AURORA

3.5 stars. LITMUS released four studio albums between 2004 and 2012 and I have the first three. The debut "You Are Here" is the best in my opinion with Matt Thompson of GUAPO fame adding audio generator and his brother Andy from Planetmellotron adding... well mellotron.

The biggest complaint is how much they sound like HAWKWIND, especially the tunes that "rock". The followup "Planetfall" was a disappointment, with Matt leaving and Andy's mellotron being buried in the mix. "Aurora" their third from 2009 is an improvement over "Planetfall" but just falls short of that fourth star. And again the reason for that is the HAWKWIND worship.

Over half of this 65 1/2 minute album sounds like energetic HAWKWIND but there's also so much good stuff on here. Andy left after "Planetfall" but even he says "Aurora" is a better album than "Planetfall". Highlights are the over 5 minute "Eos" where we get a spacey soundscape that builds and swells and how about the mellotron. "Kings Of Infinite Space" at 8 1/2 minutes is my favourite. A slow build as vocals join in. Just a nice heavy sound eventually.

"Ma:55on Rift" is my final top three and this is trippy and spacey and t doesn't start to move until after 3 minutes as the drums arrive, bass too. Love the depth here before 5 minutes. Some ripping guitar 7 minutes in and mellotron late. The one HAWKWIND-like tune I really like is "Stars" and it's the shortest at 4 minutes. An intense track.

I'm pretty happy to have their debut but this is the next best thing.