Don’t call it a side project! Although Low Flying Hawks features Dale Crover on drums, with guest appearances by King Buzzo and ex-Melvin Trevor Dunn, this outfit is the brainchild of two fully dedicated, otherwise unknown musicians going by the names of AAL and EHA. Following last year’s successful Kofuku debut on Magnetic Eye, the band is back with their sophomore effort on the same label, offering seven trippy tracks all (but one) exceeding five minutes.
Genkaku kicks off with “Smile,” which is NOT a Boris song, although with the fuzzy, melodic riffs, droning, clean vocals and heavy, pounding rhythm section, it very well could be. This one even takes a detour into droney, downtuned doom about halfway through its eight-and-a-half-minute runtime, before a very Goatsnakey riff kicks in right around the six-minute mark. “Uncool” offers more of a Melvins/Goatsnake vibe right from the get-go, with light, airy vocals soaring overtop some crunchy riffs. And “Virgin Witch” channels the Melvins in the song title department, offering up some more solid fuzz riffs that would jive with their early 90’s output, although it pushes things past the seven-minute mark. I think I can see how they were able to recruit Crover, Buzzo et al…
With the album’s two longest songs appearing on Side A, the second side offers a fistful of more concise numbers. “Space Wizard” stands out for its melodic vocals over a trippy riff pattern, throwing in a bit of Sabbath around the 2:15 mark. “Hallucination” contains perhaps the doomiest riff on this record, sounding a bit like Pallbearer in its sorrow and anguish. “Twilight” is a heavier, lengthier post-sludge number, just shy of seven minutes, with a bit of a Neurosis vibe and a solid noise-rock passage that kicks in around the 4:30 mark. “Sinister Waves” also follows the NeurIsis template, without sounding too reminiscent of either. All in all, this is not a bad way to spend 45 minutes.
lowflyinghawks.bandcamp.com/album/genkaku
www.merhq.net/news/2017/7/5/low-flying-hawks-feat-melvins-members-ready-new-album
