Rusty Eye

Possessor

Written by: EW on 28/01/2010 13:12:45

Continuing the progression the band have demonstrated since their debut, "Possessor" sees Rusty Eye further their sound, performance and recording to at last start to realise some of the song-writing potential that has been obscured by dodgy production on previous recordings. The first thing that strikes me when playing "Possessor" is that while the recording still bears a garage-y feel, again most notable in the drums of Miss Randall, this time it actually sounds like the band have intended for it to be this way rather than being merely stuck with what they could do technically (and probably financially), and of course this benefits the album greatly. Rusty Eye have here gone from a band merely stuck with a garage recording to one embracing that stripped down sound bands such as White Stripes and The Strokes have made a career of.

Mr. Rust's bass levels are a prominent plus point across songs like "Those Who Flee From The Sun" which boasts a relaxed Queens of the Stone Age feel to it and the admirably good yet strangely monickered instrumental "Jerusalem Cricket Soufflé" where he attempts to come over all Steve Harris on yo' asses. I would not yet say these songs represent Rusty Eye at their best as room for improvement still exists but it surely as hell beats the best out of "Rust n' Roll" and "Stendhal Syndrome". In fact even the female vocals, which have been one of my bugbears across those two albums, finally start to actually make a positive impact on proceedings. I'll admit that I'm still not really a fan of Miss. Randall's Cristina Scabbia-like voice, believing it too colourless to enable the band to make waves on a wider scale, but at least in songs like "The Entity (Ghostly Lust)" it works decently alongside the riffs and general tempo, and in "A Poisoned Letter" it compliments the nice Deceased groove I'm getting from Mr. Rust's ever-increasing vocal snarl.

With "Possessor" I start to see where the 'progressive metal' tag the band have acquired on Metal Archives comes from. It's not so much for overly-complex song compositions ala Dream Theater or Symphony X, but in both some of the more instrumental touches and the variety of styles deployed across "Possessor" which fit together nicely despite widely varying influences gleaned from each. Its great to see that across these three albums Rusty Eye have improved organically to a point where if you like sounds that hover across the rock/metal border with an unquenchable edge to do things differently I would not hesitate in recommending you "Possessor". There does still lay some weaknesses in their sound but at heart of it Rusty Eye have penned some progressively good tunes and that alone shows how they're heading in the right direction.

7

Download: Those Who Flee From The Sun, A Poisoned Letter
For The Fans Of: Deceased, Queens of the Stone Age, Iron Maiden
Listen: Myspace

Release date: 06.06.2009
Epoché Records

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