I'm glad that this band has an official Facebook page 'cause I've never known quite how to describe their sound. Thankfully that Facebook page used the term "trip metal" so I might have to stick with that. Wolf Eyes are a three-piece. Anything else that makes them sound like a typical band is probably a lie. These dudes make abrasive and corrosive "music" that is closer to the best stuff from Swans than anything else. If that's your bag, then read on 'cause the band have got a new one, I Am A Problem: Mind In Pieces, set to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world this Friday via Third Man Records.
You've been warned, folks.
If "Twister Nightfall" stews in the manner of the best M. Gira stuff, then "single" -- and I use that term loosely -- "T.O.D.D." simmers with a sort of suppressed rage that makes it one of the most siniser things I've heard in 2015. Of course, nothing on the awkwardly-titled I Am A Problem: Mind In Pieces is an easy listen but the cuts here are frequently compelling in spite of themselves.
Still, with song titles like "Asbestos Youth" I don't think that Wolf Eyes are aiming for accessibility here. That's fine 'cause the world could use more music this unremittingly uncompromising. The cut is like something from a nightmare and I mean that in the best possible way.
Still, for all that, something like "Enemy Ladder" does surge forward in some traditional fashion. Propulsive and more obviously rock than a lot of what's here on I Am A Problem: Mind In Pieces, this track possesses a certain infectious fury before the album closes in suitably epic fashion. "Cynthia Vortex AKA Trip Memory Illness" is an 8-minute near-drone that weaves its way into your skull. Decidedly unlike anything else you're likely to hear in 2015, this track is, like the rest of this record, required listening for anyone who wants to challenge him- or herself to discover something that pushes at the boundaries in a Throbbing Gristle-like manner.
I Am A Problem: Mind In Pieces by Wolf Eyes is out on Friday via Third Man Records. Follow the band via their official Facebook page.