Short Reviews [Lords of Form - 2022 - "Flying Chromium Society"]

Niall Hone will always be associated with his tenure in Hawkwind, where he performed a couple of different roles over a 12-year period and given the way members often return (as he himself did in 2018), you cannot 100% say if his career has finished with them just yet. Lords of Form is his latest project, and the album ‘Flying Chromium Society’ was written, recorded, produced and performed by Niall Hone with a few guests. Given his multi-instrumental role with Hawkwind it is no surprise that he played most of this himself, while the musical style is also not unexpected as this is firmly based in space rock although there are plenty of times when it is far lighter than one might expect, with plenty of psychedelic and even New Age interludes. The album contains plenty of lengthy instrumentals as well as somewhat heavier moments, and it is this contrast which makes this such an interesting album to listen to. Whereas some ex-members of the band have created new entities which sound very much like the original, keeping very close indeed, this sounds much more like a band which has taken some influences and then moved in a different direction. Given his length of tenure, one would expect space rock to have a strong part to play, but Niall has used that as a base and has moved in other directions. There are times when be brings in some dance beats, but often these are tempered with heavy guitars, and it is often the lightness of piano which is giving this music direction. While fans and collectors of Hawkwind will undoubtedly be interested in this album, this is not another Hawkwind knockoff and instead is something which very much stands in its own right and is thoroughly enjoyable. Well worth investigation.