It stands to reason that a band as rooted in sci-fi and fantasy as Hawkwind should record an album inspired by the COVID-19 outbreak during lockdown.
It was originally conceived as a Dave Brock solo project, but the band’s mainstay is joined by drummer Richard Chadwick, and Magnus Martin on keyboards and guitar, the lack of the full band line-up prompting the ‘Light Orchestra’ suffix.
With all the classic hallmarks of chugging guitars (Dyna-mite), synths that bleep and go ‘whoosh!’ (Void Of Wasteland) and propulsive drumming firmly in place, Carnivorous (an anagram of ‘coronavirus’) is an album that addresses very contemporary concerns.
Righteous epic The Virus makes the case for vegetarianism, while the dystopian Lockdown (Keep Calm) seethes with outrage. Windy Day’s knees-up and the turgid pub-rock of Modal Farm Blues drag the album down briefly mid-flight but, those blips aside, this is Hawkwind consolidating their strengths in the here and now.
