Hawks - Rub (preview)

Label: Trans Ruin
Year: 2011

Thee greatest band in all of Christendom (Atlanta) right now, Hawks, are poised to release their second full length, and the band were nice enough to provide three tracks from the aforementioned album to whet your appetite. Trans Ruin doesn't have a website, but they do have a Myspace page here: Trans Ruin, which you could use to get in touch and order this record.
Musically, Hawks have taken a step forward from their Barnburner lp, building on the tracks from the recent split with Cafe Flesh (also available from Trans Ruin), taking their 90's noise rock sound into a darker, more muscular realm. The songs are a little more open, not necessarily "straight forward" by traditional standards, but where Barnburner was an impenetrable fortress of chaotic hell, Rub appears to open the gates some by fleshing out the vintage Jesus Lizard riffs with some vintage Negative Approach, and the always-in-style Hammerhead thud rock that we all know and love, to allow the listener in a little further to inspect the charred walls of the burnt out hull of a dungeon. They are one of the few bands to successfully amalgamate the best bits of the past 30 years of rock music into one hulking mass of energy.
Music that means to be mean.
Hail Hawks! Onward to Valhalla!

DL