Astra have announced the impending arrival of their second album The Black Chord, which will be released through Rise Above on 16th April. It arrives as the follow up to the San Diego five piece's 2009 debut The Weirding, and finds them continuing along the same path, channeling the spirit of 70s prog and psychedelia into "an album of blinding light and abysmal shade, of bone-jarring rhythmic density and vast, breathtaking mental vistas". More on Astra at their website.

The artwork for The Black Chord below, operates very much within that aesthetic:

Listen to the title track from their debut, 'The Weirding', here: