HAWXX: The World Splits Open
In 2023, London-based punk metallers HAWXX released their first full-length album, ‘Earth, Spit, Blood and Bones’, a piece which introduced the trio as a force to be reckoned with and set expectations sky-high. In their newest release, ‘The World Splits Open’, these expectations are not only surpassed but shattered to pieces and rebuilt among the stars. HAWXX cite the album’s mission as giving a voice to the voiceless – and the fearlessness and ferocity with which they do so gives the record its standing as one of the most relevant releases this year.
The opening track, ‘Resistance Is Justified’,is a direct response to a willfully complicit government, condemning the imprisonment without trial of the Filton 24, members of activist group Palestine Action. The rage-fuelled track is a reminder to a government, which is set on silencing protest, that people will not be silent about genocide, and a call to the public that the refusal of a regime is the way to fight back against it.
Continuing on this venomous path, ‘Macho Bullshit’ delivers a biting message of feminist rage with white-hot vocals and a mosh-worthy ending. The third track, ‘Feral Mother’, is one of the few which strays from the strong political messaging of the record and yet it is no less powerful. The eerie quiet and soft melody which opens the song devolves into a thrashing instrumental and a cry of desperation, with vocals nothing short of bone-chilling.
‘We are Nature’ and ‘Arm the Animals’ take on an environmentally activist stance, condemning the capitalists who destroy our world and life on the planet in pursuit of profit. ‘Arm the Animals’ creates another world in which livestock and prey rise up against those who have taken away their dignity and lives, delivered by powerful layered vocals and head-spinning riffs.
Following the same environmental message is ‘Sacred Water’, which begins with a sound far different than any other found in the album thus far. This track mourns man’s relationship to water, grieving the ages when we would worship it as one of the most powerful forces on earth – a stark contrast to the pollution and waste normalised by corporations which plague the earth now.
In ‘Shriek’, there is an alternate reality proposed. HAWXX picture themselves as banshees haunting a landlord and condemning him for his greed, selfishness and complicity in late-stage capitalism. The song is exactly as the concept would suggest – shrieking, haunting and terrifyingly relatable.
Among the final songs, there is a spark of hope, starting with ‘Me and her and all the Birds’, a song which celebrates queer love and illustrates shedding the shame attached to it. The track finds itself shifting between gentle and sombre to an intensity which matches the revenge anthems this album had no lack of. The lyrics are only half the story, and the importance of its sonics cannot be ignored.
The final track, ‘Be that Whore’, is the most fitting finale for this album, embodying the rebellious spirit stitched into every song and demanding action. The track stems from the idea of the biblical whore, a woman who is to be feared and who is inherently anti-establishment – and this song is a call to break down the walls of Eden, destroy the world built by men and birth a new one.
This album is the spirit of punk incarnate, painfully relevant and created with immense respect to its listeners, refusing to mince words or sugarcoat themes. HAWXX have created a record which is as diverse sonically as it is thematically – and yet, which comes together with one common statement: act now. ‘The World Splits Open’ sends a message that what has been can be again, but only if people come together, fight against the powers which silence them and bring about that change through rebellion.