Eyeconoclast – Killing Capacity: Massive
Friday, 7th June 2013
From the garage to the underground, to whatever the next level is…such is the trajectory for Italy’s Eyeconoclast. Finding a niche band in Italy is tough enough, but apparently, keeping a stable lineup together is even more difficult, with the band going through various mutations since their 2003 formation. Along the way, they’ve cut two demos, two EPs, and thanks to the release of this year’s Drones of the Awakening (Prosthetic Records), two full-lengths.
The band’s fluid, combustive extreme death metal amalgamation is winner, with spare parts of Krisiun (when they’re not boring) and The Crown (who is never boring) becoming the chassis of technicality and brutality. Bustling melodies come to head up “Anoxic Waters” and “Hallucinating in Genetic Disarray,” while a cover The Crown’s “Executioner (Slayer of the Light),” is executed in fine form. Typing backstage from a show in Germany, guitarist Stefano Morabito gives DR the scoop:
“The band basically started in the garage of our guitarist. In the early years we thought of it as a way to drink more and party more and were just fucking around…in fact if you go see our old live photos you can see what we’re talking about ha-ha! We’ve been around for 10 years now, and it’s only just now that international labels are recognizing the value of the Italian death metal scene. We’re excited for the future of the band.”
Citing a rather easy entry into Prosthetic Records’ roster (“We didn’t ever really discuss this with them, but I think that they basically listened to our songs and contacted us with a great proposal,” notes Morabito), Drones of the Awakening gets instant lift in large part because of drummer Mauro Mercurio’s relentless barrage of blast-beats and double-bass, a primary selling point for the band’s sound. “Basically infinite possibilities, that means that he can play whatever we ask him to. It is a big big boost to the live impact as well as the live performance.”
The cover to Drones of the Awakening draws instant comparisons to Dismember’s maligned Massive Killing Capacity. Granted, covers depicting machines of mass destruction aren’t anything new, but unlike Dismember’s grunted social commentary, the lyrical content on Drones is taken from a far more futuristic and cerebral standpoint.
“The main lyrical themes are about trans-humanism and post-humanism,” says Morabito. “All the lyrics are based on the concept that the evolution of mankind towards integration with his own technology is the only possible way to survive to what we are doing to ourselves with what we call ‘progress.’ It’s the same concept that we use to talk about the current situation of man, who has the perennial need of trapping himself behind the ceilings of his own society.
“That’s represented in our cover art, where you see a ‘mecha’ with a man inside, controlling it, while he’s disemboweled by the hand of the same mecha he once controlled, after it became sentient,” he continues. “The mecha is representing the society who has its final victory over the man who willingly trapped himself in it”
By the time you read this, the band will have already made their way through Europe in support of Cryptopsy, in addition to having a spate of festival appearances lined up this summer and into October. As we wrap, Morabito leaves with this lasting sentiment regarding the state of death metal:
“Nowadays no one really listens to the good albums like we did… we love to blend what we like most from black and death as well as the classics of heavy and thrash.”
