HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL

This is essentially Hawkwind Hawkwinding. If you've familiarized yourself with a couple of Hawkwind releases from around this time period, HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL is not much of a surprise. Thick, psychedelic guitars, extended spaced-out jams, synth sound effects, a consistent rhythm section, the occasional break into acoustic rock to alter dynamics; it's all here in chunks that newcomers can adjust to fairly well. The addition of veteran keyboard/violin player Simon House only adds a few touches to the already established sound of sci-fi raucous guitars.

There are more regular pianos on this album than memory serves, and it's what makes the title cut so haunting and intriguing. The song ''Web Weaver'' is in practice much like the acoustic driven songs of earlier lore, but with much more jangle and an overall happier tone, something out of character for the band. ''Lost Johnny'' has a more straight blues-rock approach to it (it was written by Lemmy, go figure) even if there are still psychedelic undertones.

As for the rest, the style that Hawkwind had mastered on DOREMI FASOL LATIDO makes a return appearance here. Yes, ''Disappear in Smoke'', ''You'd Better Believe It'' and ''Paradox'' fall into some of their better songs in this style, the whole album feels too much like Hawkwind is on cruise control, losing the mystique that made the previous DOREMI FASOL LATIDO so intriguing.