Eyeconoclast – Drones of the Awakening (Prosthetic)
Wednesday, 1st May 2013
With the various distractions that take place over the course of a listening session (internet browsing, the dog wanting to be pet, snacks, etc.), it’s a tad disconcerting when one circles back to the album in play, only to find you’re on the fifth song, when it feels like you’re at the end. Now, there’s no beef with bands packing their songs with an overflow of ideas – they just have to mesh. And if you’re going to play brutal death metal with a side of Krisiun and The Crown, then you’d better know how to format a song. If only Italy’s Eyeconoclast got the idea.
The sophomore effort from the band, Drones of the Awakening, is an intense, sometimes complex, sometimes melodic offering, one that doesn’t accomplish as much as it should. As prone to lack of categorization as the band is, there’s no true path in which follow. Do we take the head-first plunge of blisteringly brutal jaunts like “Dawn of the Promethean Artilect?” Or we do cling on some quality melodic guitar runs, as heard on “Anoxic Waters” and “Hallucinating in Genetic Disarray?” Fact of the matter is, Eyeconoclast wants to do both, but they can’t have it both ways, for their songs are too long; too full of moments best served to happen once in a song, as opposed to multiple times. It’s 100% an overload.
Not counting the band’s excellent cover of The Crown’s “Executioner (Slayer of the Light),” Drones of the Awakening tries its hardest to find identity. Problem is, finding your own voice in death metal sometimes requires laying off a bit and realizing that Joe-Blow death metal dude just wants to hear a rocking jam. You can go off, but don’t go crazy. Got it?
