Underskog

Når man lytter til finske Death Hawks sitt debut album Death & Decay (2012), er det uungåelig å trekke paralleller til band som The Doors, Led Zeppelin og Black Sabbath.
Det er mørkt, gjørmete og tungt.
Tenk barter, rutete skjorter, langt hår og 70 tallet!

deathhawks.com

www.facebook.com/deathhawks

“Imagine a wide open plain with wild horses running off in the distance. Jim Morrison is settling down to masturbate (Not for want of female attention–the ladies are still crazy for him–but just because he wants to). A few yards back is a young Ozzy Osbourne, watching. Suddenly a child appears on the steps of the nearest black baptist church: This child is Death Hawks”

Dette er blitt sagt om Finlands nye stjerner, Death Hawks som forøvrig har turnert med Kadaver. De kommer og besøker oss på Mono 22 januar.

The Finnish town of Tampere is often called the “Manchester of Finland”. That’s mainly due to its industrial background, but it also works in a musical sense. Just like in Manchester, people in Tampere were always drawn to making music. In the early seventies Rock music from there even got its own genre: “Manserock”.

DEATH HAWKS look like they have come straight from that era. Teemu Markkula, Tenho Mattila, Miikka Heikkinen and Riku Pirttiniemi have long hair, big beards and they wear leather vests with tassles. So what else should they play than Psychedelic-Rock? The guitar sings the Blues, the organ is often reminiscent of The Doors. Sometimes there’s a bit of Krautrock or Folk on top while other songs see Death Hawks indulge in heavy guitar riffs or even a saxophone solo. Live, this results in a fierce musical excess!

DEATH HAWKS was put together in the spring of 2010 to arrange and record songs by singer Teemu Markkula, but it soon metamorphosed into a real band. The bands intense live shows, with their psychedelic meanderings and in-your-face boogie, soon created an organic hype around the band. DEATH HAWKS released their debut album “Death & Decay” in February 2012 through Tampere-based GAEA records and the self-titled second album came out September 2013.

DEATH HAWKS is a timeless band. Its references, or at least the most obvious ones, come from a variety of sources, from the blues to psychedelia, early heavy metal to krautrock, but there is no way you can all the sound pure retro. Theres an overabundance of bands influenced by many of the same genres in the global underground, but few of them can rise above crate-digging and pastiche. So, on paper, DEATH HAWKS sounds tiringly familiar, but as a listening experience it hits the spot, thanks to strong songwriting. High praise for the debut album and a reputation as a mind-blowing live act are now fueling hype outside Finland. Heavy touring has made sure DEATH HAWKS’ live gigs have grown even more fierce, showing the crowd what rock once was and what it will be.

DEATH HAWKS’ new, self-titled album is a blend of ’70s krautrock and psychedelia, A stream of consciousness where intoxicating shamanistic rhythm meets cool, minimal saxophone, raw guitar shredding and intriguing, elegant keyboard patterns. At the same time, DEATH HAWKS master the very core of rock itself and the polar opposite of it.

DEATH HAWKS is

Teemu Markkula (vocals,guitars) Tenho Mattila (keyboards, saxophone) Miikka Heikkinen (drums, percussion) Riku Pirttiniemi (bass, vocals)

“It’s often said that some things people are able to do freely ought to require a license of some sort. Like making babies. Making dark psychedelic rock should be added to that list. It seems so easy, but… Tampere-based Death Hawks could waltz into any government office and waltz out with a license just like that. Their annual checkups would be a breeze. Psychedelic bureaucrats would be falling all over themselves to drown the band in psychotropic innovation grants. Luckily this is not the case. Death Hawks comes from Finland. The guitar sings the blues, the bass pounds the jazz and keyboards crawl all over it. A voice sings from deep within a worm-nourished Earth.”

- Kuudes Aisti -festivaali // Sixth Sense Festival