Astra Broken Balance

2014, What makes Astra as astral as its name suggests is an exemplary talent for making prog metal rock. The genre usually gets its goods from mileage, but Astra takes flight on the first song and never touches ground again. ,,Losing My Ego" is a sprawling, powerized prog assault delivering punch after punch, catchy chorus included. No shortage of any of that either on the dreamy ,,Hole In The Silence", dreamier ,,From Sunrise To Sunset", and kick-ass ,,Too Late". Progging it up a notch is the somber title track and thumping ,,Faithless" before the band goes into full Dream Theater mode with ,,Mirror Of Your Soul", as singer Andrea Casali gives his best James LaBrie-impression. ,,Risk And Dare" rips the throttle open to full once more, and from there the album thunders onward until the strangely-not-a-ballad-closer ,,You Make Me Better". Prog can be slow to reveal itself, in all the best and worst ways possible. Astra is not alone in this regard, but proves it can be both direct and deep at the same time. Digipack.