Impressive. GIÖBIA's "Plasmatic Idol" is an eight song, forty-five minute sonic journey, drawing heavily on late sixties psychedelic influence. Their sound, while showing this definitive influence, truly lacks description otherwise. The songs here never actually display a true lead vocal, utilizing the voice more as a musical texture than anything else. The music itself, at times, can feel almost like a soundtrack for a film, particularly from the horror genre. The musicians are brilliant, as far as the instrumentation is concerned, and there always seems to be something lurking underneath.

The opening song, "Parhelion," is a seven-minute instrumental which sets the mood for the journey. It has a heavy, dark feel from the onset, with power chorded guitars behind a sustained keyboard that sounds nothing short of a scream. This note is repeated in a couple of spots throughout the song, and typically serves to break in other segments therein. All in all, a beautiful piece of music, and, despite its length, never really bores.

There are at least two tracks on this release that bring the iconic music of LED ZEPPELIN to mind. The second cut, "In the Dawnlight," which feels somewhat out of place here, has an intro that sounds like it could have been played by Jimmy Page himself. I don't think that it is an intentional copping of style, however, because the song changes direction rather swiftly into the filtered and textured vocals of the "verses," for lack of a better word to describe these points.

Checking in at almost eight and a half minutes, the second of these songs is the gorgeous "Haridwar." The song opens with a sweeping guitar intro and shares the ZEPPELIN influence with the equally iconic PINK FLOYD. There are points of this song where I truly wish I could understand what is going on lyrically, but even through headphones (which I highly recommend for this entire release) I couldn't make out anything. The texturing is a remarkable touch, however, here as well as on the remaining tracks using it.

Drawing deeper on the PINK FLOYD sound is "Far Behind," another lengthy instrumental. This piece is probably my favorite on the album, and I quite literally, at times, expected to hear David Gilmour's voice come in over the top (listen in at around the three and a half minute mark).

This record is not for everyone. It is very progressive sounding and extremely sonically driven. As I already stated, lyrics here serve as a piece of the landscape, so it can be frustrating at times trying to figure them out. Give it up... it will not happen. You can, however, throw on a pair of really good quality headphones and just let the music do its job.

It'll get you there.