The weird world of instrumental rock has a delightful knack of throwing up some little-known and often surprisingly good bands, unfortunately it also has a pretty regular knack of throwing up some relatively dull and uninspired music too, Spain's CICONIA are desperately trying to fit into the former category while sadly sounding doomed to the latter. They are however a perfect example of what can emerge into the bizarre Post-Rock scene, garnering both admiration and confusion in equal quantities. Certainly, "The Moon Sessions" is nothing ground-breaking, and while it has at least managed to avoid sounding completely unoriginal, we are only treated to rare flashes of inspiration.

The main problem that CICONIA suffer from is repetition, a good chunk of the guitar work on "Honey on Thorns" simply sounds like a slowed down version from "Bibey" and later on it becomes close to identical. "Jack O'Lantern" is a further culprit in this cycle. The worst part though, is the high, almost chiming, guitar sound that makes ill-advised appearances on almost every song. Repetition is not something that has necessarily bothered me with a lot of music but with four of the seven songs coming in at over seven minutes it can begin to go stale with an alarming speed.

The other issue the Spaniards run into is the maintaining of atmosphere, arguably an unforgivable crime in Post-Rock, "Chrysalis"is the prime example of this, after six minutes of slow (and really quite good) tension building it all falls apart with a heavier drop in, that just feels slightly divorced from the rest of the song, a real shame after the intriguing start.

The main annoyance I've always had with instrumental bands is when you have a song name but no explanatory lyrics behind it, quite why a young Spanish band have a thirteen minute song called "Hampstead Heath" is quite beyond me but it is this along with the equally oddly named "Musical Oscillating Criterion" that formed the highlight of the listen, or at least would have if once again that same chiming riff that I'd already heard on three previous tracks came crawling back at the end of "Musical Oscillating Criterion". However, "Hampstead Heath" does at least end us on a positive with some great rhythm sections, but the sad truth is that at thirteen minutes it takes a considerable effort to get through in its entirety after already slogging through the rest of the album.

Having never heard CICONIA before and having absolutely no idea what to expect, it feels strange to come out from my listening experience just expecting a bit more. But there are enough positive signs to suggest that while this album may drift forgotten into Rock and Metal's thoroughly clogged pile of mediocrity, CICONIA may well deliver in the future, maybe an inspirational trip to "Hampstead Heath" could do them the world of good?