Anyone expecting the brain-damaged, out-of-tune funeral doom of Gallileous's 1992 Doomsday demo or even the more sophisticated funereal deathdoom that comprised their debut full length Ego Sum Censore Deuum will get a shock when they hear the opening moments of the band's latest album. All of the earlier material that I've heard from this Polish band has been firmly based in a classic funeral doom style, although they did incorporate black metal style vocals, eerie chanting and more complex riffing on later releases that helped to set them apart from the rest of the Thergo-clones. But on the sprawling sci-fi doom epic Necrocosmos, Gallileous have morphed into something that has moved even further from their funeral doom roots, turning their slow-moving atmospheric heaviness into an effective combination of 70's prog rock and space rock sounds and Sabbathian doom metal, with just trace amounts of their uglier death/doom past visible in the cracks between their vast deep-space trance-metal explorations. This five-song album has fast turned into one of my favorite new psych-metal records, the songs formed from huge swinging' riffs and stretches of classic doom, lots of dark melody and gorgeous atmospheric leads, and a varied vocal delivery that goes from lush vocal harmonies to soulful crooning to the occasional blackened rasp. On top of this, the band lays down a nearly non-stop wave of killer Deep Purple-esque Hammond organ hooks and Hawkwindian space-rock effects and synthesizer sounds that transport these songs into the upper stratosphere; those keyboards dominate the whole album, sharing space with the guitars and used in much the same way as shroomed-out modern space rockers like Litmus and Farflung, but fused to a much heavier sound, massive saurian riffage rising out of mesmeric slow-mo melody, equal parts Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult and crushing European doom metal. It all peaks with the stirring, sorrowful psych-crunch of "Cosmic Pilgrims", easily the catchiest song on the album with its circling eerie keyboard melody and slow build into brooding progressive heaviness, a masterful peice of ethereal space-metal that fans of fellow prog-doomers Pantheist and Mar de Grises would probably adore.