ALIEN 4

Hawkwind

Psychedelic/Space Rock

3.27 | 90 ratings

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ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer

Back to a four unit band, Hawkwind released another good sci-fi exercise.

Even if their glory days have passed, the band (Brock) is still rocking alright and some tracks really shine. One of the very few poor track amongst the whole is "Blue Skin". But one out of so many is far from being a nightmare.

If most songs would have been of the caliber of "Alien", they could have well released an excellent album for a very long time.

There are extremely crafted songs ("Reject Your human Touch"), even emotional ones. When I listen to "Beam Me Up", I have to admit that it touches me: great space-rock even if it sounds at times as if you were embarking an Orlando Disney attraction (hi Febus!).

But if, like me, you like the combination of hard and space-rock, I guess that such a song will always leave a great mark on you. One of the best track here IMO.

When "Vega" starts, there is nothing to do: it just reminds me the great "Low" of whom you might know. Almost the same icy cold mood, magnificent synth parts. I guess that it is the essence of the genre. A great return to the good "Hawkwind sounds. And I like those ones.

The punkish ones (the sounds, I mean) are also available if you like. "Xenomorph" for instance. An excellent mix of punk-hard-space-rock. "Hawkwind" are really the only ones to be able to accomplish such a tour de force and incorporate so many opposed influences into a five minutes piece of music.

Another killer is "Sputnik Stan": this is a hell of a rocking song. A truly devastating track which is really shacking you like crazy. This album is full of good surprises so far. Some might say that in the long run, this album might sound repetitive, which is not untrue. The band would have been inspired to have cut a bit into the length of this album to avoid this feeling ("Festivals", "Death Trap").

Anyway IMO, this is the best "Hawkwind" effort since "Chronicle", some ten years prior to this one. The return of the giant Hawkwind.A good album: three stars (seven out of ten really).

ZowieZiggy | 3/5 | 2008-5-31

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