LOW FLYING HAWKS – Genkaku (August 25, 2017)

Churning with sonic devastation and rolling waves of hopelessness, Genkaku is the second album from Low Flying Hawks, the self-described “ambient metal” band featuring drummer Dale Crover (The Melvins) and bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) alongside songwriters and multi-instrumentalists EHA and AAL.

Genkaku is the follow-up to LFH’s 2016 debut, Kōfuku, a record lauded as “metal for a dying world” and “vividly of its time” by Consequence of Sound. Doomier and boasting bigger hooks, Genkaku is more riff-filled than the post-metal shoegaze of its predecessor, overflowing with tectonic guitar dirges and darkly intense music-as-mood.

Produced, recorded and mixed by Toshi Kasai (The Melvins, Big Business) at Sound of Sirens, and mastered by the experienced James Plotkin (Electric Wizard, Moon Duo), Genkaku (Japanese for “hallucination” or illusion”) also features The Melvins frontman King Buzzo, who lends his unique vocals to the album’s titanic lead track, “Smile,” as well as the impossibly awesome “Space Wizard.”

According to The Obelisk, “These sonic personae form a circle around Low Flying Hawks‘ initials-only core of vocalist/guitarist/bassist EHA and bassist/guitarist/vocalist AAL, who’ve successfully managed to keep their own identities obscure while letting the focus be on the breadth of their sonic output — a clear and purposeful choice.”

“Listeners enter a state of trance and confusion,” AAL and EHA offer. “Pounding guitars full of sludgy undertones fill Genkaku from beginning to end, building to a sinister and almost out-of-body experience. It’s ideal for those who are willing to let go and hand over control to this hallucinating monster of a record.”

Dale Crover adds, “It was great recording with Low Flying Hawks. Their psychotic, psychedelic, mind-bending compositions will take you on a journey through your inner space.”

Genkaku track listing: