Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Hawkwind
Label: Eastworld Recordings
Release: 2012
Length: 1:21:28
Rating: 4.5/5
Legendary British space rockers Hawkwind belong to that small handful of unforgettable progressive rock bands of the seventies who are still thrilling us in the 21st century with quality studio albums. When it comes to putting out new music, you could count the prog rock pioneers who are still relevant today on the fingers of one hand. »Onward« is already their twenty-fifth studio effort and, after the excellent »Blood Of The Earth« (2010), another album that shows these revitalized masters, who blend different flavors of classic rock with electronically tinted ambient shades to conjure up all kinds of space-travel moods with such apparent ease, as a band that stays true to its original sonic vocabulary while somehow adapting to the challenges and influences of modern music production.
By combining mighty guitar passages, psychedelic vocals, complex rhythmic improvisations, electronic textures and smart lyrics with a protective emphasis on science fiction, »Onward« picks up in many ways where the superb »Blood Of The Earth« (2010) left off, which is to say it’s stuffed with adventurous ideas, just what you’d expect from these unpredictable godfathers of unbridled space rock experimentalism. The one constant in the band, as usual, is the indestructible original guitarist and singer Dave Brock, a hugely charismatic guy and eternal innovator who’s the key reason Hawkwind have lasted on the scene so long and still have so many loyal followers today. Among Brock’s old buddies, the cult keyboardist and bass guitarist Tim Blake (ex-Gong) is back again, a member of these legendary space rockers once more since 2007. Appearing as a special guest on the track »The Hills Have Ears« is original guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton, who came and went from the Hawkwind camp several times and has lately been struggling with poor health (Legionnaires’ disease).
The album came out as a double release and contains more than eighty minutes of music, yet not a single track on it is filler, which is more than impressive, while the band glows with energy and verve the whole way through, as if this weren’t a group that’s been around for more than four decades. Their trademark knack for fusing wide ambient waves built on electronic samples and synthesizer palettes with heavy rock guitar riffs shows up nicely already on the opener »Seasons«, which, given those ingredients, is a thoroughly characteristic Hawkwind track, only with a modern approach and production. The cataclysmic ambient sounds like the Hawkwind spaceship heading into the heart of a black hole. Vocal duties are shared between Brock, who sings the bulk of the vocals, bassist Mr. Dibs and drummer Richard Chadwick. The palette of ambient textures, as you’d more or less expect from Hawkwind, is wildly varied throughout.
»The Hills Have Ears«, for instance, is an aggressive fusion of electronic rhythms led by crazed drum fills and brutal guitar riffs that even a few heavy metal guys wouldn’t be ashamed of. Still, what impresses most is the constant shifting of the generally futuristic mood, from mostly cataclysmic to calmly mysterious, and the use of digitally mangled synth samples, accompanied by Brock’s psychedelic vocals. The ethereal »Mind Cut« is an acoustic-tinged gem with a lovely pastoral melody, where Hawkwind vividly show off their sense for building remarkable ambient subtlety, something many critics in the past overlooked far too often. »System Check« is a short check-up of the Hawkwind spacecraft that serves as an overture to »Death Trap«, where, over waves of scattered electronic samples, you can clearly hear the recognizable (proto)punk tendencies this legendary band was already experimenting with in the first half of the seventies.
The excellent instrumental »Southern Cross« is a veritable trip into transcendental ambient shades and a real disconnect from earthly gravity, where Tim Blake, programming digital samples, rules over his synthesizer textures while melancholic guitar passages deliver complete space rock nirvana. »The Prophecy« is a splendid fusion of subtlety and energy, where space rock psychedelia gains epic proportions alongside the modern production. Brock’s guitar passages blend superbly with ethereal synth waves and mighty drum transitions, so that arrangement complexity and melodic sense walk hand in hand the whole time. The short, ethereal instrumental »Electric Tears« is a gorgeous synth overture to »The Drive By«, another great piece that drifts through numerous majestic ambient meanders, since once again there’s no shortage of well-matched combinations of undulating, sequenced electronic samples and delicate guitar slides. In its second half the composition turns thoroughly electronic and edges close to trance rhythms, something that bands like Hawkwind pioneered back in the seventies, long before it became popular.
»Computer Cowards« is a witty experiment at the expense of computer hackers and yet another almost quintessential Hawkwind creation, with plenty of playful digital effects, sharp guitar phrases and electronically compressed ‘punkoid’ rhythms, interspersed with mocking verses run through a vocoder. The short instrumental »Howling Moon« is the next transcendental disconnect, with lots of improvisation and unpredictable effects, including the howling of wolves. Next come three tracks recorded live on the 2008 concert tour, which appear on »Onward« as bonus tracks. Hawkwind have always had a habit of debuting some of their new compositions live, sometimes completely spontaneously in the middle of a show. The melodic anthem »Right To Decade«, when it comes to merging a melodic chorus with electronic ambient waves, is even one of the most beautiful things in Hawkwind’s long career, with Brock’s outstanding guitar talent, which has aged like fine wine, shining especially bright, while his classic psychedelic vocals have always been one of the band’s trademarks anyway.
»Aero Space Age«, one of four tracks on »Onward« with a songwriting contribution from the sadly long-departed former Hawkwind singer and poet Robert Calvert (1944-1988), puts the emphasis on vocals run through dissonant effects. As the title suggests, it’s yet another piece with a futuristic lyric about space exploration and visions of a cybernetic future. The instrumental »The Flowering Of The Rose« is another complex achievement with a whole parade of witty improvisations on guitar, synthesizer, drums and bass, where tempo shifts and ambient shades change at lightning speed. The next instrumental, »Trans Air Trucking«, is a fun electronic collage of psychedelic mannerisms over complex synth textures, with a slightly mystical, even faintly ‘Hindu’ atmosphere. »Deep Vents« is a short instrumental overture to »Green Finned Demon«, which in structure and mood sounds like it was made somewhere in the mid-seventies, helped along by Brock’s unmistakable vocals and thoroughly psychedelic synth inserts. The closing space rock orgy, yet another total disconnect, doesn’t even have a title and is simply marked with a full stop, which symbolically marks the end of the album. Here Brock, Blake and the rest of the Hawkwind gang, with well-timed electronic sequencing, mighty drum fills, energetic guitar riffs and dramatic vocalizations, prove themselves once again as grand masters of creating complex, sprawling ambients that take the listener on an unforgettable journey to distant galaxies, which has always been this legendary band’s original musical and conceptual mission.
After the superb predecessor »Blood Of The Earth«, »Onward« is another magnificent proof that the eternal cosmic warriors Hawkwind are musically and conceptually more relevant in the 21st century than at any time since the end of the seventies, and at times it feels like they’ve discovered the elixir of youth. The old tomcat Dave Brock, with help from his old buddy Tim Blake and the younger comrades, keeps making adventurously challenging music that stays true to its roots and has all the hallmarks of these progressive rock pioneers while being superbly adapted to modern production, something most of their peers gave up on long ago, at the turn of the new century. Let’s hope the Hawkwind spaceship keeps discovering new musical galaxies for a long time to come, as zealously and convincingly as on its last two studio albums.
Line-up
Dave Brock – guitar, synthesizer, bass guitar, vocals
Tim Blake – keyboards, theremin, bass guitar
Richard Chadwick – drums, vocals
Mr. Dibs – bass guitar, vocals
Niall Hone – bass guitar, synthesizer, sequencing, guitar
Jason Stuart – keyboards (12,13,14)
Huw Lloyd-Langton – guitar (2)
Production
Hawkwind
Track list
CD1
1. Seasons (5:40)
2. The Hills Have Ears (5:08)
3. Mind Cut (4:54)
4. System Check (1:06)
5. Death Trap
6. Southern Cross (6:42)
7. The Prophecy (4:13)
8. Electric Tears (0:56)
9. The Drive By (4:42)
CD2
10. Computer Cowards (5:28)
11. Howling Moon (2:12)
12. Right To Decide* (7:33)
13. Aerospace Age* (5:54)
14. The Flowering Of The Rose* (8:25)
15. Trans Air Trucking (2:38)
16. Deep Vents (0:32)
17. Green Finned Demon (6:32)
18. .
* bonus tracks, recorded live
