Ex-Hawkwind Sax magus makes bid for space rock supremacy.
As Even the casual observer will probably know, the saga of Hawkwind has as many twists, turns and franchises attached to it as the show which Nik Turner’s new album alludes to. But while the various strands of Star Trek exist in as peaceful continuum, relations between the various Hawkwind camps have sometimes descended into open warfare. Chief amount the opposing sides is the official Dave Brock-led band and Turner’s myriad pick-up groups, many of which have featured ex-Hawkwind members and have sometimes tried to claim the name for their own.
The plot thickened last year with the release of Hawkwind’s classic in collaboration with Mike Batt, which many long-standing fans have been less than pleased with, causing further divisions in the Hawk universe.
Just to stir things up a little more, deliberately so or not, Turner’s latest album in a late-career revival cleaves even closer to the space rock template his former band pioneered, potentially giving Hawkfans what they aren’t currently getting from the Brock camp… Opening track Out Of Control certainly comes out fighting, stomping riff recalling Be Yourself from the very first Hawkwind album. Then follows churning wah-wahed guitar, chirruping electronics and misty-eyed Mellotron, veritable compendium of sonic signifiers for the faithful. Turner’s increasingly frail voice is low in the mix, but there’s ample room for his reliably maverick sax playing. The predatory lope of Thunder Rider - Turner’s on stage alter ego with Hawkwind - follows suit, the strange aquatic tone he wrings from his instrument still unmistakable.
What’s clear is that the band assembled around Turner, with key members including UK Sub’ Nicky Garratt and Die Krupps’ Jürgen Engler, know exactly what they are doing, fashioning a sound that acknowledges their leader’s history, but isn’t stuck in the past - this is very much the work of a contemporary space rock outfit. But it isn’t all just amorphous cosmic riffle. Interstellar Aliens is like memories of a life in her dream factory recalled, it’s melancholic vibe enhanced by some magisterial violin from ex-Hawk Simon House. And the echoing bass of the extended title track creates an uneasy atmosphere, Turner’s flute weaving around of 70’s-style spoken word trippiness, is “locked inside deep space and endless time”. Back To The Ship inhabits similar territory, but just as things threaten to get too portentous, it kicks up a gear with a classic piece of stunning guitar attack.
Is this the final frontier? Don’t bet on it…
Prog Magazine -  USA

Nicht nur das Verhältnis zwischen dem kalifornischen Label Cleopatra Records und Nik Turner scheint ganz hervorragend zu funktionieren, auch hat der Engländer seit einigen Jahren Musiker gefunden, mit  denen er konstant zusammenarbeitet. Dabei handelt es sich um das Gerüst bzw. Umfeld der Band Hedersleben, die ja auch bereits einige gute Alben unter eigenem Namen veröffentlicht hat. Diese Arbeitsgemeinschaft ist nun bereits seit etwa sechs Jahren (begonnen mit dem Album Space Gypsy,2013) aktiv und auch auf dem brandneuen "The Final Frontier" hat sich bezüglich der Protagonisten und der Vorgängerplatte Life in Space (fast) nichts geändert. Grundsätzlich schon mal sehr gute Voraussetzungen für ein weiteres erfolgreiches Kapitel und Turner hat auch hier wieder seine ehemaligen Hawkwind-Kollegen Paul Rudolph (als Gast auf einem Track) sowie Simon House mit an Bord.
Also Vorhang auf, Licht aus und mitten hinein in ein weiteres Space Rock-Abenteuer, um die 'Letzte Grenze' auszuloten bzw. zu überschreiten. Nach einer scheinbaren Fanfare vor dem Start des Raumschiffs führt uns bereits "Out Of Control" in die tiefen Weiten des Weltraums. Unterlegt mit einem soliden Rock-Rhythmus, jedoch begleitet von den jazzigen Saxofon-Läufen Turners und psychedelischen Keyboard-Klängen, wird der Hörer sehr schnell in eine ganz eigene Atmosphäre eingebettet, der er sich kaum entziehen kann. Ein Highlight der Scheibe ist "Interstellar Aliens", das es ganz fantastisch versteht, eine tiefe Melancholie, das Gefühl einer unglaublichen Leere und Weite, das Fremde, Unbekannte, die eigene Entfremdung sowie das mystische und absurde, ja fast schon gespenstische Gefühl einzufangen, das einen Menschen da oben im All sehr wahrscheinlich befallen wird. Wunderschön hier auch die Solo-Ausflüge von Simon House auf seiner Violine.
Die Tempi der Stücke variieren zwar nicht großartig und keiner der Tracks geht über das Midtempo hinaus, was jedoch nur zu der fast schon greifbaren dichten Atmosphäre beiträgt. Man kann sich wunderbar in eine Trance oder einen Tagtraum fallen lassen, während der durchaus vorhandene Abwechslungsreichtum der Scheibe durch den recht sparsamen Gesang und die Soloinstrumente eingebracht wird. Besonders im Rampenlicht stehen hier der bereits erwähnte Simon House, selbstverständlich Nik Turner selbst, Nicky Garrett an der Gitarre und auch die Keyboards (Kephera Moon, Chris Lietz sowie Jürgen Engler, der auch produziert hat) liefern einen ganz hervorragenden Job ab. Die Scheibe ist mindestens genauso stark wie "Space Gypsy" oder auch "Lost In Space" und momentan ist sie sogar mein bevorzugtes Turner-Album. Wo sie sich letztendlich in meinem (oder auch jedermanns) persönlichen Ranking platzieren wird, wird sich wie immer erst in der Zukunft zeigen.
"The Final Frontier" ist sicher kein Album für den Mainstream und auch nicht unbedingt eines für jeden Tag, sprich, man sollte schon in einer passenden Stimmung sein, um es auch voll genießen zu können. Dennoch (oder vielleicht gerade deshalb?) ist Nik Turner erneut eine ganz starke Scheibe gelungen, die durch die kreierte dichte Atmosphäre sowie auch die einzelnen Musiker voll überzeugt. Von daher kann die Scheibe den Freunden des Space Rock guten Gewissens empfohlen bzw. ans Herz gelegt werden. Und schließlich bleibt zu hoffen, dass der Album-Titel nicht die Absicht des Protagonisten suggeriert, so langsam in Rente gehen zu wollen und sein Abschiedsalbum vorgelegt zu haben. Denn bei dieser Qualität dürfen gerne noch einige Platten kommen.
Rock Times - Germany

You have to hand it to Nik Turner, a guy who is quickly approaching 80 but continues to release thrilling, jazzy space rock music that is arguably more compelling than his old mates in Hawkwind. The Final Frontier is his latest effort for Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra Records, and sees him continuing on with the formula that worked so well with this 2013 comeback album Space Gypsy and everything released since then. Basically, it's Hawkwind circa 1974 all over again, Turner surrounding himself with a stellar cast of musicians who help him recreate those wonderful spacey sounds as if they all crept out of a time capsule locked up during the Hall of the Mountain Grill sessions. For this album, the line-up is:

Nik Turner - vocals, sax, flute
Nicky Garratt - guitar
Paul Rudolph - guitar (4)
Jürgen Engler - Moog synth, guitar, bass, producer
Chris Lietz -keyboards, mixing
Kephera Moon - keyboards
Simon House - violin
Bryce Shelton - bass
Jason Willer - drums
Adam Hamilton - drums (2)
If you've been following his last few albums, you'll see some familiar names here, most notably Garratt, Engler, Willer, and Moon, who have been trekking around the globe with Turner for years, as well as ex-Hawkwind alumni House & Rudolph. "Out of Control" kicks things off in fine fashion, with boatloads of synthesizers providing the bedrock for Nik's heavily effects laden vocals and squonking sax, Garratt also delivering a sizzling guitar solo dripping with wah-wah. "Interstellar Aliens" is ripe with haunting Mellotron and Turner's lulling vocals, the synths bleeping in and out of the mix, while the heavy guitar riffs & huge waves of Mellotron of "Thunder Rider" just screams early Hawkwind, the leader also dropping in a noisy sax solo to top it all off. Love the slow simmer to the first of the two part title track, spoken word vocals floating over layers of spacey effects, the flute and synths cascading over each other quite nicely, giving way to "Back to the Ship", a heavier track featuring crunchy riffs, flute, and plenty of soaring violin courtesy of House. The band go for a neat Middle Eastern feel on "Calling the Egyptians", complete with tasty guitar soloing and more Mellotron, while part two of the title track combines free jazz with bubbling psychedelia...noisy yet delightful.
Nik Turner and Co. show they have plenty of life left in the space rock tank here with The Final Frontier. It's not always pretty, but that's quite alright in the end, as music from 'another dimension' is meant to be 'far out'.
Sea Of Tranquility - USA

Nik e un vecchio freak e non per modo di dire (manca ormai poco all’ottantesima candeline a) che, sin dai gloriosi tempi degli Hawkwind, non ha mai smesso di sbuffare nel suo sax e soprattutto di far viaggiare la mente con le sue armonie sbilenche e i suoi sempre avventurosi trip musicali. Scritto in stretta collaborazione con i suoi musicisti attuali e in particolare col polistrumentista Jürgen Engler (Che riveste anche il ruolo di produttore), il suo album numero 20 (o giù di li) presenta uno space rock solido e vibrante, con suoni volutamente confusi e sballati e pochi momenti davvero cantati, dato che Turner predilige un recitato monocorde e filtrato da mille effetti. Ma si apprezzano le inconsuete aperture melodiche di Interstellar Aliens, i cinguetti psichedelici della floydiana The Final Frontier Part 1, una citazione di Californication dei Red Hot Chili Peppers in Calling the Egyptians e la presenza sempre rigenerante del violino del vecchio compagno di merende Simon House.
Virile Magazine - Italy

The latest disc from Hawkwind founder Nik Turner, this has some definite links to the sound of that band. The space rock drives this, but it's not the only game in town either. There is plenty of psychedelia here, but that's an integral part of space rock, really. Jazz and world music are also heard on this release. There is a lot here that feels like it could have fit into the early catalog of Hawkwind, but there is a lot that doesn't, too. All in all, this is a strong set from a guy who consistently releases strong music. I wouldn't consider it his best, but it is a solid part of his solo catalog.
Out Of Control
Space sounds bring this into being. As the instruments join, this feels so much like very early Hawkwind, both in production and the sound of the music. After one line of music drums take command for a few measures. Then the saxophone and keyboards soar over the top. The vocals come over a seriously chaotic arrangement as it marches onward. This has some intriguing movements. Part of the vocals are spoken, and overall it really sounds very much like old-school Hawkwind.
Interstellar Aliens
Mellower and a bit more straight-line in approach, this is no less Hawkwind like. It's a powerful bit of space music that has a suitably space rock based sound to it. I'm reminded a bit of something that might have made it onto Hall of the Mountain Grill from Hawkwind.
Thunder Rider
A bit harder rocking grind, the space is strong with this one. I love the cool jam that emerges later featuring Turner's saxophone. It has such a classic exploratory space sound.
The Final Frontier Part 1
Space elements bring this into being quite appropriately. It rises up ever so gradually with almost an early Pink Floyd vibe. The cut grows outward in measured ways. It remains mellow and slow moving as it does so. The vocals are a spoken poetry reading fairly far back in the arrangement. The cut gradually shifts outward to an acoustic guitar based thing after a while and then drops back even further to flute and space keys. Drums rise upward and a psychedelic sort of jam gradually emerges as the spoken stuff continues. It rises up, but only so much. This never turns into a real rocker. There is some silence at the end.
Back To The Ship
Rising up with flute and spacey elements, this has a real trippy psychedelic edge as it continues. It's mellow and fairly sparse, though. There is another spoken vocal. It continues in this general fashion for a while. Then after the three-and-a-half minute mark this thing fires out into a killer space rocker. The vocals are sung on that section. We get some cool violin work, and this pounds with a real Hawkwind styled texture.
Calling The Egyptians
Space music with a percussive element, this builds out as very classy, trippy stuff. It builds out with a more rocking intensity from there. This is trademark space rock.
Strange Loop
Coming in a bit percussive and world music oriented, this works forward from there. This instrumental is more organic in a lot of ways. It's a nice change of pace.
The Final Frontier Part 2
Psychedelia, space rock, jazz and world music all seem to collide here. The vocals are again spoken. This is a bit odd, but also quite cool.
Pad4
Freaky keyboard sounds and flute are at the core of the opening here. This works forward from there while still maintaining that same basic concept. This instrumental is a bit trippy and also very cool.
Music Street Journal -  USA

Over time, most bands and artists sell out in one way or another. Nik Turner never has. As a result, we have great respect for Mr. Turner and the music he has created over the past few decades. Nik was, of course, the co-founder of the great and highly influential British psychedelic band Hawkwind. Joining Turner on this album are Nicky Garratt (UK Subs, Hedersleben), Jurgen Engler (Die Krupps), Jason Willer (UK Subs, Jello Biafra), Simon House (Hawkwind) and Paul Rudolph (Hawkwind). This album delves into territory originally chartered by the mighty Hawkwind way back in the 1970s. These groovy tripped out tracks with strangely distant vocals and peculiar noodling are bound to please all the fans who were originally drawn to Turner's music...as well as just about anyone who loves progressive rock that can transport your mind to other places. Nik's fluid experimental saxophone sounds as cool as ever. What is perhaps most important here is inspiration. After so many years, it seems truly remarkable than this man's music still has that spark that made it so special in the initial stages. It's also interesting that this music doesn't sound the least bit dated...even though many of these tracks still have that psychedelic drone sound that so many know and love. Cool tripped out cuts include "Out of Control," "Thunder Rider," "Strange Loop," and "The Final Frontier Part 2." In addition to the CD version, this album is also being released as a limited edition LP on yellow vinyl.
Babysue -  USA

For those not in the know, the uber talented Nik Turner is an English musician, best known as a former member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind.
Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings and is a composer and whilst with Hawkwind, was known for his experimental free jazz stylizations and, of course, his outrageous stage presence; which often meant donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt-inspired costumes!
Well, boys and girls, the space rock legend has now launched his latest solo project that goes further than any auralnaut has gone before!
Featuring all new and (highly) original songs that harken back to the sci-fi psychedelia of early Hawkwind, the just-released The Final Frontier (Purple Pyramid / Cleopatra Records) is a wondrous nine track album that you'll have on replay for days to come.
From the soaring opening, drumtastic and keyboardliscious track 'Out Of Control' onward, the album is just as wonderfully space prog rock-drenched you could ever have hoped it would be.
The trippy psychedelic swirls of 'Interstellar Aliens' finds Turner at his musical finest, with the more gently building jazz-lite aspects of 'Thunder Rider' (Turner's long-running nickname!) a rather lovely discovery to behold too.
'The Final Frontier Part 1' is a passive walk back down into psychedelic way, with the more upbeat Eastern-flavored guitar sounds and beating drums of 'Back To The Ship' and the forthright energy of 'Calling The Egyptians' along next.
The longest track at nearly nine minutes is the space rock fusion beauty 'Strange Loop,' and that's backed by a short, and for the most part spoken word 'The Final Frontier Part 2' with the flute-inspired 'Pad4' rounding out his/our musical journey perfectly.
Six Degrees Entertainment USA

Co-founder Dave Brock of the great Hawkwind founded in 1969 and whose record career is nearly five decades, Nick Turner (musician, singer, composer) returns today with a new milestone in his personal quest obviously playing the extensions of a musical genre somewhere created by the legendary band, space-rock music that is both close to rock-psychedelic and experimental music with a spatial dimension. After "Space Gypsy" (2013), "Space Fusion Odyssey" (2015 and "Life In Space"(2017, reviewed by our colleague Olivier Dahon), the artist comes back here with a fourth component still obviously based on Space and more specifically on his last frontier , an opus where he always surrounds himself with former Hawkwind comrades but also old glories of other legends like UK Subs ... while maintaining the will to create again big space-rock: Psychedelic to die and somewhere decerebrated to perhaps destroy us through a psychoanalytic music, our designer continues his journey to see his maze sound actually thanks to a music in phase with the original design of the group of which he was a part. Of course the synths but also the good old Moog dominate part of the debate here backed by a thundering intergalactic saxophone, tonal percussion but also strangely hints of punk rock (hence the presence of the henchmen UK Subs) see dark-wave that reminds me of a certain Bauhaus see Joy Division as this black and dark song that reinforces the dark side. Like this drama and space ballad, which chills the blood and pierces the heart and the body in any case, it is really effective: Programming and sound effects of science-fiction also include compositions that could perfectly serve as music for films otherwise, we continue to evolve in environments mixing space-rock, rock-psychedelic see avant-garde music without forgetting here and there sounds purely spatial and intergalactic as well as dark narratives. Sometimes throbbing and sometimes anarchic, the two compositions dealing with the theme of the album are in the same vein as the rest, nothing illogical since they illustrate the context of this excellent space-rock album.
So I suggest you listen to both parties, just to immerse yourself in this sound construction off the beaten path but that makes here a vibrant tribute to the great Hawkwind . In the genre, it's the must!
Music In Belgium Belgium

This, the latest, Star Trek referencing solo release by self-proclaimed ‘aurainaut’., Nik Turner, is a nine-track mind-expanding journey through both outer space and an inner cosmos. As Turner, of course, was the co-founder of space rock pioneers Hawkwind, do expect, here, songs titled thus: ‘Interstellar Aliens’, ‘Back to the Ship’, and ‘Strange Loop’. In fact, amid the Moog synth squelches and acid-tinged guitars, it is ’Thunder Ryder’ (the title of which is, incidentally, that of Turner’s alter ego) that stands out here, in all it’s doom-laden majesty. Moreover, perhaps the most striking aspect of this release is the artwork. As, for fans of ’70s pulp cover artwork, the retro fonts, depictions of astronauts standing forlornly in front of over-sized egg-shaped sentinels, and pyramid-shaped with-sized motherships, therein plenty to get dewy eyed over here.
Peter Jachimiak - Vive Le Rock UK

Attempting to disentangle the body of work and/or the lineups of Hawkwind and its associated projects is a fool’s errand, best instead to enjoy the music on its own terms. A longtime figure in that saga is saxophonist, singer and general odd dude Nik Turner. He’s experiencing something of a late-period renaissance, teaming up with members of American(!) krautrock band Hedersleben. Combine the willful weirdness of Turner’s space-rocking tunes with the insistent and slightly menacing approach of Nicky Garratt, Jason Willer and Kephera Moon (plus others within the Cleopatra Records orbit) and you end up with this delightfully whacked-out gem.
Bob Kopp’s Music Magazine USA

English musician, Nik Turner, co-founder of the British space rock band Hawkwind, recently released a brand new studio album titled "The Final Frontier." He started his solo space mission six years ago with the release of "Space Gypsy" and has continued to release a new album every couple of years. This new nine-song release is a continuation of his last album "Life In Space," as he kicks things off with the nostalgic, psych-rock of "Out Of Control." Nik Turner slows the tempo down for the exploratory flow of "Interstellar Aliens" and the experimental hints of instrumentation on "Thunder Rider." Turner and his band get locked into the groove of "The Final Frontier Part 1," before traveling back in time for the psychedelic space rock of "Calling The Egyptians." Nik Turner wraps up his new album with the eight-minute progressive rock adventure "Strange Loop" and the quiet, floating tones of "PAD4." To find out more about Nik Turner and his latest release, "The Final Frontier," please visit nikturner.com
JP's Music Blog - USA


The  co-founder of the legendary  Hawkwind ,  the British saxophonist / flautist / singer and songwriter Nik Turner  is alive, well and artistically creative at almost 79 years: always very prolific, he publishes The Final Frontier " , a new studio album that musically continues undaunted to profess that space-rock / psychedelic faith never abandoned in the past decades and even in recent times (" Space Gypsy , 2013", " Space Fusion Odyssey , 2015", " Life In Space , 2017"), inaugurated of the Hawkwind historical albums from the first half of the 1970s. " The Final Frontier" it is a hard disc, still incredibly charismatic, full of extremely spicy suggestions, the space / space / para jazz, which manages to break down all the barriers of time and space. Turner's evolutions of the sax and wind instruments cannot fail to remember (with amplified modalities) the epic wonders of David Jackson of the Van Der Graaf Generator. Absolutely recommended to all the admirers of old and new psychedelia and space rock.
Distorsioni - Italy
 
A lot of people were very surprised when the 73-year-old Hawkwind veteran Nik Turner blew our heads clean off with the single “Fallen Angel STS-51-L”, ahead of the release of his Space Gypsy album.
It was a Newtonian as all fuck, hurtling ride of a number. It had all of the giddy propulsion of classic space rock. Messy and noisy, but turn on a sixpence tight, and over the top of all of it a reverbed-out sax, giving off all of the most cosmic vibes. And it was at that moment that we realised that this was what had been missing from all the pretenders to the throne. Because in spite of what we had previously assumed, space rock is not just guitar music with some inept synthesizer on top; it’s more akin to free jazz.
When you think about space music, you might think about those posh boys Pink Floyd, you might think about Karlheinz Stockhausen and the Darmstadt space project, or you might think of Sun Ra. In fact, if you don’t think of Sun Ra, go away and educate yourself, and then come back here to read the rest of this review.
Because that was what Nik Turner was bringing to Hawkwind: actual squalls of preconscious skronk. All of the little boys who had come to Hawkwind late in the day, and had understood them as some sort of heavy metal band, were terrified of The Thunder Rider. Why doesn’t he sound mathematical and exact? Why doesn’t he make sense? What is he doing that for? And as this new album opens with its most obviously space rock monster, “Out of Control”, that’s what we are getting again. Those Druilletesque stelae that establish the territory, that tumbling obnoxious rhythm, and over the top of it something slides across the whole at a non-euclidean angle to the galactic plane.
Turner’s voice is still there too. He probably always had the best voice in the band, here noticeably aged, it has taken on all sorts of emotional timbres that aren’t available to younger astronauts. There’s also a vulnerability and a freedom from the fear to swim in frankly poetic waters that are the fruits of a mature artist. On “Interstellar Aliens” we hear this at best advantage. The instrumentation here augments the Mellotron (real or fake; who cares?) with Simon House’s violin, which brings us back — further back than Hawkwind — to the tonalities of High Tide.
Once again it’s the non-guitar-ish instrumentation that is notable here, or more specifically that the guitars don’t dominate the mix. Perhaps it is noteworthy that Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps takes both Moog and production duties on this album, so there is a very strong overall aesthetic in control of all aspects of the sound. And while a lot is made in the publicity materials about two ex-members of UK Subs playing in the drummer and guitarist roles in this band, it is probably more notable that both appear in recent incarnations of Brainticket. Because as we drift away from the opener, we find that there’s a lot in here that sounds more like Amon Düül II than Hawkwind. And while the instrumentation suggests 1970s psych, the playing so often transcends that limitation.
Turner isn’t unafraid to go all-out avant garde or drift out to the far limits of musicality, although inspecting the track lengths we find that these experiments have been kept within a tight rein. When we compare his international band, drawn from a broad church of European cosmic music, with the contemporary Hawkwind, Brock and Sons‘ last project was an “acoustic” trawl through past glories accompanied by half-boiled orchestrations by Mike Batt. The album cover depicts Hawkwind as cartoon cricketers in the sort of style that one might expect to find on the wall of a red-faced English boozer. It is as if Dave Brock is determined to turn the band in the Wetherspoons of the galaxy, and following his notorious admiration for Enoch Powell in a 2009 BBC Radio 2 interview, we might look forward to the Rivers of Blood UK tour following a no-deal Brexit. Unlike comparable squabbling psychonauts such as Faust, Brock was sufficiently unwilling to allow two Hawkwinds to exist — or even for the name to be used in any form by Turner — to take the whole sorry affair to court.
The four albums that Nik Turner has put out over the six years since “Fallen Angel STS-51-L” have been exemplary intelligent space rock. Not resting on his laurels, he has also put out an album of cosmic jazz featuring many fusion luminaries such as Billy Cobham and John Etheridge, as well as Steve Hillage, John Weinzierl and Rick Wakeman from the proggier ends of that constellation. As he approaches eighty, Nik Turner is at the height of his powers, but we can’t help but worry whether The Final Frontier of the album title might be a veiled recognition that The Thunder Rider will one day leave this mortal realm.
Let’s hope it does not come too soon.

Freq - UK


With his recent solo albums ex-Hawkwind co-founder / composer Nik Turner tested the boundaries between space rock and open structures / improvisations. "The Final Frontier" is now, like the successful predecessor " Life In Space ", another consistent return to the classic Space Rock cosmos of shimmering tones. Ultimately, an album that sounds in many ways as if it came straight from the depths of the 70s. Glittering reverberation, rocking, melancholy spaciousness and a psychedelic atmosphere are an integral part of this freaky trip, which in every respect has a retro feel.
So not really new, but trippy groove and this very own, always somewhat irradiated Space Rock vibe still works today - as long as you have a penchant for those squeaky sounds from nowhere and want to get involved in something like that. But just the tension between saxophone / flute, almost completely hovering chanting with meaningful text shreds and analog keyboard sounds still promotes some interesting facets to light.
As usual from the previous albums, there is also an illustrious group of guest musicians, some of whom are known from recent albums, such as Nicky Garratt (UK subs, Hedersleben), Jürgen Engler (The Krupps), Simon House (ex-Hawkwind ) or Paul Rudolph (ex-Hawkwind / Pink Faries). Naturally, Nik Turner contributes a lot of saxophone and flute sounds as well as his content-related ideas. Furthermore, the album is dominated by lots of extravagant, mood-creating mellotron rugs.

Betreutes Proggen Germany


 The Final Frontier is the perfect title for this March 8, 2019 solo released by the space rock legend and co-founder of Hawkwind, Nik Turner, on the Cleopatra Records label.  Accompanying Nik who does the vocals, flute, and saxophone on this great album is Nicky Garratt on guitar, Jason Willer on drums, Kephera Moon on keyboards, Bryce Shelton on bass, Simon House on Violin, Jurgen Engler on Moog synthesizer, guitars and bass, Chris Lietz on keyboards and other guest artists.  This great progressive rock album with the new and original songs that harken back to the sci-fi psychedelia of early Hawkwind features such great tracks as Out Of Control, Interstellar Aliens, Thunder Rider, Calling the Egyptians, Back To The Ship and so much more.  This album was well written, recorded, and performed.  You can grab your own copy of this amazing album from Amazon, Itunes and other outlets where Vinyl, CD’s and digital downloads are sold.

Oasis Entertainment - US




NIK TURNER/Final Frontier:  The original Hawkwinder is back with a set that builds on his recent vintage  space explorations and finds him merging Hawk’s past with the uncharted future for future generation space heads to only consider the possibilities.  A sci-fi prog rocker to the core, this is a solid mind bending freak out for those that continue to carry the flag.
Midwest Record Entertainment - US


He doesn’t hang around, Nik Turner. This is his fourth album in six years, and at the age of seventy-nine, that’s impressive. Famously a founder member of Hawkwind twice and sacked both times from the ever-shifting line-up, it actually forms a small part of his career, where he has played with or led many other assemblages, with the common thread being space-music, psychedelia and general strangeness. He’s played with Gong, Psychic TV, The Stranglers, Sting, even Sham 69.
This is no big change for him but it is still a surprise to find him still working into his late seventies, making the music he loves. There are twirling sequencers, saxophone, tribal drums, slightly melancholy vocals, noodling guitar solos. The songs are about interstellar flight, lost worlds, time spent alone in space, narratives of space voyaging through time and emptiness. The medium is space rock, hard-blowing rock and chugging bluesers. Sax is compulsory here, of course, since it is Nik’s metier, and is fun, sometimes blowing hard and furious, edging towards hard atonal jazz.
Try Back To The Ship for some classic space boogie in the Hawkwind style, while Calling The Egyptian is the prog-space-story type. Strange Loop is an instrumental, the sort of cyclic thing that gets hippies dancing. The tells the slightly opaque story of some sort of space journey in a Michael Moorcock style. Hawkwind were probably the only band to have a resident novelist, creating narratives and lyrics for the band but the ideas came also from the band and Nik was clearly part of that.
If you enjoy the Hawk-universe, this will please your ears.

Vanguard Online - UK


Revered reedman shifts his Hawk-shaped shadow and gets unshackled from spirit of the age.
It’s been a five-decade-long journey for the man they call The Mighty Thunder Rider, yet don’t be tempted to deem this album his last and assume he’s reached the edge of time, for even the sky was never the limit for Nik Turner. Still, for all the veteran’s cosmos-themed meandering between prog and jazz on "Life In Space" and other latter-day works, he struggled to leave the HAWKWIND spiritual domain – or, quite possibly, it provided him with an easy way to engage the regular listener. Turns out there’s an alternative way – and here’s a proof.
While Nik’s perennial colleagues Paul Rudolph and Simon House add their strings to either part of the record’s transparent title epic – a brooding number stricken by strategically placed strange noises – the context Turner’s creating on “The Final Frontier” feels liberated from his old ensemble’s deliberate roughness in favor of captivating anthems and ballads, opener “Out Of Control” signaling the newly found freedom with a funereal riff which sax, guitar and synthesizer take beyond event horizon where spectral voices and hypnotic improv reigns supreme without compromising the track’s soulful jive. More so, delicate, filigree textures of “Interstellar Aliens” reveal fresh sensuality to what, in the past, often seemed like a drift for the sake of a trip rather than emotional release, yet the tension the band slowly build in “Back To The Ship” is resolved in a fierce groove that helps wrap reeds in thick cloth Jürgen Engler and Nicky Garratt weave indefatigably, if not relentlessly.
But aural assault and battery are far from the mind of the crew set on transfixing their audience with exotic sonics which carry “Calling The Egyptians” down warped path to a different drone and gives “Thunder Rider” a well-paced allure, though it’s not as tribal or triumphant as “Strange Loop” – a sort of space oratorio, light and welcoming as Nik’s pieces have rarely been before, the vocal presence illuminating the cut’s appeal even brighter. The same romanticism is infusing the flute-flaunting “PAD4” that’s down-to-earth and otherworldly at the same time. It’s Turner’s time now: at 78, the artist delivered his best album to date.
Let it Rock - Canada

How much more ‘awkwind could it be? The answer is none, none more Hawkwind, Nik Turner’s latest album, laced with the magic of Simon House as well as Paul Rudolph and references your captain being dead as we fly on into even deeper space,  from the first notes of Nik’s sax on Out of Control this is pure Hawkwind, classic Hawkwind, good drums, good Hawkwind always had good drums. Everything in there with Mr Turner’s sax and the Melotron-like flow, you pretty much know they’ve nailed the whole thing by the time you’d half way through the rather wonderfully restrained violin-heavy Interstellar Aliens. Yeah, I know this isn’t an Hawkwind album but hey, it damn well is, and this band are sounding far more committed and alive than the current Brock line up and their latest recordings ate. And no, classic Hawkfood it may be but this isn’t Hawkwind on auto-pilot, this is classic early 70’s Hawkwind, some of it flowing, some of it floating in deep space, they’re not just repeating previous voyages though, this is forward flowing space rock, the oscillation, the almost spoken work, that bit there sounds like Webcore, back to the ship they cry, yes Webcore, that good!  Output from the various branches of the Hawkfamily has been at best a little patchy in recent years, this new studio album The Final Frontier is the right stuff from start to finish, an album alive with just the right balance of light and shade, drive and flow, this is the best Hawkwind album in years actually, here the press release and the details of who’s on the ship and do not panic, things are good (and the idea of Nik Turner having a rose garden is a fine one, home Robert’s green fly aren’t a problem). Do like that in 2019 a new album from a Hawk can still be looking forward, best Hawkwind album in years
“After suiting up as the Space Gypsy in 2013, blasting off on an epic Space Fusion Odyssey in 2015 and enjoying Life In Space in 2017, pioneering musician/songwriter Nik Turner is now set to venture to the outer reaches of space rock with his awe-inspiring new studio album The Final Frontier! Picking up where his last album left off, Turner brings another set of psychedelic freak-out grooves that will take listeners on a journey they won’t soon forget! Standout tracks include the album opener “Out Of Control,” a super-collider of rollicking psych rock that unites saxophone and guitar in spectacular fashion, and the dramatic space ballad “Interstellar Aliens.” Once again joining our intrepid traveller Turner is Nicky Garratt of UK Subs and Hedersleben, Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps, and Jason Willer of UK Subs and Jello Biafra’s band as well as special guest appearances by Hawkwind alumni Simon House and Paul Rudolph. Available on CD in a digipak case as well as a gorgeous limited-edition yellow vinyl in a gatefold jacket”
The Organ - UK