The punk-metal trio are back with their highly anticipated follow-up to their 2023 debut, Earth, Spit, Blood and Bones. While I’ve seen the name around, I don’t think I particularly know any of their music. However, having checked out a single in the lead up to this, it seems like it should be right up my street! Without further ado, let’s dive in!
The album starts out showing exactly what it’s about, and showcasing exactly what the band stand for. An audio clip of a woman talking about her brother jailed for protesting for Palestine gives way to a huge vocal wall from the trio, giving rise to the track name ‘Resistance is Justified’ perfectly. The heavy instrumentation behind it fits the vibe perfectly, the drumroll building excellently, while the Gojira-like guitars complement it excellently. As it explodes in we get chants of ‘Free Palestine’ and honestly, fuck yeah, this is punk metal awesomeness. The vocals remind me a little of a Dead Kennedy’s type, but also with plenty of anger and scream to them too. And of course the lyrics are phenomenal, matching the angst a lot of the world is feeling currently. It’s heavy and anti-establishment in all the very best ways. And, as I said, it’s the perfect way to set the tone for the release as a whole, and an excellent way to introduce the band to any new listeners. A MASSIVE early highlight!
‘Macho Bullshit’ continues the vibes from the pervious track perfectly. The opening riff is both heavy and groovy in equal measure, almost feeling like a modern/nu metal song at first. Otep was where my mind immediately went to, and that certainly isn’t a bad thing! The lower-level verse, builds perfectly through the pre into an almost hardcore-like part, and then gets even bigger with a melodic, doom-ish chorus. All of it is excellent and so very catchy! It’s a bit more radio friendly a track, a very good choice for a single. The outro is awesome too, proper metallic punk greatness. To I’m sure no surprise, this is another awesome song and one that makes our playlist!
The other single from the release (damn this album is front-loaded!) ‘Feral Mother’, opens on vocals and a simple guitar chug. It once again builds perfectly, exploding into a huge, heavy soundscape. It takes an almost prog vibe to it at this point, though the vocal melody instead is very Serj Tankian. It’s surprisingly catchy, and again works excellently as a single. It’s less angsty than the previous songs, but provides a really interesting change of pace, almost all the elements of punk stripped away, left with an epic metal vibe. The album has already kept me guessing in the best possible way, and this is another great example of that!
‘We Are Nature’ gives off a similar vibe to the previous track, though with a slight bit of that punk attitude injected back into it. The same could be said for ‘Bind’ and ‘Sacred Water’. Both have a Middle Eastern tinge to them, giving off vibes of Igorrr or Lowen on top of their own style. They are similar in their sound and execution, but are so very different from some other tracks on the album, making it constantly interesting and rather fascinating. The former is probably my favourite just for the HEAVY dum outro. However, all three are fantastic songs, packed with great melodies, instrumentation and lyrics.
Then you have the more frantic energy of songs like ‘Arm the Animals’ and ‘Shriek’ Both have more of that hardcore punk energy to it, with the former being another huge high point of the album for me, both lyrically and musically. The band are SO GOOD when they are angry, almost equalling Sam Carter levels of excellent in that regard. However, the latter at least has elements of that Middle Eastern melody to it too, yet still has the aggressive edge of stuff like the opener. It’s a fantastic combination of all their sounds!
‘Me Her and the Birds’ is the ballad of the album. It’s a dark, beautiful track mainly built around a simple, clean guitar chord progression and the ladies’ vocals. Having said that, it still builds gradually into a heavier, more distorted, huge crescendo. However, it stays at a slower pace, being truly epic and menacing in all the best ways. It’s another track that somehow feels completely different while also sounding distinctly like HAWXX What a track!
The closer, ‘Be That Whore’, is truly a culmination of everything that came before it. From the punky attitude to the prog-metal structures and riffs to some incredible screams, it all blends together masterfully. It’s the longest track on the record at comfortably over six minutes, but it means everything gets the perfect time to breathe. It’s ambitious and heavy and so very well written. A perfectly fitting way to close out the album, and in a way that only HAWXX can!
Overall: I absolutely loved this album! I didn’t really know what to expect heading in outside of what I got from their presser, but I emerge from this release as a massive new fan of the band! All three of the trio kill it from start to finish, and every song on it is great, with a good handful standing out as truly excellent. If you are at all a fan of your music a little heavier or punky, this is absolutely the release for you. And damn, if some of the lyrics and the messages aren’t fantastic. I’ll certainly be listening to this again, and don’t be surprised to see it high on our albums of the year list come December! I can see them being a big name, sooner rather than later!
The Score: 9/10