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Eyes

Congratulations

Written by: PP on 09/02/2023 15:00:16

After having spent a couple of years demolishing just about every stage they've performed on across Denmark, the Copenhagen-based hardcore quintet Eyes have prepared their next stage diving platform for your listening pleasure. Their sophomore album "Congratulations" is a vitriolic, violently raw piece of hardcore that nonetheless manages to squeeze in a far more melodious approach to its cacophonous rage compared to "Underperformer" a couple of years back.

Older fans looking for brutalist pits full of karate moshing opportunities should not fret, though. Their soundscape continues to be a discordant cocktail of relentlessly aggressive, pummeled riffs and down-tuned madness throughout. The instrumentation is incredibly tight, resulting in monstrous breakdowns and pure chaos during select passages in "Value" or "Generation L". But where the band has adjusted stylistically is within their guitars department. They now source even more from southern hardcore than in the past, conveying their Every Time I Die and Norma Jean inspiration more clearly than was the case two years ago.

A good example is the title track "Congratulations!", which sounds like Frank Carter on steroids. They've added loads of dirtily distorted groove to the mix, which results in far more accessible songs than in the past. Similarly, "Bbbbbbbliss" takes a page from the Cancer Bats playbook, delivering an urgent piece of vicious hardcore that explodes out the gate with a take-no-prisoners approach to its operation.

Lots of horror chords and screeching distortion later, we're left with an utterly destroyed experience as the band has mowed over its listeners using a combination of steamrollers, lawnmowers, and a few ten-tonne trucks while exhibiting road rage in the process. It's a complete album and arguably the benchmark hardcore album against which the rest of the Danish scene will have to match in the foreseeable future. "Congratulations" is a hardcore album of international quality - kudos.

Download: Congratulations!, Value, Generation L, It's Happening
For the fans of: Every Time I Die, Norma Jean, Cancer Bats, He Is Legend, Poison The Well, The Dillinger Escape Plan
Listen: Facebook

Release date 03.02.2023
Indisciplinarian