If first impressions are the most permanent, then Golden Antenna Records is off to a great start. Inventions for the New Season is the first release from this new German label, who's sharing distribution rights with SugarRush Records (Australia) and Temporary Residence (US) to bring Maserati's latest album to the world. The arena style instrumental rockers are back after a few years of down time, re-solidifying their lineup, tweaking their blend of blistering psychedelic space rock, and looking to tour their brains out in the year 2007. Few could do it better.

Inventions for the New Season is a strong release that fits comfortably into the existing Maserati resume. It neither relies on the band's past work for support nor greatly expands to daring new heights, but rather sits comfortably somewhere in between the two. The highlights of the album are numerous; from the fretting guitars and slick bass lines of "Inventions" to the spiraling rhythms and deep, thumping bass of "The World Outside," glorious moments litter the album like clothing on the bedroom floor during prom night. Maserati continues to showcase its technical mastery and tight-knit compositional style, a defining characteristic of the band's sound. The quartet moves as one, weaving together different components into a unified whole, arguably stronger than the sum of its parts. 

The lengthier tracks on the album are Maserati's main focus, and they all follow the same general influence - that of krautrock, updated and modernized for 21st century ears. Hiding behind the layers reverb and math-rock appearance lies a progressive/psychadelic rock core, augmented frequently with shades of space rock. As a result, the album at times has a nostalgic feel to it, although this is not detrimental to the tracks themselves. The listener distinctly gets the impression that they're watching a band simultaneously bridge the past and the future, while ignoring the current state of music all together. This disjointed approached could only be accomplished by a band with dynamics as smooth as Maserati, because although there are many different levels of thought being condensed into a single stream, the process is seamlessly stitched together.

While Maserati brings "the rock" as well or better than any other band out there, the lack of variation among track structures is unbecoming of the band's technical prowess. The band swarms the listener with a flood of reverb as guitars slowly pluck out melodies and drums gradually raise the level of intensity to a mid-level jam session. The smoothness of the act prevents it from falling into the cliche epic category, however the psychedelic influences are not really fleshed out more than that. The monotony is broken in short streaks, such as in "This is a Sight We Had One Day from the High Mountain" (reminiscent of Battles), and "Kalimera" and "Kalinichta" (ambient guitar tracks in the vein of Jakob). Perhaps this is largest mark against the album - that in increasing the energy and massiveness of the sound, the band has sacrificed the individuality of the tracks across the board. At times we can't help but feel like the album doesn't finish on its promise; although the different styles are called upon and blended together perfectly, Maserati often is content to leave it at that and not really challenge themselves to take it to the next level. 

Maserati is well on its way to leaving its mark on the music world and Inventions for the New Season is certainly only powering an already determined band. With one foot reaching into the past and another stretching into the future, the quartet has been able to master a sound that few can claim proficiency in. The only way from here is up; as the cogs of creativity begin to turn, the band's masterpiece will be forged.

-Lee Whitefield