“Headphone music,” – that’s what Invisigoth call this, the follow up to the brilliantly named Alcoholocaust and that would probably be the beat way to listen as there’s so much going on Narcotica that at times you’ll find yourself bewildered, perplexed yet always intrigued. Make no doubt about it, this is pretty cerebral stuff, it’s definitely grown up music, not for the faint hearted and without doubt the type of music that actually requires listening to in order to be fully appreciated. 

Whilst the name of the record label may well give clues to the band’s chosen genre, this only tells half the story. It would be facile, yet correct to name drop Porcupine Tree, Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Flower Kings or even Threshold at times yet Invisigoth sound like ... well, Invisigoth. Much of Narcotica is epic beyond belief (and occasionally human endurance) with the Dark Highway quadrilogy taking in Middle eastern influences making it difficult to believe that Invisigoth are actually just a duo and not a full band. 

Perhaps Narcotica is, at seventy minutes just a little too long but then again it is one of those records that once you get to the end of it you just want to put it back on again because you know you enjoyed it and want to remember why.

Simon Bray