Hawklords were formed by Dave Brock and Robert Calvert in 1978 during a period of Hawkwind inactivity, and then reanimated for a benefit gig in 2008. With guitarist/keyboard player Jerry Richards picking up the baton, they’ve kept going, having purloined the secrets of the mothership.
In fact, Relativity – their 11th album – is the sound of a Hawkwind from an imagined future, or maybe the sonic essence of a previous line-up lost in space. The current, Richards-led line-up transcends any suggestion of being a mere tribute act: they share far too much of the same DNA to be anything but an errant sibling.
Speed Of Light surges with an injection of the Stones at their grooviest, while the title track is hooky and full of vitality, its squelchy synths and freewheeling oscillators having more in common with the original Hawkwind Zoo rather than the current Cherry Red Records incarnation.
Kinematic Eye veers close to new wave territory, such is the roughness around the edges. Holding it all together is a concept of a dystopian near future where AI and machines have become masters of the universe – rendering Hawklords worriers on the edge of time.
Relativity is on sale now.
