Jakethehawk - Hinterlands

Jakethehawk is a heavy psych band from Pittsburgh whose newest album, Hinterlands, came out last month, by which I mean February, because in my head it's still March, because time has no meaning anymore. Anyway, I've been meaning to write about this one for a bit because it's one of the best stabs at this kind of music I've heard anytime recently. 

As someone whose tastes veer more towards the heavy-and-loud, it's tragically easy for a band to screw up psychedelic rock for me. If it starts to feel a little bit too much like I'm listening to Cream or The Grateful Dead instead of Sabbath, I'll start to lose interest. I do tend to like dreamy, psychedelic stuff, though, it just also has to satisfy my desire, nay, my demand for the almighty riff to be prominently featured in my heavy music. 

Jakethehawk kind of nails it. 

I would compare them to bands like Sigils, Serial Hawk, or Dead Meadow, all of whom are good at interspersing long passages of ambient, droning, psychedelia with crushing riffs. In fact, the first song on Hinterlands, "Counting," immediately grabbed me when the first heavy riff kicked in at about the minute mark, and the album never dropped my attention. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen, if you haven't already, and you're looking for something to drone out to.