Eyes Set to Kill -- 'Reach' [review]

Eyes Set to Kill - Reach
Break Silence Records (02/19/08)
Post-Hardcore / Alternative / Metal


"Don't mind me, I'm only dying."
—from "Darling"



Once a certain genre of music catches on, one of two things happens. Either a plethora of other acts jump on the bandwagon, creating a turgid monster that slowly consumes itself, or, whenever a new act comes out which could draw comparisons to said genre, they're immediately pigeonholed into the scene and suffer as a result.


Eyes Set to Kill could easily draw comparisons to early Atreyu, From Autumn to Ashes or Avenged Sevenfold—all bands that are still around making music. But, while the aforementioned trio has incorporated new dimensions to their sounds to stay fresh and relevant, or perhaps move into a mold more comfortable, thousands of others have taken their place. You know the bands. The ones with a fairly generic melodic metal musical approach, with dueling screamed and sung vocals and a couple of slow moments thrown in for good measure as a "surprise." It's tired. It's done. It's over.


From Autumn to Ashes, on its 2001 release Too Bad You're Beautiful, tried something at the end of the album. The band had Melanie Wills from One True Thing come in for a duet. It was a one-off (Wills joined the band again on The Fiction We Live but performing lead vocals alone).


The only point is, the seeds were planted with that one song. But nothing came of it... until now.


That's exactly what Eyes Set to Kill has for a sound. Imagine any of the above-mentioned bands but, instead of the hardcore vocals, the lead vocals are melodic and haunting.


Alexa Rodriguez does an astounding job of fronting this band, as her vocals seethe with emotion. They're intense without trying too hard, and are a startling juxtaposition to Brandon Anderson's guttural howls which accentuate the verses.


Rodriguez also handles guitar duty with Greg Kerwin. The rest of the band is rounded out by her sister Anissa on bass and drummer Caleb Clifton, as Anderson also plays the piano. Through this lineup, they've developed a great sound with a strong chemistry. The dual guitars offer a thick wall of riffs to pull everything together with hooks galore. The drumming is thunderous without being overpowering. The piano or synthesizer pops up at the most unexpected times for a welcome, added dimension of melody. The hidden gem of the group is the subtle, destructive bass work (as on "Violent Kiss"), which unfortunately, on very rare occasions, gets lost in the mix (a knock at the production rather than the band).


There's no screwing around on Reach, with the blistering metallic numbers ("Violent Kiss"), some epic tracks ("Young Blood Spills Tonight" and "Darling") with plenty of style shifts, and some catchy songs, too (the title track or "Song 2"). Nothing comes across as filler, so it seems foolish to spotlight any specific tracks.


The band already has a strong fan base, thanks to its do-it-yourself work ethic (working the rounds live and on MySpace as well as a strong-selling debut EP). Take a listen to Reach and add yourself to the list. This one's sure to be one of the best debuts from 2008.

'Kurt Cobain: About a Son' [DVD review]

Kurt Cobain: About a Son
Shout! Factory/Sidetrack Films (2/19/08)
Unrated
135 minutes



"There's this very hushed, late night, intimate feeling to those conversations that I didn't even really realize was there because it was just me talking to Kurt. But, looking back on it, there's this, you know... it's not like a regular interview situation. It's just two people talking."

—Michael Azerrad



The documentary Kurt Cobain: About a Son can be summed up two words: Simply phenomenal.


Culled from more than 25 hours of audiotaped conversations between Cobain and writer Michael Azerrad (who was working on his book Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana at the time) around the end of 1992 and beginning of 1993, the film basically tells the story of the fallen rock star in his own words. It is a moving tale, where Cobain shares intimate details of his early childhood growing up in Aberdeen, Wash., and subsequent moves to Olympia, Wash., and Seattle. He appears to hold nothing back, talking about his relationship with his mother and father, his unpleasant school years, his efforts to build a band, struggles with fame and drugs, and ultimate (apparent) acceptance of his life.


"Virtually all these conversations took place starting around midnight at Kurt's house," Azerrad said in an interview on the DVD. "He would wake up at three in the afternoon, or so, typically everyday, go about his business and then, you know, kind of call me that evening and say, 'OK, I’m ready. Come by.'


"And so, we'd sit down, either in the living room with the TV set on in the background, and talk, or we'd be up in the kitchen. ... His kitchen overlooked this lake where bi-planes would land sometimes. We'd just sit at his kitchen table and often talk 'til, you know, dawn. And the sun would come up and the bi-planes would start landing on the lake and we'd just kick back and watch."


Since the audience knows how the story ultimately ends, many of the discussions are all the more haunting—from Cobain's frank discussion about how and why he started using hard drugs, to his disgust and distain for the journalists that were always looking for an angle. Perhaps nothing is as striking as when, while discussing the physical pain he had endured for most of his life, he talks about "blowing [his] head off" and killing himself.


But for every haunting moment, there's also some extremely humanizing moments hidden on here, too. Most poignant is when, toward the end of the film, wife Courtney Love calls to Cobain and asks him to begin preparing a bottle for the baby in a few minutes. Sadly, a side of the star not many ever got the chance to see.


The film itself is extremely simple. The star here is the audio of Cobain. Director AJ Schnack traveled around Washington gathering images and video of the various places Cobain grew up, lived in or talked about. In an attempt to have a sort of underlying current, there are also many portraits of the locals, meant to show the juxtaposition between the towns that are in so close proximity to one another.


As a final touch, music from many of Cobain's favorite bands is mixed in for good measure. Tracks from Queen, David Bowie, Leadbelly, Scratch Acid and Butthole Surfers (to name only a few) accentuate the proceedings. When Cobain talks about taking a nap in his father's van when spending the day with him at work, and listening to an eight-track of Queen, you hear the song he's talking about.


About a Son debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, was nominated for a 2007 Independent Spirit Award and was screened at numerous top international film festivals around the world. Rolling Stone has called it "the movie that's moving audiences to tears."


Sure, there have been other documentaries about Cobain in the past; none of this is new material. But never before have you heard it all straight from him. The visuals are expertly shot, but not a necessity. At any point you can simply shut your eyes and listen to the stories.


The movie is presented in 16:9 widescreen, with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround. In addition to the movie, the DVD also contains a featurette on the making of the film (where the quotes in this review came from), some selected scene commentary with Schnack and another feature on scouting video.


This is, by far, not only the best Cobain documentary to come out, but one of the best rock documentaries to come out, period. As Schnack points out, nothing really ties this to a time or place. It's just the story of a man who had a not-so-great childhood, struggled for a few years and hit it big with his band. You don't have to be a fan of Nirvana to love this movie. At its core, it's nothing more than a moving true story with a tragic ending.


As Azerrad sums it up: "Kurt Cobain was a person just like everybody else. He cried and laughed and loved his child and loved his wife and was frustrated and happy and jovial and all those things. And, I think a lot of that has been taken away from his in the intervening years since his death. He's just become an icon, and an enigma. You know, kind of dehumanized."

Air Traffic -- 'Fractured Life' [review]

Air Traffic - Fractured Life
EMI Records (02/05/08)
Rock



From the opening chords of Fractured Life, you'll find yourself trying to put a finger on where you've heard this before.

What is it? Is it The Bends-era Radiohead?

No, that’s not it (but how cool would that be?). You cycle through a couple more bands from the UK, trying to place the voice... Nothing.

Then you focus more on the overall "sound" of Air Traffic, and it hits you. The band is a UK version of The Fray, only more extreme on each end of the sonic spectrum (the rock is harder, the moody stuff is heavier).

After almost a year of availability overseas, Air Traffic's Fractured Life is finally making a debut stateside. The band's piano-driven rock, if it can find an immediate audience, is sure to catch on and be a big hit. This album could find quite the little niche into which to settle. It's not overly garage rock; the piano adds this additional depth to the band's sound, and their considered peers are bigger hits in their homeland than in North America (then again, that might be a bad precursor).

Opener "Come On" builds slowly, opening like a piano ballad and growing into an anthem by the close (you’ll hear the Radiohead influence in the guitar work). "Charlotte" is a short, little catchy rock song with an infectious chorus. "Never Even Told Me", "Just Abuse Me" and "I Like That" are carried by Chris Wall on lead vocals, as Wall also tears it up on the piano. And apropos to its title, "Shooting Star" just soars with airy, driving riffs reminiscent of U2 or Coldplay's finer moments (with some killer soloing mid-way through the song). And the band can slow down and still string together some great music (just listen to "Empty Space" or "No More Running Away").

The first listen of this album was a tough one to get through, just because I didn’t know what to expect. Once you settle in to the band's approach and take everything in (as opposed to trying to figure out where the group is coming from), it's like flipping a switch. Fractured Life is one hell of a rock album, and a fine debut. It's smart, mournful, fun and catchy—sometimes all at the same time. If the band manages to catch on and take off, it could be huge.