THE XENON CODEX

Xenon Codex is appreciated by many fans as a return to form. For me it's a "no, not really". It's a flat and dreary album. Being quite the Hawkfan, this would banish it to that one desolate star. But I think I'll reserve that one for the 1982/1983 albums if I ever get to review them.

The problem is not in the intention. I'm sure the band had the ambition to do a good space-rock album that stayed true to all spaceship commands. But they decided to make it sound up to date, and that wasn't a particularly good idea in 1988. Before the Pixies and Nirvana restored the rock sound and before thrash metal surfaced in the mainstream, a deteriorated plastic pastiche of the early 80's new wave sound was the flavour of the day. For a rock band like Hawkwind that is a let-down. The synthetic drums are so devoid of life, it's painful.

But also the songs aren't much to write home about, too much rock clichés with repetitive vocals that make each track sound like 20 other Hawkwind tunes. There are songs with some potential though. The War I Survived can surely be made into a lot of fun in a live setting. Wastelands of Sleep has a nice spacey guitar that washes over an electronic pulse. Also Heads resides in similar droning trances, but a much better version appears on Palace Springs.

That's all there is to it for me; the remainder pretty much passes me by completely unnoticed.