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Freedom Hawk > Sunlight > Reviews
Freedom Hawk - Sunlight

Desert Rock From Coastal Sands - 90%

TheReactor, November 29th, 2023
Written based on this version: 2022, 12" vinyl, Ripple Music (Coloured, Repress)

The album has a unique atmosphere for a band within the stoner genre which sets it apart from the many generic or repetitive bands within the scene. The atmosphere is somewhat laid back(I understand that part is not unique) in a bizarre/eerie kind of way while other times it's high energy. The sounds from this album will sometimes conjure a setting of an open road or coastal dunes, perhaps that is due to having knowledge of the area the band comes from. The album contains many enchanting riffs with tasty solos. Some of the solos were bluesy and some were more straight rock n' roll. The guitar tone on this album is done very well and may have the perfect amount of fuzz and volume, this album may have my favorite guitar tone and effects among their entire catalogue. The vocals also have a memorable quality to them and are a consistent aspect of Freedom Hawk, the best way I can describe them is it has a similar tone and resonance to Ozzy. He doesn't sound like a complete rip off, just his voice happens to be similar, there is still a distinction but I also think the vocalist is aware of this, because if you can sound similar to Ozzy why wouldn't you try vocals. No song on this album sounds too much like the last one with each song having a different catchy chorus and main riff. The drums and the drum recording sound solid, the rhythm section does well at keeping the album interesting as well.

The songs on average run typically between four to five minutes which is a good length since the song structure for many of this songs is closer to that of classic rock and the songs are slow but rather mid tempo with some slower parts. I believe the vocalist uses some effects, at least it appeared this way when seeing them live, which go well with the music's overall atmosphere. The lyrics were nothing to complex or compelling but perhaps about love, lust, personal struggle, overcoming, and addiction. My favorite tracks on this album would have to be "Land of the Lost", "Going Down", and "Palomino". Going Down was a very enjoyable interlude and is one of my favorite clean tracks/interludes of the genre, I would call it the band's "Planet Caravan". The album contains almost all good songs and I would certainly recommend to any fan of this genre. Is it a classic of this genre, it very well may be but perhaps we will still need more time.