British faux-gospel prog rockers Church return with this splendorous fourth album. It’s an entirely enigmatic project led by singer/ guitarist Bill Fisher, and the band’s mystical origins and white-robed stage attire carry all the trappings of an early-70s hippie sex cult, but their sound is rooted firmly in crunching classic-era arena rock.
It’s like Ghost and the Polyphonic Spree proselytising in some high-watt megachurch. One More Step, the album’s lead single, is a mesmerising entry point into their world, both sinister and inviting, building from a stoner-rock organ groove into a pocket symphony of heavenly choirs and crashing guitars.
Elsewhere the band channel the grandeur of Queen (Seven Rays Of Colour) and the acid-burn of Hawkwind (Valley and Hills Part 1). Even the more intimate numbers, such as power-ballad closer We Lost It Somewhere, have an expansive, cinematic quality to them.
There Is No Time is a frequently enthralling collection that balances doomy invocations with life-affirming positivity.
