There are at least six bands and artists named Cosmos, but I guess that in the world of progressive rock people know that this band hails from Switzerland. They already released the studio albums The Deciding Moments Of Your Life (1994) and Skygarden (2006). The music on these albums is strongly related to the music of Pink Floyd. Also during live performances the sound of Cosmos is heavily inspired by this band. They often played covers of Pink Floyd on stage of which some have also been released on Live, a concert released on DVD and CD in 2004. Finally a demo was released in 2003 called Different Faces. In recent years it remained rather quiet around this band, but out of the blue a new album appeared in 2012. On Mind Games the spirit of Pink Floyd still lives on. The ten tracks are again related to the music of this band, but this time Cosmos integrate more modern elements into their music. However, the fabulous guitar parts played by Oliver Maier can still be compared to David Gilmour's style of playing including his riffs and solos. Not only the guitar evokes the old sound of Pink Floyd, but also the keyboards played by Daniel Eggenberger made me think of the late Richard Wright. Only Eggenberger plays more synthesizer solos. On a regular base Pink Floyd used female backing singers, so it will be no surprise they can be heard on this album as well. The band invited guest singers Mirjam Heggendorn and Sandra Moser to provide some of the tracks with additional backing vocals. It's not only the sound of Cosmos that reminded me of Floyd. While listening to the ten tracks some familiar Floyd tunes crossed my mind like Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Run Like Hell, Comfortably Numb, Take It Back and Coming Back To Life. They very cleverly succeeded in giving these well-known tunes such a twist that it sounds like a track written by the band. By doing so you can never call them copy cats or accuse them of plagiarism. Everything is so damn well arranged that in the end you love to hear their music! Well, I can't blame them for sounding so clearly like Pink Floyd since the compositions are just a delight to listen to. As long as the songs are sounding perfect this is neither a problem for me, nor for the many Pink Floyd fans, I guess. *** Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
