By Gruesome Greg

Freedom Hawk is a four-piece band from Tidewater, Virgina, presumably not far from the Doom Capital. That being said, they are a stoner rock band, through and through. They borrow from the masters (Kyuss, Nebula, etc) without being a band that “sounds too much like” anybody. Vocalist TR Morton obviously takes his cues from Ozzy and John Garcia, and the band has invested in all the right pedals to produce that classic stoner sound, but there’s enough variety and originality on this teaser of an album (seven tracks coming in just under 34 minutes) to warrant heavy rotation in my CD changer.

Second track “Universal” even has a little “War Pigs” in it. Check out that drum solo! “My Road” opens with a great, classic, stoner rock guitar riff, but it’s the bass that drives the mellow chorus. “Bad Man” has little to do with the OTIS song of the same name (it’s a whole helluva lot faster, for one!), but offers a good, driving bluesy riff that you can nod yer head to. Speaking of slow, heavy riffs, “Jay Walker” sure packs a punch from the opening note. The closest this album comes to the “true doom” of their DC brethren. They even succeed in making a ballad sound badass, ending the album with “Hollow Caverns.”

After slogging through a buncha 60+ minute albums from MeteorCity, this one’s a breath of fresh air. Let’s hope these guys go the route of The Atomic Bitchwax, rather than Lowrider, and give us a few more records to chill out to!

(MeteorCity)

RATING: 8.5