Spacehead - "Live @ Hawkfest 2003"
(Voiceprint 2004, HAWKVP29CD)
Spacehead - "Live @ Hawkfest 2003"
(Voiceprint 2004, HAWKVP29CD)
From Aural Innovations #30 (February 2005)
In the absence of a long promised but yet to see the light of day Hawkwind album, the past year has seen the void filled with much satisfacton by such high powered space rock releases as the debut Litmus CD, the long awaited new Krel, and now a document of Spaceheads performance at the Hawkfest 2003 festival. In a nutshell, this is one serious fasten-yer-seatbelts, blast-off into space, holy goddamn shit slab of heavy duty cosmic SPACE ROCK! Mr. Dibs and company get right in our faces with a blazing set of Spacehead favorites and Hawkwind covers. Yesiree, these guys graduated cum laude from the Hawkwind school.
Spacehead open the set with two deliciously long cosmic tracks, "Mechanoid Dream/Dark Star" and "Fyre Dragons/Oriris", both of which soar into the cosmos with heavy rocking, wailing and screaming trip guitars, pounding, throbbing bass, mind melting keys and synths, and intense vocal delivery from Dibs. The band ease the pace but raise the bar for psychedelic intensity on the gripping and ultra hypnotic "Song #23". I could just feel the liquid throb coursing through my body and swirling in my brain on this one. "Continuum" is equally hypnotic but more atmospheric and haunting. Spacehead display their flair for solid songwriting on the excellent "Standing On The Edge Of Time" and "Nucleii". And of course you can't play a Hawkfest without a tip of the hat to the mighty Hawks, which Spacehead do most capably with kick ass covers of "Quark, Strangeness & Charm" and "Choose Your Masques". Wow, not much more to say. If you're a committed space rock fan you should waste no time and grab this right now.
For more information you can visit the Spacehead web site at: http://www.spacehead-lab23.co.uk.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz