Between The Planets is an instrumental band from the Czech Republic. If you checked out my best of 2017 post, you may have noticed these guys snuck on there.  They are a 3 piece band that really knows how to groove as well in the veins of Animals as Leaders more so than Meshuggah. The guitarist Martin is involved with the production and different programming they do as well in their sound.  What initially drew me to the band is their soundscape and layering.  Your average technical or prog band is generally going to overdo it technically more so than others. Between the Planets has a great understanding of melody, layering and the soundscape as a whole.  I love technicality but the last few years have appreciated songs as a whole in the sense of layering.

This album is well written, has plenty of nice mood changes and the use of the different keyboard/synthesizer sounds is great.  It adds to many of their parts and isn’t as flat imagining its guitars, bass and drums.  Theres plenty of melodic lines on guitar and keyboards enhance the melodies to the nth degree.  There’s all sorts of chorus, delay and reverb on the clean guitar parts the mellower sections almost remind you of Pink Floyd to a minor extent.  These guys really know how to craft a song and make it artsy, it’s very natural nothing sounds forced to me at all.

There’s sections of electronics that get thrown into this wonderful mix of art as well.  Some parts of the songs sound like they’re slightly industrial with the use of different electronic elements.  I truly can not say enough of how solid of an album this is for this trio.  My highest hope is these guys can find a good enough reach in North America to play shows here as many people know the draw and shows are much better in Europe than North America.  I definitely believe these guys deserve to be on a solid tour as an opening act that would turn heads.  There’s even saxophone parts if there wasn’t enough experimentation for you!  Don’t sleep on these guys, I really mean it.

If you happen to live in Europe especially near the Czech Republic definitely check them out. If not, that’s what youtube is for! Below are a few links to their songs, listen to the rest…..you definitely won’t regret it.