SPIN - "...10-minute-plus prog fantasies like "Ouroboros"
and the title track recall the early '70s heyday of Yes and King Crimson
with uncanny accuracy. But even with their virtuoso guitar solos and
thrillingly labyrinthine song structures, Astra's songs have a focus--they
explore, but never meander."
MOJO - "The quintet's lengthy gestation period
has resulted in a sublime debut that evokes various '70s colossi -
panoramic Pink Floyd, mellotron-era King Crimson, Black Sabbath in
philosophical mode - without ever stooping to pastiche....4 out of
5"
Record Collector - "...they make a fine fist
of summoning forth the swirling, magisterial portent so essential
to the genre. The title track, for example – all 15 languidly
unfolding minutes of it – is a glorious collision of King Crimson’s
Epitaph, the Floyd’s Echoes and Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath.
Bubbling wah-wah guitar, with delay pedal set on “stun”,
traces silvery patterns among solemn Mellotron flutes; a failsafe
conduit to bliss. 4 out of 5"
Classic Rock - "California's ASTRA are already
creating a stir with this, their reality-fracturing debut album...
these cosmic prog masters have really upped the ante. 8 out of 10"
Classic Rock Presents PROG - "The centrepieces
of The Weirding are without a doubt the epic title track and the instrumental
tour de force that is Ouroboros, two colossal moments of sonic revelation
that are destined to be future classics."
Classic Rock Presents PROG - "The Weirding is a thing
of peculiarly haunting beauty. With an undeniably 70s groove tinged
by grand passages of melancholy and kaleidoscopic soundscapes that
blur between the realms of psychedelia and space rock..."
