The New Studio Album! from the Legendary space-rock pioneers Hawkwind return with their latest studio album, “There Is No Space For Us”. Following 2024’s critically acclaimed “Stories From Time And Space” and recent triple disc live album “Live At The Royal Albert Hall“, this new release develops the dystopian themes of recent albums and the cosmic, almost metaphysical perspective on humanity’s place in the universe through expansive soundscapes and electrifying psychedelic rock.
When Hawkwind recorded “Stories From Time And Space” last spring, the song writing process yielded nearly 40 minutes of leftover material that just needed arranging – making “There Is No Space For Us” a sister album of sorts.
Since 2019’s “All Aboard The Skylark”, the group have sounded rejuvenated; and the new record is another instalment rich in immersive sonic detail, with considerable power and momentum allied to a vivid, panoramic sound.
Blending hypnotic rhythms, immersive synths, and driving guitar riffs, “There Is No Space For Us” takes listeners on an interstellar voyage from the synth laden thunderous opening track “There Is Still Danger” begins with Tim ‘Thighpaulsandra’ Lewis and Magnus Martin’s dancing sequencers and upward arcing synths. Dave Brock enters like an Old Testament prophet delivering judgement on our collective folly: ‘There was a moment in the past/When we could have changed our lives at last,’ he intones, prompting the band to launch into an urgent two-chord riff.
There to the eerie, atmospheric depths and outstanding heights of “Space Continues (Lifeform)“. The album extends Hawkwind’s recent tack of mixing familiar elements with some stylistic surprises. Synth pulses act as a springboard for Richard Chadwick’s syncopated snare patterns on the instrumental with Brock’s guitar characteristically weaving in and out of the chord sequence, then a horn section emerges from out of the cosmic whoosh before it culminates in a mosaic of echoed keyboards.
Tracks like the acoustic led “The Co-Pilot” (a song which transforms multiple times across 8 minutes) starts with three minutes of a near-Latin groove and tuned percussion lines, before taking off with a tried-and-tested four-chord riff with added heavenly vocal chorales. and title track “There Is No Space For Us” (the definition of what a “space western” should sound like) showcase the band’s signature fusion of chugging guitars, electronic rhythms, and grand science fiction vision of human destiny. Another stand-out moment is the frenzied theremin laced freak-out of “Neutron Stars“, while A “Long Long Way From Home” delivers a melancholic yet powerful crescendo, reflecting on the fragile nature of existence in an ever-expanding universe.
Elsewhere, “Changes” is a not-so-distant cousin of “Doremi Fasol Latido’s” “Down Through The Night“. Over its nine-minute course Doug MacKinnon introduces a monster riff, his bass roaming like Lemmy’s on “Born To Go”, while Lewis’ flamboyant synth solo gives an added dimension.
On 1971’s “We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago”, Brock reflected on how we’d strayed onto a path that led to environmental catastrophe. Here, on the similarly acoustic title track, it sounds like he’s run out of patience; in an apocalyptic mood he sings of ‘devastation of our land… Is this the epitaph of man?’ And with the human race gone, he adds, life on Earth will be rebooted in ‘a new creation,’ as the full band bring it to an uneasy conclusion.
The finale is the bittersweet, melodic “A Long Way From Home“, its sole lyric being Brock singing the title line at its close. He’s 83 in Earth years now, and he’s addressed his mortality in recent songs, so maybe that’s a feeling of resignation in his voice.
Another classic album to add to the Hawkwind canon, “There Is No Space For Us” is presented by Dave Brock, Richard Chadwick, Magnus Martin, Doug MacKinnon and Tim “Thighpaulsandra” Lewis on both CD and double vinyl (the vinyl features a bonus two recent live rehearsals) and will be released to coincide with live shows in the spring and summer.
The Fat Angel Sings 