Woodhawk Beyond the Sun Review
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For those fans of Black Sabbath, The Sword, Clutch, Truckfighters, Priestess, Mastodon, Red Fang, Thin Lizzy , etc. then these guys might be right up your alley. They are Turner - Guitar / Vox, Mike - Bass / Vox, Kevin – Drums and they rock around Calgary, Alberta. They are hailed as “purveyors of riff centric rock and roll.”
When I sampled around I liked what I heard. I was taken through the last couple decades as I listened to the songs. As their press release states, they certainly do remind me of said bands. Production value is good and they really know who they are. This definition is important in their style as they won’t bore you with songs you won’t rock your head or fists to except for a decent chill track that’s pretty sweet called Foresee the Future. My favorite on the album are the fast moving Chrononaut and Living in the Sand. As such, there’s no need to review each song separately.
Unfortunately, the lyrics are not convincing. It seems as though the perspective of the singer is made up as if to maybe sound cool if you read it but in reality they’re not. I’m not sure if a lot of effort was put into feeling and emotion or they were trying just to be poetic but failing. My problem is that the lyrics sound like the types of those bands mentioned at the beginning of this review. Perhaps it’s because times are different now and they may intentionally want to be stuck decades behind. I’m not bashing just trying to make sense of why I feel this way. I can’t get into their messages.
My other issue is that I liked them better when I was sampling around. As I sat through the 9 songs I realized the songs were very similar to one another, for the most part, and none failed to really hook me. Maybe I’m not old fashioned enough.
On one end of the shovel
Woodhawk definitely knows how to rock and can effortlessly pull off riffs reminiscent of older times in good ol’ rock and roll. The songs have high energy and I imagine they’d be hyper in person. They know who they are and you’ll either love them or think that they are alright. You won’t hate their music at all.
On the other end of the shovel
The lyrics just aren’t my thing and don’t convince me. The vocalist is good but his vocal hooks are mostly absent. I feel like he tried to make the words work in his favor instead of letting his voice lead the way. Also, the songs were very energetic but it was nearly full force for too long causing me to get bored. If the vocal hooks were more to my liking I could’ve sat through it more easily.
How deep can I dig it?
The lyrics aren’t my cup of tea and neither is the style something I can sit and listen to very long before I get bored. I would definitely choose to listen to these guys in the background except for Foresee the Future. That one is epic-ly chill but I don’t recall it having vocals. I do believe Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and Clutch fans really would like them. In fact, I remember not caring much for Thin Lizzy or Clutch so maybe it’s just that style that I personally don’t get in to. It doesn’t mean that others would hate it. I can say though that there is great energy and I’m sure they’d be a lot of fun live and maybe even cool in person. For these reason Others could easily dig them 8 or more out of 10 but I only dig Woodhawk’s Beyond the Sun 6 out of 10 feet deep!