A bit of background… The Ohio based Guild Navigators have been around since the early 90s and headed up by Chris “Freak Spaceley” Mead. Further out West, Jet Jaguar were launched in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2001 by Charles Van de Kree. Both have their own catalog of releases, but the two joined forces in 2008 for a split CD titled Jet Jaguar vs. The Guild Navigators Deathrace Beyond The Stars, and Mead and Van de Kree had the opportunity to meet and record together in 2009 during the brief period when the latter was teaching in Columbus, Ohio.

I knew the two had collaborated and have been chompin’ at the bit ever since to hear the results, which we now have available on this all too brief CDEP, billed to The Guild Navigators and and recorded by the quartet of Mead on guitar, vocals, sampler and FX, Van de Kree on guitar, synths and audio generator, Stinky on drums and Tony Chaffin on bass. I’ve heard some outstanding examples in recent years of metal infused space rock, but precious little punk inspired Spacecore, and that’s exactly The Guild Navigators deliver.

Red Vision 7 opens with swirling space synths and mission control voice samples, before launching into a scorched Earth space-thrashing assault. The music rocks out relentlessly and the electronics blaze away like the War of the Worlds is truly upon us. Mead’s vocals remind me of Marc Power with Born to Go, a band that Mead and anyone who attended the old Strange Daze Space Rock festivals will fondly remember. This is followed by a cover of Hawkwind’s Master Of The Universe that is so ass-kicking it just might bring a tear to the eyes of the song’s originators. Escape Warp Transmission is a brief freaked out transitional piece that puts the listener in a frightening launch pad, and leads into the final song, Glimmer, an easy-paced but monstrously intense space rocker with sci-fi keys and spacious chainsaw guitars and groove that reminds me of Farflung.

Crap!! I’m diggin’ this BIG time and before you know it it’s over. We need to get Mead and Van de Kree back together for a full album.

There’s no web site yet but email either Charles Van de Kree at st.magellan@yahoo.com or Chris Mead at cgmead@yahoo.com. They’re also still sorting out digital download availability so you can ask them about that too.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz