For those unaware it is best to reveal early…Hawk Eyes used to be Chickenhawk. Under that previous name they released the cutthroat awesomeness of 'Modern Bodies'. For those that worried their name change meant a move from high-octane vicious post-alternative-hardcore-metal or whatever it is that they did on that first album, to something far more restrained and easy going, then do not fear. Hawk Eyes are back in just as absurdly barnstorming a fashion as they were on last year’s teaser EP 'Mindhammers' and as before their name change.
'Ideas' is a record first of all founded upon the riffs. Guitarists Paul Astick and Rob Stephens are six-string behemoths, conjuring all sorts of instantly memorable battering rams from their instruments. Part Smashing Pumpkins and part Helmet, their devotion to coaxing as much brutality out of their amps as is humanly possible serves them even better on this release than it did on 'Modern Bodies'. There is not much in the way of let-up on this album. 'Ideas' is all about crushing the mind under a sea of heavy rock riffage and boy is it successful.
If you are just giving the album your first spin as you read this you may be surprised to learn that it actually starts rather slowly. Sure, 'Witch Hunt' and 'Skyspinners' may seem to race out of the blocks but they are nothing compared to the pure brilliance that emerges later on. The second half of this album might just be the best twenty-five minutes of rock music you will hear all year. The likes of 'Hollywood Sweatshop', 'Milk Hog' and 'Bears by the Head' are so insanely good that they should come with a health warning. My own efforts to listen to them without jumping around the room with careless abandon have thus far been unsuccessful, plus they made me spill tea all over my copy of the new Maybeshewill single…and it was worth it (sorry Leicester’s finest).
In all seriousness this is just a fantastic record for lovers of adrenaline fuelled, heavy rock music. It may not be the cleverest thing you will hear all year and it is not going to win any awards for breath-taking originality but it deserves to win awards for being stupidly good. Sometimes a band does not need to even attempt to reinvent the wheel, they just need to turn it in their own indomitable style and that is what Hawk Eyes have done here. 'Ideas' should be set in stone as one of the favourite of the year for headbangers everywhere.
'Ideas' is out on Monday via Fierce Panda Records.
It’s ace. Buy it. Hawk Eyes will be on tour later in 2012.
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'Ideas' is a record first of all founded upon the riffs. Guitarists Paul Astick and Rob Stephens are six-string behemoths, conjuring all sorts of instantly memorable battering rams from their instruments. Part Smashing Pumpkins and part Helmet, their devotion to coaxing as much brutality out of their amps as is humanly possible serves them even better on this release than it did on 'Modern Bodies'. There is not much in the way of let-up on this album. 'Ideas' is all about crushing the mind under a sea of heavy rock riffage and boy is it successful.
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