SONIC ATTACK

After Levitation proved to be something of a comeback, Hawkwind decided to update their sound by borrowing ideas from contemporary metal bands to produce a sort of "space metal" hybrid of their classic style and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which was currently in fashion. Though the first song in here is recycled - it's a rerecording of the spoof Sonic Attack civil defence warning from Space Ritual, completely recontextualised with a heavy and bizarrely danceable groove to it - things kick into a slightly higher gear with Rocky Paths, which suffers slightly from rough production on the vocals but has a really nice guitar solo to it.

(In fact, the combination of the guitar solo and the electronic twinkling in the background could almost form a basis for the earliest sonic explorations of Ozric Tentacles, who'd arise later in the decade to compete for Hawkwind's space rock crown.)

The rest of the material is reasonably varied. Angels of Death is an intriguingly repetitive piece which has gone on to become a live staple. Virgin of the World is a preview of the Church of Hawkwind experiment in electronica which would follow this release. Coded Languages perhaps best fuses the punkish energy of NWOBHM with the wild psychedelic space obsessions of Hawkwind themselves, thanks in part to an erudite guest appearance from pal of the band Michael Moorcock delivering a spirited rant about social control through language.