### Freedom Hawk: Freedom hawk

#### 25/11/09 || Habakuk

This is the second album I’ve heard from the MeteorCity label (after the pretty cool Leeches of lore disc) and it’s the second one I enjoy. Compelling. Keep sending shit, folks, you’re making me a happy Haba. I had a feeling about it, but I’m getting pretty convinced they have a policy only to sign bands that sport an animal in their name, write the band name in psychedelia fonts and are confident about it. Why else would one even think about getting a band on board that’s called Freedom Hawk? I mean, seriously… Freedom Hawk!

The guys in the band obviously are indeed confident they’ve secured themselves a fucken ace moniker (wrong), since they’ve made their second full-length a self-titled, but try to imagine before your inner eye the kind of persons that would be part of a band like this, and mind you: This is a US band, not guys from a country that blindly adopts everything from across the big ocean as if there lay the land of freedom and democracy. 150 year old leatherjacketed hillbilly motorcyclists with bird patch on the backs, fringed sleeves, legs, ears and fingers, fringed ZZ Top beards with sewn-in confederates flags and thinned-out hair who are constantly driving through a self-propelled pile of bullshit that would have loved to play the Rock in Sisyphos – The Movie but was denied the role ‘cause it was shit, basically. Freedom Hawk, Babey! The guys look more like a bunch of skater brand-endorsed dudes, though. What was this website about? Music, right. These dudes make music.

And the gang’s all here: Thick, warm sound, vocals between (enjoyable) Ozzy, Kyuss and Trouble, fuzzy guitars, driving drums, laid-back heaviness, groove, stoner, boner, barbeque sauce riffs. By no means is there anything that pushes boundaries, but fer fuck’s sake, just let the guys leave the stoner/doom boundaries where they’re at and play fucken stoner. Thanks. Good work, Virginia, good work, MeteorCity. Somehow I get a feeling this genre can’t bore me if done reasonably well and with conviction, and this is good for the platonic relationship between Freedom Hawk and me. Relationships are important, says Grandma. If you on the other hand are looking for something out of the ordinary here, you won’t find it with the ‘Hawk. And I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Last time I checked, the genre name was not an abbreviation of stoner rocket science.

This album is enjoyable and professionally done and warrants that you as a stonerhead check it out. My only complaint is that I enjoy this kind of music with a decent amount of speed from time to time, which is an area where Freedom Hawk are lacking a bit, but can you have everything? Of course you can’t, you demanding asshole, and I’ll content myself with tasty, relaxed yet heavy songwriting, good riffing and a great overall flow.

I still haven’t found my perfect stoner album and somehow I have a feeling that is an impossible task. This album doesn’t change that either, but I’ll keep looking, and it wasn’t a bad effort by the skate squad at all, so I’ll keep them in the favorable department of my mind while I roll the stoner rock uphill once more for another take of my favorite (and only) scene of Sysiphos. Hnnnghhh…

- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: MeteorCity
- Website: www.freedomhawkband.com

- Band:
- T.R. Morton: vocals, guitars
- Matt Cave: guitars
- Mark Cave: bass
- Lenny Hines: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. On the other side
- 02. Universal
- 03. My road
- 04. Ten years
- 05. Bad man
- 06. Jay walker
- 07. Hollow caverns