More than a few years back, Church of Hed released an album titled The Fourth Hour, an album of longer tracks of what could best be described as space rock and electronics; now, five years on, we have the followup to that release, The Fifth Hour; and like its predecessor this one inhabits a similar space (pun not intended) and also it’s only available as a download, no physical product is planned. Unlike The Fourth Hour, which would have, at around 40 minutes, fit nicely on two LP sides, this latest album clocks in at just over 57 minutes, too long for an LP, but perhaps a CD reissue could be in its future. Church of Hed is first and foremost Paul Williams, who plays synthesizers, keyboards, sequencers, and electronic drums, this is (by my count, which could be inaccurate) his eighth album as Church of Hed, following on from his band Quarkspace. This time out he is joined by Stan Lyon (also from Quarkspace) playing bass on two tracks and synth on one other, and by Jonathan Segel playing bass on one cut, guitar on two others, and violin on several more, the additional instrumentation taking the sound out of the realm of pure Berlin School electronics and closer to the space rock of bands like Ozrics and Hawkwind perhaps. The sprawling fourteen-minute opener “Pleiades Waypoint” features both Williams and Lyon on synths, and amid the growling dark subharmonics one can hear any number of other keyboards reveal themselves as the piece proceeds, including the mighty Mellotron (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). At another point closer to the conclusion of the journey we have another monster length cut, “Son of a Silicon Rogue,” which features (in addition to gobs of synth) extra bass and violin, crawling along slowly, slithering along like a snake through the reeds at the edge of the river until it reaches its fifteen minute conclusion. Perhaps the strongest cut of them all is the rhythmic “Hyades Noir” where Segel (of Camper van Beethoven) contributes both violin and guitars amid a beautiful backdrop of synths and bass. Many of the other cuts are brief vignettes of two minutes or less but all interesting nonetheless. The Fifth Hour marks a strong return to spacerock endeavors for Church of Hed. Peter Thelen, Expose

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