The Timelords are the UK based quartet of Steve Bemand on guitar, synth and vocals, Dani Speakman on guitar, synth and vocals, Martyn Wood on bass and Barry Coombes on drums. Bemand briefly played with Hawkwind, and has been in Technicians Of Spaceship Hawkwind, The Starfighters, and The Glissando Guitar Orchestra, among others. Speakman has been in Space Ritual, Pinkwind, The Space Pirates, The Starfighters, Glissando Guitar Orchestra, and both he and Coombes were in Psychik Atters, whose Mystic Minutes album I reviewed way back in AI #3.

The band formed in 2011 and Convergence is their debut album. Space Migration opens the set with a bang, bringing to mind Electric Teepee and Alien 4 era Hawkwind, with a great combination of guitars, vocals and multiple layers of electronics. The Moment reminds me of early Darxtar circa Sju and Daybreak, who were of course themselves heavily Hawkwind influenced, but the vocals sound like Soren Bengtsson and there’s a Prog edge to some of the keys. Regardless, if you’re thinking, “Hawkwind, Darxtar, YEAH, bring it on!”, then you’re guaranteed to be satisfied. At 16 minutes, Blu Ray Monday is the longest track of the set and as far as I’m concerned it could have gone on forever. We’ve got crunchy punk-metallic guitars and ripping leads, soaring alien synths, and contrasting but cool melodic plinkity keys, like Kraftwerk sat in on the session. It’s got a heavy You Shouldn’t Do That rhythmic drive and deep space rockin’ jamming like a relentless Blanga assault, but also guitar, keys and instrumentals that recall both 90s Hawkwind and the afore mentioned Darxtar albums, as well as veering into the more punishing rock territory exemplified by bands like Litmus. Rough Diamond is another lengthy track covering a lot of territory in 12 minutes, from easy paced rocking and lightly tense and ominous Blanga bashing, exploratory Space Ritual electronics and jamming, Hawkwind-gone-Motorik grooves, balls-to-the-walls jamming space rock, sci-fi spoken word narratives, and more. Time Machine is a rip roaring high energy space rocker that reminds me of Litmus. It’s exclusive to the digital version of the album, and though you won’t see it listed at Bandcamp it comes with the purchased download. Decoding The Senses opens with a swirling array of guitar and soundscapes, led by a robotic electronic melody and steady rock drumming, that soon devolves into a dreamy alien cinematic symphonic-atmospheric excursion. The guitar is soloing as dense waves of space-scapes float and swirl, soon joined by electro-dance rhythms, making for a cosmic mélange of atmosphere and rockin’ mind massage.

Rounding out the set are two cover songs. Lightning At My Door updates a song from Psychik Atters’ 1995 Mystic Minutes album, given an adrenalin injection of frenzied whirling dervish space-punk. Finally, ever wondered what the Stones’ 2000 Light Years From Home would sound like if Hawkwind covered it? Well here ya go. At the core it’s faithful to the original, but The Timelords take the song way out into the space rock cosmos. Very cool. In summary, if you like your space rock heavily Hawk inspired, then The Timelords are for you.

At the moment, the Convergence CD is only available from the USA, though the band say that UK stocks should be available soon (the link below will ship to the UK). The Timelords are currently working on a second album, and are accepting bookings for gigs and festivals.

To purchase the CD you can visit: http://kunaki.com/MSales.asp?PublisherId=128939&PP=1
To stream and download Convergence you can visit: http://thetimelords2.bandcamp.com
Visit The Timelords on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Timelords/267505566620646

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz