Trying to imagine the films that would accompany Transitional's music - and the music's nature is such that makes it very suited for the purpose - my mind's eye pictures deep-space epics, with aliens lurking in the depths of the spaceship, ready to pounce, just as in the "Alien" films. It's music for science-fiction fans, for sure.
You may conjure up slightly different images of course, but I suspect that you'd agree with me that Transitional's Nothing Real Nothing Absent is very much mood music; it's music that transports you off into your own private worlds and holds you in thrall.
Transitional are a duo based in the UK: Kevin Laska (ex-Novatron) is its leader and he plays guitar and does the programming. He is joined by Dave Cochrane (ex- Jesu and Grey Machine) on bass.
Nothing Real Nothing Absent is an old-fashioned LP's length - indeed, one of the issued formats is on vinyl - and that's a duration that works just fine for this sort of music - long enough to be enjoyable and to allow you enough time in your own dream world but short enough so that it doesn't become dull.
The music is instrumental. Two tracks feature vocalizations and Kevin is credited with "vocals", but this remains instrumental music. "This Paradise Part 1" has a droned and repeated "Alpha Kill" (or something similar, I couldn't quite discern it), mantra-like in the background for most of its duration and "Lustless" has a number of phrases, adorning various stages, such as "your body, your heart, your eyes, your broken mind". These vocalizations work well to add depth and color to the music, without ever threatening to take center-stage.
It's very good music of its kind, gripping to listen to, each composition building up from quiet beginnings to add layers of complexity, building up slowly to crescendos. Sweeping washes of synthesizer are the main soundscape feature, the guitar when it comes is heavily distorted: these elements can build up over the course of each composition to become quite heavy. There is good variation of pace too, which keeps the music interesting. Compositionally, this is more tonal than melodic: it might be the kind of music that Philip Glass would compose if he was working in the progressive rock field. It's music that should appeal to quite a wide audience, provided you don't hate instrumental music of course: it has pace at times, it can become quite heavy and rhythmic in a hypnotic sort of way but always possessing enough warmth to avoid turning off those who dislike very heavy metal.
Good debut, let's hope there's more to come.
Track Listing:-
1) Nowhere Shining (6:38)
2) Fractured (6:46)
3) This paradise Part 1 (3:44)
4) This paradise Part 2 (4:34)
5) Lustless (4:36)
6) Abandonment (6:54)
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