The Hawkins strike me as a band of brothers who like loud guitars and goofin’ around in equal measures.  After the quiet intro we get straight down to business with the vibrant ‘Roomer’.  It sounds like they have a love of classic Rock and scandi attitude Action Rock again in equal measures and the whole of that is encapsulated in the single ‘Roomer’

There is a love of the duel guitar licks a la Thin Lizzy as perfectly performed on ‘Hilow’ but played out in the verses and chorus to some very sharp power pop.

It’s retro but in a thoroughly modern way.  They’ve been together forever it would seem doing what they do and perfecting their art since 2013 which would explain their tightness.

During the first four years, The Hawkins kept the ball rolling by releasing EPs and singles while constantly being on the road, playing everything from small venue gigs to some of the biggest festivals in Scandinavia, including Sweden Rock Festival, Metallsvenskan and Peace & Love. They ended the year of 2016 with a huge bang by flying over to Russia to support pop/punk act ”4 Aprils” on a 10 day tour.

The Hawkins debut album “Ain’t Rock N Roll” (released via GAIN/Sony Music) entered the world with a superb bang in October 2017. The album included the single ”Fuck You All I’m Outta Here”, a powerful song with a strong anti-fascist message which quickly gained momentum in the Swedish rock scene, securing the band’s role as one the most promising bands of the country.

But three years have flown by and now in 2020 the time has come to step up and when they rock out as they do on ‘Stones’ they are easily a match for the likes of Imperial State Electric its fast-paced and tight and its catchy.  Often I feel like we’ve met before.  Whilst I’m not a big fan of the layered vocals ‘Mynah’ I certainly do get songs like ‘Minuette’ and its rough edges and the fire in their guts it reminds me a little of The Dahmers and they are always fantastic.  I’m sure in a tight club with volume on their side these songs would take on another dimension especially cuts like ‘Libertine’.

On the final tune, I get a vibe of My Chemical Romance maybe in the vocals and the drama of the song which shows they draw from a large pool and whilst there are bits I’m not keen on there are some belters on here and I’m sure once one of the hooks lodges itself in my head that’s it  -they’ll reel me in.