The air has changed, thickened by the inner-howling reverberations of mystic-handed Ontario, Canada-based psychedelic doom/stoner rock quartet AAWKS as they begin their second journey shaking off the dregs of possession, detailing unreal hallucinations from fantastical imagined realms. Through dark introspection and occult kitsch their sophomore full-length album ‘On Through the Sky Maze‘ manages to be a charmer, a rough but readied series of stoner-doomed strokes hitting one after another ’til the next worthy plateau of psychedelic rock and ruin is attained. A beast of many backs, a marauder of many blades, this matured and all-around improved second LP just barely upholds its odd-colored tromp over the course of these nine heavy rocking pieces yet the personage levelled here attains a new and notable status as the band slugs and floats their way through.

Aawks formed circa 2018 taking what sounded like a very early or first try at making heady stoner music with mild occult fantasy themes and a Sabbath groove per their on their first EP (‘EP.1‘, 2020), a decidedly unsure first step into their skin. To be frank I dunno what doom charts were smoking (well, I do…) but the high praise for the band’s debut full-length album (‘Heavy on the Cosmic‘, 2022) was pretty well overstated from my perspective. It was however a bubbling and hustling stoner metal/psychedelic rock record with a sort of upbeat but kinda Electric Wizard-esque charm to its effects-drenched and desert bound sound. Beyond that point they’d released a split LP with Texas doom metal project Aiwass (‘The Eastern Scrolls‘, 2023) where the band delivered a different sound once again, something closer to psychedelic doom metal from a nowadays perspective, with (I believe) a slightly altered lineup as the bass and co-vocal chairs continued to revolve for each release. I’d no clear notion as to why the band were considered notable at that point, while competent and even inspired in some of their creation it’d all appeared as stoner kitsch of the moment and a still formative identity that’d left very little lasting impact on me.

The big change felt here on album number two coincides with the addition of new bassist/co-vocalist Ryan Mailman as he brings a more complete range of expression in terms of bass guitar tones/presence while also contributing to the expanded vocal capabilities of Aawks. You aren’t going to miss the daemon conjuration which occurs within opener “Celestial Magick”, a psychedelic doom metal song which features some of the more prominent harshened vocals on ‘On Through the Sky Maze‘. That snarling step into view takes us to a new place but it isn’t long before the song’s middle portion leans back toward the bands post-‘Black Masses‘ doom rock swagger, if only for the sake of a few revelatory verses. Immediacy, wrath, and greater doomed onset… it is all an instant bout of change up front and an opener I appreciate for its Sabbath-tinged, sludge heated swing.

With that said it’ll be a few seconds before “Death Trip” outshines that whole moment with its tumble into its first riff, letting out a roar as the main “single” and key energy for the full listen bumps up the pace and rolls through. Here we get some of those varietal bass guitar tones, bemoaning harmonized vocals, and a spongey stoner metal riff exchange which shuffles along with brilliant momentum. Right there I’d say the album has kinda peaked in terms of the shocking leap Aawks‘ve made beyond their debut LP, still a charming stoner rock group at their core but now even more of a psychedelic doom metal infused ideal up front. That feeling should last well on through the first five songs, each bringing its own typified grunge-era stoney step, Sabbath grooves in tow but as we hit the kinda fumbled out riffs later on in “Caerdroia” the fixation is there but the focus begins to wane.

The best songs on ‘On Through the Sky Maze‘ hold up for their psych-doom swagger where both “Lost Dwellers” and “The Figure” take bigger swings into a “late 90’s stoner crew looking back to the 70’s” feel which suits Aawks‘ temperament best as their fandom of everything from Alice in Chains to early Floyd begins to more readily saturate their work. Fans of ‘Feral‘-era Snail should appreciate this eclectic but very clearly rooted sound where an admixture of doomed, fixated psychedelic rock infused movement still has a bigger groove in mind. For my own taste it is a fine approach and all, not something particularly unheard of, and it isn’t long before their impact begins to fall off (nearby “Drifting Upward” at least.) The voice of this album wanes slowly but steadily as their work begins to take on sleepier, broadened grooves though I’d appreciated the soaring step of standout “Wandering Supergiants” as the kick-off for Side B, a final shot of the inventive energy that’d pulled me into the album in general. If every song on this album received that level of singular treatment, distinctive layers and movement applied, it’d have

Though I wouldn’t consider ‘On Through the Sky Maze‘ a realization of the full potential of Aawks just yet it is no doubt a well-stylized, skillful leap beyond their first LP and an experience which shakes up their tonal range in a drastic fashion while managing at least a few meticulously crafted heavy rock songs on their run through. As was the case with ‘Heavy on the Cosmic‘ my issue with this album isn’t a limited ouevre so much as a loss of momentum as the album becomes increasingly familiar in step. This is especially true by the time we’re deeper into Side B, the whole deal could’ve chucked at least one song for the sake of brevity. Likewise the use of samples from films and such is alright but at this point they’ve overused the trope, taking a bit away from their increasingly persona rich dual vocal setup. On the more positive side the drumming on this album is leagues beyond the rickety first year bap applied to their first LP and (again) the vocals have ultimately “made” this album in their exploration of harmonies, rasps and tunefully hummed backing vocals. The directive of the band is all the more clear on this sophomore album and it speaks well to how much they might potentially expand in the future. A moderately high recommendation.

https://aawks.bandcamp.com/album/on-through-the-sky-maze

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