Eye Flys are a gang of heavy Philadelphians whose second album, a self-titled effort, releases January 26 through Thrill Jockey. The band specializes in a brand of pummeling brutality that’s likely to turn the crank of both old school noise rock fans and extreme metal enthusiasts. Dishing eight songs in 25 minutes, the unrelenting compactness of Eye Flys’ latest heightens the impact. The record will be available on translucent red vinyl and compact disc with cover art by John Herndon of Tortoise.
The members of Eye Flys have all played in other bands, with guitarist-vocalist Jake Smith and drummer Patrick Forrest having played together in Backslider (tagged as fastcore) and bassist Kevin Bernsten a part of Triac (sized up as a hybrid of grindcore and power violence). The collective experience is felt in Eye Flys’ attack, which thrives on a pounding elasticity.
Eye Flys have issued a prior EP “Context” (2019) and full-length Tub of Lard (2020) on Thrill Jockey plus the EP “Exigent Circumstance” (2021) on Closed Casket Activities, a label out of Troy, NY that specializes in metal influenced hardcore. They’ve shaved down a member for their latest (namely Spencer Hazard, who plays in Full of Hell), but that hasn’t altered the heft of their sound, which was harnessed for the new set at Bernsten’s own studio Developing Nations and at J Robbins’ joint The Magpie Cage.
And regarding the band’s sound, I suspect that the PR likening their sonic thrust to the early, defining era of the Amphetamine Reptile label might lead some newbies to assume Eye Flys are a more discernibly punk-descended excursion into abrasion and nihilism. But no, theirs is a metallic sensibility, in part through well-honed crunch-thud and also Smith’s gruffness of throat.
Of course, those who noticed that Eye Flys swiped their moniker from Gluey Porch Treatments, the debut album by Melvins (it’s the title of track one on that 1988 record), might be expecting a scenario informed by sludge metal, and that’s not wrong at all. And while it’s worth noting that Melvins released a few LPs (and a slew of EPs) on Amphetamine Reptile, the Eye Flys’ metallic assault hits distinctively, battering like a boxer rather than crushing like a sumo cat.
Not that Eye Flys aren’t weighty (or Melvins capable of fleetness, for that matter), but we’re talking general approach. At numerous points on this album Eye Flys do productively slow it down, particularly during “Draining Pus” and closer “Bananarchy Zoo,” but there’s a consistent springiness in their step (the elasticity) that can produce fleetingly traces of a more sludge-inclined Helmet. Not that there’ll be any mistaking them with those guys.
To the contrary, Eye Flys lean into their noisy metal sound without bringing specific predecessors or contemporaries to mind. This is unarguably a positive. And like a lot of noise and metal, the Eye Flys’ music is based in discontent and exudes negativity, but there’s also aspects of a sense of humor here, as evidenced by the song titles “Trepanation Summer” and “What’s That Behind Your Ear?”. It might seem contradictory, but that bands like Eye Flys still strive to deliver such precise mayhem instills hope for the future.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
