Hawk Eyes - Mindhammers EP Review

Hawk Eyes, or Chickenhawk as you may previously have known them are a Leeds based alternative metal band, and this EP is their first 'proper' release following their name change.

The first thing you notice about Mindhammers is that it seems a little less heavy than their impressively brutal Modern Bodies album, but that is not to say that Hawk Eyes have gone soft, or that they are pandering to the mainstream. This still is not easy listening. The five songs on offer here show a band willing to experiment with their sound, refusing to just do the same thing over and over again.

Kicking off the EP is the brilliant Crack Another One, featuring Helmet style stabs of guitar, relentless drumming and a chorus that goes some way to being catchy, as does the title track, Mindhammers. These are furious rock songs that sound very little like anything else out there at the moment.

Next up is Dead Man's Hand, a much slower, much more brooding, sludgy track that slowly stutters along before Eleven Years, an absolute gem of a song that is unlike anything Hawk Eyes have ever done before. It manages to stay at a level just beneath the brain frying, break neck rage that this band usually delivers, but in the place of the usual off the hook insanity is a sinister creepiness that is every bit as effective.

The final song on this EP is Hidden Hound, a six and a half minute hard rock assault. It juggles all of the styles this brilliant band dabble in within one song, and tells us that whatever they've got hidden away to use on that second album is probably going to be just as fantastic and mad as anything that Modern Bodies delivered.

If not better.

Ben Walton