Review of Eyeswithoutaface - Monotoneoteny

This takes me back to the good ol’ days in the 90s when Relapse Records was also Release Entertainment and put out albums by cold industrialists like Dead World and Malformed Earthborn. Harsh, bludgeoning and mechanistic, Eyeswithoutaface’s Monotoneoteny is a raging piece of industrial sludge. It’s heavy and it’s abrasive, even as it is quiet and subdued.

If you’re familiar with old Godflesh or the aforementioned bands, you have a good idea of the sonic basis for Eyeswithoutaface. Roaring vocals, noise, programmed samples, and oppressive atmosphere meld together in a slag heap of sludge corruption. “Forth Like Bile” spews and churns aggressive down tempo sludge. “Ripples in the Blotter” begins sedately as the vocalist lets rip with his best impression of Floor’s Steve Brooks before it crashes back in the mire with throat tearing howls. There are psychedelic and post rock influences (“the Scrying Game”), blistering double bass when the hardcore and death metal in them decides to peek out (“Splinter the Earth, Shatter the Sky” and “Swings Attached”) and moments of quiet ambience (“Steadfastrology”). Closing track “Breathless Prayer” layers droning guitars and feedback and is heavily reminiscent of Necro Deathmort’s combination of IDM and doom.

If you can’t tell, there is a surprising amount of variety on display, musically and vocally. Smart use of texture, noise and distortion bring this above the standard Godflesh worship. For example, they artfully drop the distortion from the guitar during “Forth Like Bile” to bring in clean notes that momentarily shift the tone of the song. It’s a small, but effective, moment and indicative of their understanding of the songwriting process. They pull off a lot different sounds and weave together a wide array of influences, all the while hitting all the notes spot-fucking-on.

The full album is available on the band’s bandcamp site as a free download, so if you like heavy industrial there’s no reason to not give this a listen.