Wormhole
The String Theory

Now these are some familiar concepts for someone like me who is into sci-fi and also very interested in theories surrounding the universe and space exploration. The wormhole is of course the theoretical bridge (or tunnel) to make you cross great distances through spacetime in a fraction of the time it would take to travel them through normal space. It is a concept well explored in TV-shows like Start Trek or even more so in Stargate and it is a concept that is allowed in the calculations of the theory of general relativity but with some restrictions that would prevent them from being practical when traversing great distances through space. The string theory is another matter, it is a candidate to be a TOE, a Theory Of Everything and its theorists are trying to bridge the quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity with it. It is a theory that has several spinoff theories like the bosonic string theory or the superstring theory to name a pair of them. And lately theorists has concluded that with the help of elements in the superstring theory it is actually possible to, for say a ship to, travel through a wormhole. Of course this is not really doable with the amount of technology we have available today, no one can therefore really put this theories to the test so they are really just theories and nothing else. But of course they provide a more solid scientific ground for the science fiction we all enjoy.

These theories or something in that matter is what conceptually italian band Wormhole is exploring with their first full length album, it is a concept of the inner trip and the trip through cosmos I have been able to read from the band’s website. This because they didn’t provide a info text in any language understandable by a civilised person, it was all in italian (and I do not really think all italians are uncivilised, just to clarify as generalisations or ironies are something not understood by everyone). So they have something to think of next time around, the album cover is quite good looking though and all in all I thought this one was an interesting album from the looks of it, my iPod did not for some reason. Or shall we say Apples stupid design department who tends to forget that you have to pair functionality with looks, otherwise it becomes like the silly sharp edges on this MacBook Pro that really injures my hands and wrists. But let us now go back to the trips rather than making excuses for taking my sweet time to managing a review of this album, despite it looking interesting.

I think you could easily describe the music as atmospheric, even dreamy to the point of being a bit vague and ungraspable. The female voice is excellent for this and the production is very solid and you cannot really fault the sound of this album as it is really high quality. There are nine chapters to this story and they are being told over a period of less than 45 minutes, and during that time you are taken somewhere, I am not really sure where and for most of the time you remain there, maybe in a spaceship inside a string theory enhanced wormhole travelling to some distant part of the galaxy but the trip is so long so you don’t really get there before this story is over. Sequel perhaps?

Anyway, I do think this album is good, it sounds good, the atmosphere is really exciting and it is a bit spacey in its form. But it doesn’t really grab me as I think it should, there are no real focal points on the album and it sort of more passes by than makes you stop and think as I think an album of this character should do. Which is why I don’t think that it is all that it could have been, it doesn’t deliver on its promise and I am left with a good album that feels like it should have been so much better had the band dared to explore a bit more in the realm of this concept. Nevertheless, it is still a good album with an exciting atmosphere and it is worth looking into, if only for a while.

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