ALBUM REVIEW - MEADS OF ASPHODEL - THE MILL HILL SESSIONS
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So what's a Black Metal album doing being reviewed on the Hawkwind Museum site, well put simply it features two of the bands (Hawkwind, that is) most well known characters, one appearing in a guest capacity, that being the demure guitar wizard that is Huw Lloyd Langton whilst the other Hawk person is arguably Hawkwind's second most famous bassist, after Lemmy of course, none other than Alan Davey. Now I've heard this previously and the cover bears this out, apparently young Al is indeed the Meads full time four stringer. I guess these days Hawkwind are not forever on the road so ones to presume that he's got sufficient spare time to pursue other interests and to that end I'd say that he's definitely broadened his horizons with this project!
In a nutshell what we have here is a couple of sessions that originally were never envisaged as making up a "proper" album but that's pretty much what we've ended up with. The first six tracks were recorded for inclusion on the Malcolm Dome show on Total Rock radio whilst the seventh track is described here as "Work in progress", but it's this number alone that I fear will attract a few Hawkfans, but hey, hold up I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here.
On first hearing, especially to those with an untrained ear in such matters (that'll be me then) the the material comes across as what I'd describe as pretty standard Black Metal fodder, but actually on closer inspection you actually discover that there's actually a lot more going on than you first think and whilst the guitars are often loud, crude even and the vocalist has the trade mark ROARRRR....., something I for one have never found very appealing, but that's just personal choice, there's also an abundance of other moods going on with acoustic guitars and a variety of keyboard and synth textures underpinning a lot of the material. Apparently the Meads two regular ivory tinklers were not present so as the liner notes put it "The improvised keyboard backing was a last minute afterthought that was played by someone who will remain nameless apart from the name given in the credits". My guess is it's our old mucker Mr Davey once more, the clincher being for me anyway is the short atmospheric soundscape that can be found on the track 80 Grains Of sand which to these ears would not sound out of place on a Hawkwind album, unlike much of the other material on display here! One track that some folks may be familiar with is the cover of the Sepultura song "Refuse / Resist" that originally appeared on the Brazilian thrash titans "Chaos AD" album. One thing I would recommend if you do get this album is listen to it on decent equipment, I first heard it on my personal CD player and there's simply too much going on for such a small basic machine to handle and consequently the sound comes across as really compressed with no separation between instruments.
However this is all very well but to me it's track seven that most Hawkfans will be chomping at the bit to hear, entitled "My Beautiful Genocide" and clocking in at 23 minutes it's the CD's real "Tour de force" with the added bonus of not just Alan Davey for Hawkwind input but also the mighty Huey who chimes in with both acoustic and electric guitar pieces, I can't begin to explain how good it is to hear his distinctive style soloing away again after what too me seems an awful long time, add to that the many and regular set backs he's had over the last few years and it makes the purchase of this album worth it for this alone.
So how can I sum this album up, well if you're a Hawkwind completeist then I'd argue that you have to have it regardless, however for the rest of us I'd approach it more cautiously especially if you come from the more ambient, trippy, spacey end of the Hawkwind spectrum. If I'm honest it's really not my cup of tea stylistically so I wouldn't envisage myself playing it that often but that said I can see it's merits and the fact that it's not just a pure "WHOAAAARRRGGGHHH" fest so I certainly wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.
In conclusion, if I had to give it a mark out of ten, something I don't normally do then it's have to be 6!
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