GYPSYHAWK - Revelry & Resilience

I must admit that before they got to Metal Blade Records, the name Gypsyhawk was completely unknown to me, but there’s a first time for everything. What drew my attention to Gypsyhawk? First of all the name. Hawk made me think of Hawkwind, and gypsy, well, to gypsies (or Roma). Besides, another thing that caught my eye was the band 80s image. But in the end all that doesn’t account for much. What matters and should always matter is music. This is no fashion show, or a contest of who has the most trv uber kvlt metal image. No. 

What do Gypsyhawk offer us musically? What are they trying to prove and where are they trying to get? Musically, they give us rather beautiful traditional heavy metal with references to UFO, a bit of Iron Maiden and, last but not least, Thin Lizzy... a lot of Thin Lizzy. Well, Eric Harris is not the late Phil Lynott, but he does bear a good resemblance at times. I don’t know if he’s trying to copy Phil or everything is happening subconsciously, but he does it rather well. With more force at times, it seems like he’s trying to get into a thrash metal biting voice, but the Phil Lynott in him is stronger and wins every time. On their first record, Patience and Perseverance (2010) more, and now less, but overall quite nicely for lovers of eighties’ metal, sincere and direct, pretty good in execution. The only thing is that they can be faulted for still remaining in the shadow of Thin Lizzy. For metalheads of the new generation they could be a breath of fresh air, giving them the occasion to see, in 2012, bands who, even though their sound is apparently a bit rusty, will open their eyes and appetite for other bands of the genre and other albums, perhaps more valuable. 

I like that Gypsyhawk goes pretty well into hard rock, without straying too far from traditional heavy metal. This is a good combination that has been too long absent from the limelight. Perhaps many will say: "Haven’t we heard this before? Why again?", but who really invented something new in metal in say the last 10 years, without recycling, one way or the other, all sorts of ideas from the 80s? Highlights of the record? Without a doubt Hedgeking and Night Songs from the Desert.

H. Nota: 7.5