Detailed Reviews [Arilyn - 2002 - "Tomorrow Never Comes"]

Preamble. "Tomorrow Never Comes" is the debut album by the young German band Arilyn. I received both of the latest CD releases from Quixote Music, including this one, without the press kit, so I don't have any specific info on this band. In my view however, music is the only important aspect of a promo package (not only, of course). So let's see what the music of Arilyn is about...

The Album. Arilyn's "Tomorrow Never Comes" is an album of a completely unified stylistics representing a classic, yet, very original Space Rock. Though it would probably be more precise to name the stylistics of Arilyn's music as a fusion that unites a highly innovative Modern Symphonic Art-Rock and a heavy, Classic Space Rock & Metal. Take into consideration that a very short Alpha (1), which is the only instrumental on the album, is actually nothing else but an intro to New World. Overall, all twelve of the songs that are presented on the album were created within the framework of the same - aforementioned - stylistics. And the only difference between them concerns the so-called level of complexity. In that way, I shall divide the contents of the album into four parts. Surprisingly, the most accessible (though, I'd better say quite accessible) are here the first two songs: New World and Far Away. Nevertheless, each of them features no less than three different vocal, as well as instrumental, parts. Further, the level of complexity of the album grows throughout its duration. The following three songs: Foreign Shores, Nightmare, and Adventurer (3, 4, & 5), I regard as moderately complex, though the latter of them, Adventurer, is certainly more adventurous than any of its predecessors. Return and Mindeator (8 & 11) are quite complex compositions already. And all five of the remaining songs: State of Desperation, Nameless, Rescue Me, Reach You, and the album's title track, Tomorrow Never Comes (6, 7, 9, 10, & 12), are compositionally highly complex - at least within the framework of Classic Space Rock. Still the same level of complexity is the only point that can be used for comparisons between the music of Arilyn and that of the other Classic Space Rock bands, among which are especially notable the pioneers of the genre, Clear Blue Sky, and the kings of the genre, Hawkwind. Well, the best five songs (at least) on "Tomorrow Never Comes" are more complex than any of the compositions ever created by Clear Blue Sky and are, approximately, as complex as anything ever created by Hawkwind. Also, I should mention that "Tomorrow Never Comes" remains a very interesting album in its entirety. For example, the same words I can say with regard to only a couple of albums by Hawkwind: "Levitation" (1980) and "Astonishing Sounds Amazing Music" (1976), and the same number of Clear Blue Sky's albums: "Out of the Blue" (1968) and "Mirror of the Stars" (2001). Finally, please don't confuse the Classic Space-Rock performers with their 'jazzy neighbors' (Gong, Clearlight, etc), those who play the Avant-garde and other unusual kinds of this genre (Greg Segal, Naked Elf, etc), and also with such 'spacey' performers as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultz, etc - I hardly find their creation progressive.

Summary. Among many of the contemporary performers of Classic Space Rock that I've heard, Arylin is probably the only band, the music of which is completely free from any noticeably influences and sounds really fresh. Already on their debut album "Tomorrow Never Comes", Arilyn appears to be a fitting answer to such contemporary imitators of their idols as Solar Project, Darxtar, and especially Living Wreck. In conclusion, this is highly recommended to all those who consider themselves real connoisseurs of Space Rock.

VM: January 6, 2002