After two celebrated albums through Rise Above Records, London-based space proggers Litmus return to self-releasing with their fourth full-length, Slaughterbahn. The album finds the unit no less Hawkwindian than ever, heavy doses of mellotron bringing out a King Crimson-esque feel on songs like “Kommissar” and “Satellites” while other songs – and indeed, other parts of those songs – delve into heavier rock, punk, new wave and more modern, Porcupine Tree-style riffing. Foremost, it is super-British. Way British. All three members who were in the band when Slaughterbahn was recorded at Foel Studios – Simon (guitar, synth), Martin (bass, mellotron, synth) and Marek (drums, synth) – contribute vocals, and the songs vary widely across the album’s 12 tracks/47 minutes, the opening three cuts, “Deeper,” “Spark” and “Breakout” setting the tone for much the expanse that follows by bridging a gap between classic space jamming and synth-laden punk insistence, all the while keeping a mind toward riffy hooks. For example, as it’s presented on Slaughterbahn, the central riff of “Deeper” is surrounding by a swirling wash, but its fuzzy start-stop guitar line in the verse isn’t so far off from Queens of the Stone Age at their peak, and that Litmus take the progression to an impressive run of guitar soloing and bass fills rounded out by mellotron and keyboard layering only speaks to the cohesiveness of the trio’s vision. With a clean, smooth production, “Deeper” announces no dip in Litmus’ level of songwriting – the chorus is memorable and conveyed without stepping away from the necessary sense of prog indulgence – and, as the more straightforward “Spark” takes hold, it becomes increasingly apparent that Litmus have expanded their breadth, not contracted it. The mellotron melody underscoring the final chorus of “Deeper” cuts to silence, a quick “yep” begins “Spark” and immediately the song takes off, Marek’s snare double-timing while Martin’s bass runs circles around it, Simon’s guitar tossing in lead lines as the build mounts to the tracks’ finish with an encompassing synth swirl. Mellotron also rings through the background of “Breakout,” but the pacing is even faster, Litmus seeming to strip the sound further down to its roots with each passing track.

The thing to keep in mind at this point is that these songs are all pretty short, so it’s happening fast. “Deeper” is 3:53, “Spark” is 2:59 and “Breakout” is 1:44, so Slaughterbahn isn’t yet 10 minutes on before it firmly establishes both that indeed there is no speed limit and that the road before the trio is both skyward and winding. As though by necessity, “Static” begins with a sampled explosion. How could it not? Litmus certainly sounds ready to blow by the end of “Breakout” – which barely had time for its own chorus but remained catchy nonetheless – so at 5:17, it’s up to “Static” to hit the brakes a bit and still manage to keep the flow consistent, which, fortunately, it does. At 2:50, a thicker, fuzzier guitar is introduced and the effect both darkens the atmosphere – mellotron and synth continue to intertwine behind – and begins an instrumental build that plays out over the remainder of the track, Marek’s drums layering in quick hits even as the kit itself fades to silence in anticipation of the coming rush of “Streamers,” which has a kind of classic jangle in its guitar tone and poppy hook of a chorus, taking a cue from late ‘60s British psychedelia and modernizing the cadence even as colors are sounded out in semi-harmonized layers of vocals. Just when it seems they’ve wandered too far from their purpose, they pull back to the chorus to finish, leaving it to the highlight cut “Satellites” to revive the space rock vibing. The guitar seems to count down to the song’s eventual liftoff, dual vocals and synth coming on to top and fill out the verse while the chorus is less of a hook but still memorable overall, Martin rounding it out with some of Slaughterbahn’s best bass while Marek keeps the beat straightforward and the guitars gradually reemerge. It comes to a head after the second chorus – the lines “Take the heavens, give me the stars/Give me the future/Blind obsession left in the past,” standing out like the new paganism of science – and then the quick “1×1” (actually 1:20) affirms Litmus’ ascent with a quick linear run that devolves into sci-fi boops and beeps.

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They?re based in the UK, but there?s really no telling where planet-hopping space rockers Litmus might end up in or out of this feebly-armed galaxy by the end of their third album, Aurora, and where they might take you likewise. Their second album on Rise Above Records (2004?s You are Here came out on aptly-named Space Records), Aurora follows the mellotronned spirit of 2007?s Planetfall, but delves even further into an unmined quarry of retro prog and Hawkwindy sonicspheres.

?Beyond the Sun,? ?Miles Away,? ?Stars? and album highlight ?Kings of Infinite Space? let you know Litmus are interested in distance and journey, and their music follows suit, with delicately composed — but heavy — progressions of technically complex riffs and rhythms. The multiple vocals of drummer Marek, guitarist Fiddler and bassist Martin work in tandem to affect a ?70s-style harmonized patchwork, enhanced on record by liberal reverb and backed by the already noted mellotron and other psychedelic swirlings of resident noisemaker Anton and keyboardist Oli. With these two members focused entirely on ambience around the traditional power trio, Litmus bravely rock their way into a difficultly navigated asteroid field on ?In the Burning Light? while floating through the outer reaches of anti-gravity with ?Eos? only minutes later, allowing for twists sound-wise for which other bands simply aren?t equipped.

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