Review in The Intestinal Fortitude
.. From beginning to end, this is a thrill-ride of sounds that borrows bits of the old, mates them with something completely unique and genuinely befitting of its own class, and births them into a haunting world of painful ghosts and ever-hungry, always feeding bleak memories, granting no one caught there, ever, an escape. These pieces are accompanied by beautiful, sometimes aggressive (as the ghost-memories themselves), multilayered tunes carried by the smooth bass and sudden, brilliantly placed discordant piano breaks to accompany these tales of emotionally mutated (and mutilated) loves and lives gone horribly awry. All the while, an element of classy, obsessive sleaze permeates the album. Our narrator knows exactly what he wants within the realms of this surreal, deceptive, and forever cruel world of the most isolated armageddon’s of hell-shattered hearts and souls, and it is not he that is crazy – – – or is it? He Knows not where exactly to look, as everyone is as damaged as the ERASERHEAD-esque character that most hauntingly graces the creepy cover. Fittingly so, as their next video is to the song “Black Box,” directed by Japanese filmmaker KEISHI KONDO, and is purported to have a noir-ish, surreal visual vibe similar to that of the aforementioned film.
MICK MERCER, long-time goth/post-punk fanatic and historian himself hailed this as a classic, and that it was “easily one of the years best.” I’m not often one to fully agree with Mr. MERCER, but in this case he is correct. I can truly say it’s not quite like anything else I’ve come across before. DOUBLE EYELID is an unexpected expansion of a long-stalled, almost stuck in its own trap genre – – – a deep lungful of beautifully perfumed and noxious air.
Some of my favorite tracks: “Diamond Cutter” — A beautiful song with a consistent, relentlessly rising and falling rhythm that does indeed capture the effect of a diamond cutter slowly slicing into one’s heart and soul; “John” — A subtly heavy, gruesome tale of deathbed sorrow, regret, desperation, and loneliness; “Dead Is Better” — Proving there are worse, far more painful things than death (usually love), the heaviness not so subtle this time; There is an amazing cover of ROZZ WILLIAMS band DAUCUS KAROTA’s “The Stranger,” perhaps better than even the original *(dare I say – – – I know, blasphemy! Eh, get over it, slip this in and give a listen, you’ll hear what I mean.); and possibly (lyrically and conceptually, at the very least), “The Hanged Woman” — About that faux-soulmate of total self-absorption and psyche-vampirism, her self-made Ouroboros of a self-perpetuated shitty life that she will never take responsibility for, forever haunting every achingly lonely and dull moment she has fashioned with her own hands. It will always be “someone elses fault,” regardless of situation or circumstance.
Through and through, this album is an amazing journey through all the pains of the heart, mind, and soul, and their driving functions, circumstances, and fall-outs, without any of the hokey hullabaloo that often gives the scene its own bad name. BUY THIS ALBUM, especially if this is your preferred genre (gothic rock), or you just want to hear truly original and experimental, intelligent, danceabley dark glitter-goth-glam. If not, take a chance, it might resonate with you the right way.
Full post here: https://theintestinalfortitude.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/double-eyelid-seven-years-album-review-by-vincent-daemon/
