THE FALL OF CHRONOPOLIS

With their 3rd album, Hedersleben completely changed their direction yet again from the avant-garde krautrock of their debut "Upgoer" and the moodier voyages of "Die Neuen Welten" into full-blown prog rock concept album territory with "The Fall of Chronopolis", while still retaining key traits of their sound, yet now presented in a tighter and more dramatic fashion and dare I say, the most rocking of their 3 albums thus far. The major players of the last 2 albums, guitarist Nicky Garratt, drummer Jason Willer and organist Kephera Moon really seem to stretch their songwriting muscles more than ever on "Fall of Chronopolis". However, the new additions to the band, vocalist/violinist Ariana Jade & bassist Ursula Stuart, make their respective presences known right away. Jade with strong lead vocals (a first for Hedersleben) and simple, yet effective violin melodies (sometimes in duet with Garratt's guitar), and Stuart with the bass-tapping madness of instrumental "Gulf of Lost Souls". What really sets Hedersleben apart from most modern prog is their incessant groove. They're not afraid to play 4/4 if it's works, and nothing on here is needlessly complex for complexity's sake. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the 5 core songs, "An Empire", "Third Time Fleet", "Imperator" (my personal favorite), "Ghost Armada" & the title track. The arrangements are tight and focused and there isn't a wasted note or time signature on this album. "Ghost Armada" for example has sections in 5/4 and "Imperator" is mostly in 6/8, but you wouldn't know it with the way everything stays in the pocket so well. In between those songs are 6 short vignettes that keep their improv-based tendencies in play without losing focus on the story. The 11/8 instrumental "Somewhen Veena" is the strongest piece of the 6 and the most pleasant sounding song on the record, retaining the same dream state qualities of "End of Love" (from "Upgoer") and "Nomad Worlds" (from "Die Neuen Welten"), yet somehow being more unsettling than both of them. Overall, there is some real dynamite playing on this album and proves that not only is Hedersleben a bunch of amazing musicians that excel at flights of fancy, but they can write some great tunes as well. If you love prog rock of the days or yore, this will satiate your appetite well enough for new material. And if you're new to Hedersleben, this is a great place to start, but the best thing you can do is go see them play live. If you love the albums, the live show is even more epic!

HEDERSLEBEN are one of my favourite bands in recent times. Meanwhile this is their third output, which matters one album per year to be precise. Hereby they do not repeat themselves, so much for my first initial statement. Yep, based on the eponymous Sci-Fi novel written by Barrington J. Bayley, which is dealing with time travel and some resulting paradox in particular, 'The Fall Of Chronopolis' is provided with other leanings again. Their new charm offensive is drifting towards more song structure, more variety. Extended songs, equipped with krautrock and jamming attitude, are out of fashion this time.

HEDERSLEBEN at the core is consisting of a trio basically, as there are drummer Jason Willer, Kephera Moon on keyboards and guitarist Nicky Garratt, who seems to be the spiritual head, cares for the orientation. Apart from that the band line up has been far away from being a constant during recent times, which also applies to their live performances. Nonetheless, or even due to that - the choice is yours - they are very productive and successful. I'll choose the latter, new collaborators are contributing new impressions, new facets, new ideas. So Ursula Stuart (bass) and Ariana Jade (vocals, violin) are aboard here on this occasion - yeah, this means ladies in the majority actually!

The starter An Empire is symptomatic for my previous remarks. Eh, don't know really why this reminds me of the German band Analogy, Ariana's and Jutta's voice are not really congruent. But the overall mood otherwise ... in any case this is a rather sophisticated composition while offering several turns, a memorable melody, dramatic keyboard riffs, variable acoustic and electric guitars ... it definitely takes some time to come along. According to the concept their music evolves with a more cinematic and theatrical touch, seems to be completely arranged, hence they have nothing left to chance I would say.

Presumably due to the restricted vinyl length Imperator and other songs unfortunately will be faded out way too early. I'm impressed by the beautiful ballad Somewhen Veaa (Dreamstate) - Jason temporarily takes a time out - melancholic keys, violin and acoustic guitar, produced with so much empathy. The following song Ghost Armada contrasts a lot with proper drive and dramaturgy, the drumming is excellent. 'The Fall Of Chronopolis' comes as a pure prog genre effort, covers art rock proportion more than ever. Definitely substantial again. I'm wondering what will come next ...

When it comes to modern day Krautrock it doesn't get much better than HEDERSLEBEN. They were formed in the town of Herdersleben, Germany and are led by British guitarist Nicky Garratt. This is album number three and it's based on a Barrington J. Bayley novel. On the back of the cd it says "Time is mutable... The Fall Of Chronopolis is dedicated to the infinite mind of Barrington J. Bayley."

I really like this band and apparently I'm not the only one as Joel from BRAINTICKET had HEDERSLEBEN as his backing band on that final BRAINTICKET record from 2015. Nik Turner also had this band as his backing band on his 2017 release "Life In Space". Now Nik and this band have had connections since 2013 with Turner guesting on flute on their debut. And some of these band members guesting on some Turner solo records before "Life In Space". The core trio of this band on the first three albums have been Garratt on guitar, Kephera Moon on keyboards and Jason Willer on drums. Their most recent release called "Orbit" is where Moon and Willer left the band and that was the first album they released that disappointed me.

I love their "sound" with that spacey and trippy vibe standing out, tons of atmosphere, with female vocals that whisper, are wordless and sing, but the vocals sort of blend in with the music. It was the new female singer on "Orbit" where I felt her vocals became too much of the focus, and I wasn't that into them anyways. The new singer here is good and she adds violin which is a new flavour for this band, not found on their first two records. While you can call this a concept record, it sure doesn't come across as one which I appreciate. As the focus is on the instrumental work despite it being a concept album which is refreshing.

We get eleven tracks under 42 minutes and there are four tracks under 2 minutes but they work in this uniform sounding recording. I love that intense rhythm section on "Gulf Of Lost Souls" that reminds me of early GONG surprisingly enough. Also "Ghost Amanda" really stands out for me. The keys and guitar, the melancholy, the urgent rhythm section. So good! And how about the way the album opens sounding like the start of a movie and adventure. Fasten your seat belts as that opener is the longest at under 8 1/2 minutes. And what a ride! Love the violin on some of those short pieces like "Umbul" and "The Archivist". I'm also a big fan of the spacey wind and start of "Somewhen Veaa(Dreamstate)" and the melancholic keys. Check out the echo on "The Third Time Fleet" the second longest piece at under 7 minutes. Space whispers too.

You can't go wrong with the first three albums by this band, but also check out some of those Nik Turner albums these guys guest on. A solid 4 stars for this slab of space rock.