Review: Eyecandy - The Promontory

Label: Drongo Tapes/
The Ghost is clear Records

Fuck them high expectations! It's a vicious cycle. But sometimes, just sometimes it's for the better of it. Here's the story: I was blown away by that Eyecandy-EP released earlier this year, as you can read here. And I'm still high on "Supernova". Now the band out of Oxnard, California comes along with their first Full Length, allowing no real breather. At least not for me, cause I discovered their EP back in June or July. Sure, this album, called "The Promontory" has got to be the real deal and possible album of the year-contender. 

And, no. I was disappointed after the first few playthroughs. This sounds different somehow. Not as fleshed out as the EP, not as catchy, not as varied, not as cynic, not as complacent and yeah, not as bold. Even after way more time with "The Promontory" now, I couldn't completely change my mind. I miss a good chunk of the stylistics which made "Supernova" so super-attractive to me. But I guess I finally found some peace with "The Promontory", kind of hearing it as disengaged as possible from his predecessor. 

I'm sure that you will like this album a lot if you get into it without the fucked up mindest of mine. It's a classy mixture of 90s-Post-Hardcore and Noise-Rock and still pretty full of cool ideas. More than before EYECANDY totally sound like UNWOUND and that is something I really love and something that many nerds will get down with. UNWOUND was quite possibly the second best Post-Hardcore-Band to ever grace the 90s, right behind FUGAZI. But they rarely got the high praise they would've deserved. Up to this day UNWOUND don't get referred to often enough, if you take their subtle but steady influence on the Genre into account.

EYECANDY sport the same aesthetics and stylistics. They melt noisy sections with slightly epic melodies and Post-Rock-build-ups. They don't shy away from experiments. And more as with "Supernova", they look at the bigger picture, creating an oeuvre of an album. The atmosphere on "The Promontory" is dense, it's haunting and it's coherent from the bewildering jingling of the Intro to the complete destruction near the end of the closing track "Fever". It's hard for me to come up with standouts, cause this album works best as an overall experience. Also, single songs shine because of their various, but small details. No riff is as overwhelming as the riff in "The Wheel", no melody is as epic as the one in "Sandscraper" (both songs from the EP), no line is as cool as the "my only friend, my yellow teeth"-line (also "The Wheel"). But it works nonetheless. "The Promontory" is a cool album in its own right and maybe it was just bad timing for me.

As I said before, I found my peace with this record, liking it more and more. In that context, this "vicious cycle" of all too high expectations was fully responsible for this developement. Cause without my love for "Supernova" I probably would've skipped "The Promontory" after one or two spins. And that would be an utter waste, no doubt. This band is special and I'm positive that they continue to be so.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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