Drone

Low Flying Hawks, Fuyu (Magnetic Eye Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , ,

Doomgaze duo Low Flying Hawks wrap up their trinary sequence with Fuyu.

The band is comprised of two multi-instrumentalists known mysteriously as EHA and AAL who compose the music and perform it along with select guest musicians. Kōfuku (2016) was the first installment in the trilogy, followed by Genkaku (2017). Fans have been waiting a while for the final piece but it has been worth it because Fuyu surpasses the high standard set by its predecessors.

Here is the story about the story. “ ‘Fuyu’ means ‘winter’ in Japanese, and ‘Fuyu’ is also the finale of Low Flying Hawks’ trilogy based on the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphos, King of Corinth, who was cruelly punished by the Olympian gods to eternally push a massive bolder up on a hill – only to see it slip and roll down again every time he neared the top.” Rich source material, to be sure. I don’t know if there is any resolution at the end, but there is no shortage of strife along the way.

There are seven songs on the album, most of them exceeding a comfortable radio length. The music is a tense, uncomfortable glide wherein you sometimes feel like you are about to crash and at other times think it all might come to a dead stop. It is unsettling if you try to anticipate what will come next.

My favorite passages are the heavy doom elements, as in the beginning of “Subatomic Sphere” where the guitars put you squarely in a solid groove, the vocals are mournful, and the lead work has a furtive gravity. Quiet songs like “Midnight” are often juxtaposed with harsher treatments like the title track itself, placing the listener in an ever tilting headspace. And then there are songs like “Caustic Wing,” my favorite on the album, that can be experienced as mini epics unto themselves even while fitting tightly in with the greater whole. I think this new album from Low Flying Hawks is their best so far. Recommended.

Out tomorrow, August 27th, through Magnetic Eye Records, Fuyu is at once modern and legendary. Check it out for yourself.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://lowflyinghawks.bandcamp.com/album/fuyu

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Lowflyinghawks-1626755734268513/

Magnetic Eye Records, https://us.spkr.media/magnetic-eye-records/low-flying-hawks-fuyu.html

Low Flying Hawks, Fuyu (Magnetic Eye Records 2021)

Pando, Rites (Aesthetic Death 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Experimental metal duo Pando come back with another layered and complex experience for the initiated and the adventurous.

The band is Adam R. Bryant and Matthew Gagne. The music could be called experimental and/or drone and/or Black Metal and a lot of other things, too. The compositions include sounds, noises, dialogue, chants, guitars, clean vocals and craggy ones, percussion, captures, and expressions.

The set starts with what sounds like an LP of Gregorian Chants being played. A narrative track joins – a man speaking. This goes on for three full minutes, and then the savage voice breaks in and the mood turns from weird to sinister. This new reality goes on for a tight three, then new chanting begins, urgent against a tortured guitar and hopeless choir: “agapē” is the song. With that for an opener you figure anything could come next, all of it equally likely. What you actually get is difficult to put into an closing container.

The music has the feeling of ritual to it, and Rites is the therefore the perfect title for the album. You can get into a state listening to this, an altered state. The second piece is short, “dadaism,” and it will absolutely rattle your nerves with its piercing and pounding. Some tracks sound very much like a traditionally-formed songs, as in “total station theodolite,” which could live comfortably elsewhere. But others like “in god we trust with our cold dead hands” are something that could only really have a home on an album like this one.

Rites makes the most sense to me as an experience. I wouldn’t try to conceive of the separate tracks as individual entities even though many of them work well that way. Take it in all at once, altogether, and see what that does to you. Recommended.

The album is out tomorrow, Friday March 26th. Links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://thetremblinggiant.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/heaviestorganism/

Label, https://www.aestheticdeath.com/

Pando, Rites (Aesthetic Death 2021)