease of this album on) Relapse something quite understandable. Sometimes it's a matter of one element standing out the most -- the initial keyboard loop that anchors "Cetus" is so immediately and enjoyable mean and ominous sounding it almost sets the rest of the song off -- but at other points all the parts lock in perfectly, perhaps most clearly on the two lengthiest numbers, "Gemini" and "Taurus." Both slow-starting, deep into the great beyond zoners, with the former breaking into a propulsive jam that's as much deep fusion as anything else and the latter turning even more creeped out, they both show Zombi possessed something to build on. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi