Gypsyhawk – Revelry & Resilience (CD)

Yesterday saw the release of ‘REVELRY & RESILIENCE’, the second album from American rockers GYPSYHAWK on Metal Blade Records. Formed in October 2008, the band released their first album, ‘Patience and Peserverance’ in July 2010, an album recorded – as proudly stated on their blog – in the space of eight days. They also mention that this new release was ‘recorded…in 6 days. And it rips’. Good job it does then, eh?

What sets this record apart from the rest is the way that the band have taken the classic sound of bands like Rainbow and KISS and modernised it without taking too much away from the original foundations. It is rock and roll at its purest and finest – eleven tracks that hit the ground running with the immensly catchy ‘Overloaded’ and don’t let up until the final strains of  ‘Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo’ die away, at which point you just want to go back to the beginning and listen to it all over again. It’s simple and straightforward, which in turn makes it very accessible and easy on the ears, and it’s also a lot of fun: you don’t have to think too much into the songs to enjoy them. Of course, do this wrong and you end up sounding very one-dimensional, but Gypsyhawk have expertly treaded the path and made sure this doesn’t happen anywhere on the album. Andrew Packer and Eric Kluiber expertly trade guitar licks and technical solos, drummer Ian Brown provides a very solid foundation and Eric Harris completes the sound with fine bass skills and a voice that is instantly recognisable and perfectly suited to the style of music on offer, no less on the upbeat ‘Hedgeking’, a real highlight on the album.

In a nutshell then, this is a real beast of an album – but is so much fun that the beast in question is wearing pink, fluffy bunny ears and glasses that have eyeballs on springs. If they come over to the UK on tour, be sure to catch them – they’ll bring the party hard. 8/10

Lineup:
Eric Harris – Bass/Vocals
Andrew Packer – Guitar
Eric Kluiber – Guitar
Ian Brown – Drums

Track Listing:
1. Overloaded
2. The Fields
3. Hedgeking
4. Frostwyrm
5. Galaxy Rise
6. 1345
7. Night Songs from the Desert
8. The Red Wedding
9. Silver Queen
10. State Lines
11. Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo

Website:

http://www.facebook.com/gypsyhawkusa
http://gypsyhawkusa.blogspot.com