Eyes – Congratulations

By RingMaster Review on February 2, 2023 • ( 0 )

Back in 2020 we were amongst many devouring and drooling over a certain debut album. It was a virulently vicious and invigorating full introduction to Danish hardcore outfit EYES deserving of all plaudits it gathered. Now the band is poised to unleash its highly anticipated successor in the shape of Congratulations and yes the juices are seriously flowing once again.

There is a ravenously nagging quality to the Copenhagen band’s noise punk and hardcore conjured sound and indeed their invention which burrowed deep in no time the first time we came across them. Now within the Jacob Bredahl (LLNN, Lifesick a.o.) produced Congratulations, it was in mere seconds that we found ourselves infested; an even fiercer virulence and creative imagination escalating that invasive captivation.

With themes thrust in rage and dispute, on the surface seeming out of step with a title soon dawning as being cast with irony and sarcasm, Congratulations instantly began burrowing as Generation L set things off. The guitars of Søren Bomand and Rasmus Furbo cast an eddy of trespass, their harsh grooving creating spirals of simultaneous violation and seduction as the beats of drummer Simon Djurhuus pick their spot. The track is in no rush though, its gait almost a stalking of the senses even as Victor Kaas’ voracious tones erupt. With the bass of Kenn Bendtsen a prowling protagonist in its own right, the song offers a palette of brutality and contagion, every passing moment though drenched in viral prowess.

It is a glorious, toxic start which only continues as IT’S HAPPENING surges in with even greater energy in its own textile assault. As Kaas roars with his ever fertile vocal attack and passion, ravenously backed by Bomand’s raw throated dispute, the guitars weave a waspish tirade of sonic enterprise where every groove feeds captivation and eager involvement, all the while rhythmic manipulation shuddering on bone.

The album’s title track is next, Congratulations! cajoling and wearing down the senses with individually spiralling grooves and the band’s ever robust rhythmic dexterity. Viciously yet sublimely it orchestrated involvement from body and noise punk instincts, the imagination further incited by the caustic melodic lining to and every corkscrewing exploit uncaged by the guitars, an intensive persuasion even more predacious within dull BOY where rapier rhythms through an untamed cyclone of grievance tightly gripped as in turn the resentment soaked animosity of Value. The first of the pair also turns with an increasingly varied whorl of sonic vortexes while the second descends in sonic smog forged upon an imperious rhythmic sortie; both tracks riveting and striking in their invention and an unpredictability which almost sneaked at times but left ears awe struck.

Tearjerker just presses and pushes with every moment, a muscular predator prowling the senses while choosing its moments to invade but persistently entangling the listener in grooved vines while Bbbbbbbliss simply surges forward with nostrils flared but magnetically tempers it with momentary breaths and respites before swiftly erupting again with greater malice and creative insistence.

Already increased as Chew orchestrated movement and captivation with its rhythmic shuffle and burrowing riffs, and indeed it’s gnawing on tenderised senses, lust only grew further with The City, a barbarous maelstrom of noise and clamorous enterprise. Both were senses grinding tempests of sheer pleasure, that unique nagging in the band’s sound perpetually delicious and aligned to a temptation equally found in the vocal drama and felicity of Kaas across the whole of the album.

The bruising pummelling and incisive grooved victimization of Ballast brought the album to a mighty close, it another track which gripped the passions with every aspect of its violation and ensnaring. Fiercely swinging whilst moving with a fighter’s agility, the song revelled in and epitomised the lyrical and emotional disapproval and fury breeding the album’s heart.

To sum it all up, Congratulations left us breathless, physically and in pleasure. It is for us one of the year’s early essential releases; certainly if noise, hardcore and the pleasure of being aroused in every way is a real tonic.

Congratulations is released Feb 3^rd via Indisciplinarian on LP, CD. MC and digitally formats with the CD version a co-release with Nefarious Industries in the US.