Low Flying Hawks - Makebelieve (Album Review)

Release Date: October 25th 2024. Record Label: Sympatry Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Makebelieve - Track Listing:

1.OUT FOR BLOOD 04:50

2.BRIDGES 03:37

3.SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF 05:58

4.OLD COUNTRY 07:32

5.STOIC 07:19

6.AXIOM 04:23

7.VAMPIRE 07:11

8.MAKEBELIEVE 04:27

9.MOVE ON 06:21

Members

AAL

EHA 

DALE CROVER

TREVOR DUNN

TOSHI KASAI

Review

Low Flying Hawks return with their fourth full length album Makebelieve with core members AAL and EHA joined once again by MELVINS drummer Dale Crover, Tomahawk’s Trevor Dunn and legendary producer Toshi Kasai. This time round Low Flying Hawks opt for a gloomier and abstract style of Doom Metal and Sludge Metal compared to their previous albums. With a foreboding Shoegaze sound appearing, Low Flying Hawks develop a Alternative Metal sound compared to their previous trilogy of albums which allows this album to have a completely different sound that you initially expect.

The opening songs of Out For Blood and Bridges sets up the scene with distinctive and very different vocal styles which become quite extreme in places, especially on Bridges. The music itself is a mixture of Doom, Sludge, Prog Metal, Post-Metal and Ambient themes for a sound that’s quite diverse and very multilayered at the same time. Drawing upon a slight OCCULT nature for the creative story for Makebelieve, the grooves are plentiful with fine amounts of long drawn muscular sounds which become quite Psychedelic and trippy in nature. 

There are brief moments where Low Flying Hawks draw upon sounds heard from their earlier records and inject a Doomgaze or Shoegaze aspect into the mix. With Dale Crover, Trevor Dunn and Toshi Kasai involved, the record has influences from the legendary bands they’ve all been involved with. Toshi applies his world class mixing and engineering skills into the mix for this record and this allows Makebelieve to sound EPIC throughout. The record is also quite solitary and mournful with some brief moments of uplifting Post-Doom and Post-Metal being employed within the more sombre and heaviest parts of the album within tracks such as Suspension Of Disbelief, Old Country, Stoic, Vampire and Move On. 

Experimentation has always been one of the key factors to Low Flying Hawks providing their own great style of music and that’s true here with Makebelieve perhaps being the band’s most personal and emotionally charged record to date. The lyrics are quite thoughtful and even thought provoking at times which allows the album to provide a deeply satisfying conclusion when everything is said and done. 

Makebelieve feels like Low Flying Hawks are going under a creative rebirth or musical transformation by using different styles of music they haven’t used before and saying goodbye to previous musical endeavours with this more foreboding and in some ways extreme style of music. The album offers no easy answers especially within the harsh vocal structures and intense melodic Post-Doom and Post-Metal passages that Low Flying Hawks strongly focus upon throughout the whole album.

Low Flying Hawks have provided another unforgettable album with Makebelieve and one that is perhaps their most important album to date. The band are always shrouded in mystery and rarely give any interviews which only adds to the whole beauty and intensity of Makebelieve. This is a beautiful, complex and emotionally unforgiving record that will rank as one of the best records of the year.

Words by Steve Howe

Makebelieve is available to buy now on DD/Vinyl via Sympatry Records

Links

Facebook | BandCamp

Low Flying Hawks - Kōfuku (Album Review)

Release date: February 12th 2016. Label: Magnetic Eye Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Kōfuku – Tracklisting

1.Kōfuku

2.Now, Apocalypse

3.Seafloor Fathoms

4.Fading Sun

5.White Temple

6.Kokkai

7.Ruins

8.Wolves Within Wolves

9.Till the Night Meets the Light

10.Destruction Complete

Band Members:

EHA - Guitar, Bass, Lead Vocals

AAL - Guitar, Bass, Additional Vocals

Trevor Dunn - Bass

Dale Crover - Drums

Review:

Low Flying Hawks consists of two members called EHA (Guitar, Bass and Lead Vocals) and AAL (Guitar, Bass and Additional Vocals) who have been classed as Heavygaze. I don’t know what that term actually means but their debut album – Kōfuku – is loud, brash, and chaotic with an almost violent unpredictable nature. The band blend Doom, Noise, Sludge, Post-Metal, Post-Rock, Ambient Noise and Industrial sounds for one complex sounding album.

The album has been produced and engineered by Toshi Kasai (Big Business and The Melvins) and has guest appearances from Trevor Dunn (Mr Bungle) and Dale Crower (The Melvins). So you know the album is going to at least sound good and be heavy especially in the drumming and bass department.

The album starts off bleak and stays that way for the whole duration of the album. Distorted guitars, ambient noises and depressing vocals make this an album that will haunt you for a very long time. Opening track – Kōfuku – is a fifty second ambient track warning you of the upcoming dangers of the album. It sets up the scene with a slightly depressing outlook on life.

Second track – Now, Apocalypse – takes the industrial sounds of early NIN and adds a cold sludge/post-metal exterior with nightmarish noises and sounds merged into the background. The drumming adds a slightly claustrophobic vibe with the guitars being played at a slow pace.

Third track – Seafloor Fathoms – carries on the doom and gloom vibe as the music becomes ever more distorted and drowning in ambient noises. It’s a complex affair as the song has a lot going on especially with the vocals and almost industrial style sludge based riffs. Low Flying Hawks opt for a more psychedelic style of sounds near the end of the song. However distortion is the main weapon of choice for the band as the music is buried under a ton of it.

Fourth track – Fading Sun – is a more upbeat and hopeful song compared to the opening tracks as the band create an uplifting environment where the sludge/post-metal noises are matched with upbeat post-rock sounds and subtle vocals to match. It’s played at a deliberate slow pace which allows the band to create the albums finest riffs.

The remainder of the album carries on the same dark and twisted path with Low Flying Hawks creating many more great moments of distorted “Heavygaze” where the volume becomes ever so louder and darker as a result. Songs such as White Temple, Ruins and Destruction Complete are perhaps the standout songs on the album as these contain perhaps the heaviest and finest sounds on the album.

Low Flying Hawks have created an unsettling and nightmarish masterpiece that will appeal to fans of Neurosis, Pelican, Russian Circles, The Melvins and Nine Inch Nails. Kudos to Magnetic Eye Records for signing this band to their roster.

Whatever you do, buy this album when it’s released on CD/DD/Vinyl on Feb 12th 2016 via Magnetic Eye Records. You need this record in your life. No question…

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Richard Jones at Sheltered Life PR for the promo.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp