(((O))) : Hawk Eyes – Everything is Fine

There’s something particularly satisfying about a band you’ve had an eye on for years fulfilling their potential. From humble beginnings, Hawk Eyes (who started life as Chickenhawk) have finally come into their own as a band, making the sort of album that could see them catapulted to the forefront of the UK rock scene. When last we heard from them, the quartet were taking noticeable strides forward on the That’s What This Is EP, but the new material leaves their previous efforts in the dust. Their first two records, Modern Bodies and Ideas, were the work of a band still figuring themselves out, but they’ve spent plenty of time defining themselves by now – the gap between Ideas and its follow-up spans almost 3 years, after all. From the sound of the instrumental introduction to ‘The Trap’, it becomes clear that they’ve made effective use of that time.

When it finally kicks in, the opening track displays a band who have learned to control the chaos that was a cornerstone of their sound, tightening things up and sharpening their focus, wrapping impactful melodies around their more abrasive tendencies. No strangers to odd rhythms or interesting ways in which to present riffs, Everything is Fine contains some of their most surprising material yet. Lead single ‘Die Trying’ is among their most immediate offerings to date, an early album highlight and an indication of the more melodic approach the band have taken on their ambitious third record. ‘Permission’ is one of the tracks most reminiscent of their earlier albums, and seems to occupy the sweet spot between what they’ve done and what they’re doing now; vocalist Paul Astick switches from throat-shredding screams in the verses to a more measured vocal approach for its impressive chorus. In a similar way, the hyper-energetic math-rock of ‘More Than A Million’ sounds even better in the context of a full-length, reprised from 2013’s EP and sounding as fresh as it did then.

Even better, it leads into the powerhouse that is ‘Terribly Quelled’, whose rollicking rhythms and gutsy chorus are further examples of the band’s growth, the two standout elements of one of the band’s best tracks thus far. The back half of the album is perhaps even stronger than what came before, as it’s on the stretch from ‘Terribly Quelled’ to the title track that Everything is Fine becomes truly exciting, and the band’s burgeoning confidence fully reveals itself. ‘I Never Lose’ is full of the swagger you’d expect from an act at the top of their game, while ‘Everything is Fine’ itself moves at breakneck pace throughout its surprisingly short 2:15 running time. The band have learned to fill in the gaps, and get a lot more done with a 2-minute track than they used to.

At the other end of the scale is the brilliant ‘TFF’, whose 7-and-a-half-minute running time outdoes ‘Bees’, which closed their previous album. It presents a more restrained side of the band, but just as they managed to temper the more frantic moments of the LP with some surprising nuance and pare down their noise-rock to something noticeably more succinct, the closer is a more atmospheric take on that, delivered with the sort of intensity you’d expect from them. It builds into a suitably tempestuous finale, though – why shouldn’t Hawk Eyes want to go out in style? Not only have they made it to their third album, a feat many of their contemporaries couldn’t achieve, but they’ve delivered something that is leagues ahead of their previous output, both recognisable as Hawk Eyes and a clear evolution. Everything is Fine? That’s putting it mildly.