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Exclusive Song Stream: The Exploding Eyes Orchestra - "Smoke"

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The fever surrounding psychedelic, rock-inflected doom metal seems to be reaching a fever pitch. And why not? It’s an ideal antidote to the ponderous atonality that so often renders modern sludge and doom not unlistenable, but unremarkable (which is worse). Sadly, like many other doom sub genres, the whole scary classic rock aesthetic is falling prey to the same law of diminishing returns that it once stood against.

Which means it’s time to revert back to the roots, and one of the first bands to light that sub genre’s fire was Jess and the Ancient Ones (alongside The Devil’s Blood). Personally, that band never did much for me, but apparently lead guitarist Thomas Corpse has a sense of scope beyond that limited sonic palate. his ‘side project,’ The Exploding Eyes Orchestra is much more interesting—and features consonance on vowels in the band name. My inner grammar nerd is all a-twitter.

With one foot planted in occult doom, Corpse dribbles in a wider circle, drawing parallels to other favorite artists of mine, such as Nick Cave (these are parched, bloodthirsty ballads with a glint of perversion). the best parallel, however, might be Anna Calvi, whose guitar, like Corpse’s, seems to filter Ennio Morricone and Roy Orbison at once. Check her album out after this first taste of The Exploding Eyes Orchestra: “Smoke,” the leadoff track of their debut album, I.

—Joseph Schafer

I is available on June 12 via Svart Records, and can be pre-ordered here. Follow The Exploding Eyes Orchestra on Facebook.