Pancrates of Athens was a greek philosopher in the, get this, study of cynical philosophy.
He said, What need we have any friends, if we should ne’er have need of ’em? They were the most needless creatures living, if we should ne’ er have use for ’em.
He was also the guy that said to a crowd, before a man who was being stoned to death for stealing bread, that the man is not a bread dealer but a word dealer. The implication was that it is his words that will hurt and not his actions. The man was presumably stoned, probably with even more menace.
The world is a cynical and dark place- sometimes. The yearning for love and adoration and companionship is somehow a bit of a façade. Many of us know, deep down, that misery is the default. It can be both all-encompassing and relieving to embrace this kind of cynical forwardness. Gigantic Hawk is not a traditional metal band, so do not expect Slayer type of guitar-laden cynicism. They are not a grunge rock band or a classic rock throwback. They kind of carve out their own depressing niche in music.
The lyrics just as the Earth falls to the sun from ‘Coming Undone’ has no hint of positivity and enlightment. It comes across as a complete unraveling. It’s like a Lars Von Trier film with the Apocalyptic coda. The song pummels along with an excellent hook, but it is not as if anyone is happy about all this. It is like admitting we are all screwed. ‘Estranged’ is the only track that has this upkick to it. With this fun flourish, the band’s small and immediate hook is a reminder of Soundgarden’s best moments before they became caricature
s of themselves.
Gigantic Hawk is Greg Thum and Norman John Cutliff III. The pair wear masks to help convey the tonal qualities of their sound. They manage to interweave a lot of synthesizer and pulsating rhythms to their sound. Combined with the masks, it makes them the red-headed creepy twin brothers of Daft Punk. They are like the Hades to Zeus- woefully reserved in the underbelly of post-punk cynicism and Nine Inch Nails inspired misery.
Gigantic Hawk embodies dark cynicism with Depeche Mode synthesizers and death metal lyrical densities. To hide from reality, the band uses masks. All relationships end with either a break-up or death. There is no other end result in love, and sometimes to accept that reality we have to hide our true faces. The world is simply too awful sometimes. We all just want to fly away, like a hawk, yet too large to get far or hide from the true darkness. Anyways, have a wonderful day.
