It's taken a few days to arrive. I've heard several clips of the album at www.noise-reduction.net and I've heard music from the band themselves at www.dmusic.com , so I took the plunge and bought the CD. I wanted to do my first review of another band, so here I am, writing.... The first thing I think of is: "$9.99?" Converted, it's about £6-£7, under half the price of a CD in a record shop. I waited about 6 days, including a weekend; acceptable as it's coming from overseas but the best bit for me was CCNow accepting my type of card over the 'Net. Anyway, minor details. Here's the full monty: 'Powersurge' starts the ball rolling, the reversed sound reminiscent of a dark sci-fi intro, suddenly erupting with a beat not unlike Aphex Twin but slightly more disciplined. The expectations I had from the web sites did not prepare me well for this! The idea pushes hard and I already feel that the boundaries of the electronic genre will be stretched thin in places. 'Alteration' brings in an ambient, chopping synth, rhythmic and apparently relentless; an almost 'staccato' effect that breaks down, flowing out into a very mellow ending. 'World Without A Breeze' arrives and the shift in style is immediately noticable; a thumping techno bass drum driving parts of the song along, with numerous drops using emphatic synths that fill the speakers with a pleasant tone. The song shifts back to the beat before almost abruptly ending. 'Gencode' floats in with an almost guitar-sounding effect, moments later it's driving the speakers to even deeper tones than the previous song; another deep beat accompanied by a deep bass layered with strings that sound classical and a harp occasionally piercing the rhythm. After a couple of minutes the song seems to hit a bridge and as you await the build-up, it stops. I played this one again to double check, but it was only 2 and a half minutes. Short but sweet, one of my favourites. 'Re-collection' gave me memories of 80s ballads (!) but without all those soppy extras that made the music so cheesy and off-putting. Smooth and laid-back, the mood is slowed by the appearance of this song. 'Solaris, Part 1' has a smooth start too, almost giving a false sense of relaxation, until it starts to build up, a beating 'heart' underlying the gradual shift. The drums start to kick in and the rhythm intensifies, following through into ambient rhythms and techno-inspired drums. Some very odd vocal effects and some slightly distanced echoes appear as the song re-uses itself to invent and re-invent it's sound. It is one of the most stunning songs on the album and very, very nice to listen to. 'Solaris, Part 2' shifts the tone a little deeper and darker. Well within ambient and techno, the slower pace gives another sci-fi aspect to the tune. The momentum isn't greatly affected by a sharper accompaniment easing in but it soon eases back out into it's ambient nature. 'Nuclear Born' is a great track. I've heard it on the DMusic site already and I play it constantly. The album version is slightly longer than the site's version but not different in it's industrial-ish bridges and trance sections. I seriously urge you to play it from the site! 'The Jefferson Institute' reverts partly back to the 80s feel again but falling closer to the techno era rather than the synth era of some years previous. Slow breakbeats and chopping synths all impregnated with some vocals. The style shifted again, yet felt in the right place. 'Absent Friends' is the end of the show and I can hear a resemblance to guitars once more in it's synths; a little more uptempo than the last track but there is the blissful feeling of floating away gracefully as the song takes a bow. A refreshing exit... 'The Easter Egg' as they call it, is a bonus song that fades in some six minutes after the last track has finished playing. Strange vocal effects and synths; a totally unexpected and unpredictable concoction that shows that, despite wanting to place the album within a certain boundary, they have an experimental side that flourishes. This bonus is very odd and proved to be a key opponent in painting any particular style on this album. Conclusion: A lot of effort has been put into this work. I can feel a concept that reminds me of the driving force behind Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' but within the electronic genre rather than the prog rock the Floyd were marked as. As single tracks they vary in style and length; 'World Without A Breeze', 'Gencode', both parts of 'Solaris' and obviously 'Nuclear Born' being my choices for individual playing. I feel, however, that the album plays equally well as one continuous journey with various excursions into the different fields that inspire Noise Reduction to create such works. The length was a little short to appear with, however when you play the album, it 'feels' longer and it's preference to quality over quantity more than makes up for it. Adding to that a professionally-packaged CD at under half the price of a shop-bought CD, I consider my money wisely spent. BUZZIE RATING: 8.5 / 10