Astra - The Black Chord (2012)

Posted By: gribovar

Astra - The Black Chord (2012)
EAC Rip | FLAC (image+.cue+log) - 302 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps (LAME 3.93) - 111 MB | Covers - 47 MB
Genre: Progressive/Psychedelic Rock | RAR 3% Rec. | Label: Rise Above (RISECD137)

With critics and listeners seemingly already in their corner, San Diego classic space/prog five-piece Astra make a Moog-heavy sophomore outing in the form of "The Black Chord". Astra won many ears to their side with 2009’s Rise Above debut, "The Weirding", on which they offset retro King Crimson-style melodies with a sense of modern urgency that indeed also shows up throughout the six tracks of the second album. It’s Astra’s balance of old and new that makes their recorded output so fascinating, and as the US has become even more enamored of all things taggable as progressive and/or psychedelic in the last three years - at least in an underground sense – The Black Chord arrives at just the right time and in just the right place for the band to be able to make the most of their songwriting. A returning lineup of Richard Vaughan (vocals/guitar/Moog/mellotron), Conor Riley (mellotron/Moog/organ/piano/vocals), David Hurley (drums/percussion/flute), Brian Ellis (Moog/lead guitar) and Stuart Sclater (bass) is tighter and shows significant growth from the first album, which is appropriate given that in progressive rock one expects a certain amount of progress. That comes in part in the confidence and clarity with which they now handle the melodies, and where "The Weirding" felt at times like it was trying to throw everything at you all at once, "The Black Chord" is more patient in its execution and all the more majestic-sounding for that.

Tracklist:
01. Cocoon
02. The Black Chord
03. Quake Meat
04. Drift
05. Bull Torpis
06. Barefoot in the Head

Total time: 47:06

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 30. May 2012, 14:14

Astra / The Black Chord

Used drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7243S Adapter: 3 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 8:43.09 | 0 | 39233
2 | 8:43.09 | 14:58.05 | 39234 | 106588
3 | 23:41.14 | 6:39.66 | 106589 | 136579
4 | 30:21.05 | 4:37.04 | 136580 | 157358
5 | 34:58.09 | 2:54.38 | 157359 | 170446
6 | 37:52.47 | 9:13.15 | 170447 | 211936


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\blog\upload\006\Astra - The Black Chord\Astra - The Black Chord.wav

Peak level 96.6 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 085876C1
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [83F809C7], AccurateRip returned [C39322FA]
Track 2 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [CA08C1C3], AccurateRip returned [B96665DF]
Track 3 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [501EC2C9], AccurateRip returned [361944DE]
Track 4 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [E19DCA3B], AccurateRip returned [2185BA96]
Track 5 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [5B883968], AccurateRip returned [E60C3EA4]
Track 6 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [9F19E130], AccurateRip returned [7F2AE49A]

No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database

End of status report

[CUETools log; Date: 14.04.2023 1:25:46; Version: 2.1.4]
[CTDB TOCID: lKeSMYPl8U5QSuzYfNPbWqLA7Fs-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (74/74) Accurately ripped
2 | (73/74) Accurately ripped
3 | (73/74) Accurately ripped
4 | (73/74) Accurately ripped
5 | (74/74) Accurately ripped
6 | (73/74) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 000c8b82-0040a918-380b0906] found.
Track [ CRC | V2 ] Status
01 [83f809c7|3d315082] (03+22/61) Accurately ripped
02 [ca08c1c3|e2a97a35] (03+22/61) Accurately ripped
03 [501ec2c9|b0a253aa] (03+22/61) Accurately ripped
04 [e19dca3b|0b4e6493] (03+22/61) Accurately ripped
05 [5b883968|df67204c] (03+22/61) Accurately ripped
06 [9f19e130|6cc8a022] (03+21/60) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by 697:
01 [092556c4] (04/61) Accurately ripped
02 [d76c5b7d] (04/61) Accurately ripped
03 [45387d0b] (04/61) Accurately ripped
04 [f4ede934] (04/61) Accurately ripped
05 [686445b2] (04/61) Accurately ripped
06 [be8b64a1] (04/60) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by 21:
01 [841778b6] (00/61) No match (V2 was not tested)
02 [2466fd4f] (00/61) No match (V2 was not tested)
03 [e1f8f883] (00/61) No match (V2 was not tested)
04 [c9970590] (00/61) No match (V2 was not tested)
05 [95c3d55b] (00/61) No match (V2 was not tested)
06 [0977b7a1] (00/60) No match (V2 was not tested)

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 96,6 [085876C1] [0699C163] CRC32
01 96,6 [5AB46AD3] [3D92AC7A]
02 96,6 [B8981C52] [C64E1436]
03 96,6 [A4A27A53] [4F66B1CE]
04 96,6 [10166241] [1C7CB4C4]
05 96,6 [10151864] [7762DCA0]
06 96,6 [493968CC] [693FBCAC]

Thanks to lom404

See also:
Astra - The Weirding (2009)