Hundred Year Storm’s Hello from the Children of Planet Earth is truly a listening experience – inspiring a vision of waves of musical sound drifting into space, with occasional flashes of rock to remind us there is a world of reality below. I find it ironic that the name of the CD mentions the planet earth when the music itself is far-off, distant, and sounds like it is from another world.

I knew this was going to be a unique CD when the first song, while over five minutes in length, contained just nine words – repeated over and over again: "Here’s to new beginnings, here’s to a new start."

The second track, rock single "Yesterday We Had It All," is a more traditional and very enjoyable melodic song with gentle vocals and a fresh, young sound. The third track kicks up the pace with the frantic-sounding "Walking Away From What You Deserve." "August On Fire" and "Where Beauty Never Dies" blend together as two "close your eyes and lose yourself" songs – both with a very nice sound.

This brings the listener what has been called the pinnacle song, "The Golden Record." This song is a journey of highs and lows – the ebb and flow of a raging storm giving way to moments of calm. Punctuated with sound clips from NASA’s golden record, this song contains both the title of the CD and sound bites from JFK discussing our quest to reach outer space. This is a repetitive, space rock instrumental that begins with a single instrument, then layers more and more on top till it reaches a powerful crescendo of passion, then falling off to a single instrument once again, ending as simply as it began.

The next four tracks seem to blend together, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, some with distant lyrics and some without – songs of love and loss, all with a totally chilled-out, endless sound.

However, there is a surprise at the end of the last in the group. Just as the 20 minutes of distant sounds and quiet, repetitive music begin to lull you to sleep, the guitars kick in with a burst of energy and depth, transporting the last 2 minutes of "Reach" to a higher place.

"Crash and Burn" brings the listener back to a powerful rock sound driven by heavy guitars, strong lyrics and deep harmonies. This may be my favorite song on the CD.

The CD ends with a very unusual song, "Pilot’s Last Broadcast." This is a nearly eight minute instrumental song interspersed with pilot/air traffic control communications that weave together to tell a story of a flight fraught with mechanical problems and ultimately lost in a tragic and fiery crash.

This is a very unusual CD. The lyrics throughout are as haunting and vague as the music style itself. Space rock - spaced-out rock - music to zone by... However you classify this CD, it is truly a journey - one that needs to be experienced to be understood.