[photo by by Michael Ray Sheets ]
“With crust and sludge-influenced riffs meeting black metal’s tremolo picking at the noisiest crossroads, the band sets a tumultuous backdrop for vocalist Joy Von Spain’s otherworldly, operatic banshee wails. Her Siouxsie Sioux-gone-black metal vocals will give you chills, and add to the chaos instead of softening the band’s sound.” – Noisey
EYE OF NIX was forged in the Autumn of 2012, the result of five veteran Seattle musicians from diverse backgrounds in underground metal, experimental/classical, harsh noise and dark country coming together to create abrasive yet shape-shifting sounds. The following year the band — vocalist Joy Von Spain, drummer Justin Straw (Same-Sex Dictator), guitarist Nicholas Martinez, bassist Gerald Hansen, and noise artist Masaaki Masao — recorded and self-released a four-song cassette demo and toured the West Coast with noise veterans Blue Sabbath Black Cheer. With an eclectic, difficult-to-pinpoint sound that’s at once graceful and threatening, EYE OF NIX would move on to share the stage with the equally-eclectic likes of Jarboe, Sea Of Bones, Lesbian, Worm Ouroboros, Helen Money, and Eight Bells, among other notable acts.
Earlier this year, EYE OF NIX released their debut LP, Moros, via Eugene, Oregon-based imprint Belief Mower (Muscle And Marrow, Hungers, Eagle Twin et al). The record was captured by the hands of engineer Brandon Fitzsimons (Bell Witch, Anhedonist, Haunted Horses) at Airport Grocery in Seattle, mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx in San Francisco and features the shadowy cover renderings of Ogo Eion.
In conjunction with the release, the band embarked on a seventeen date Western US tour and collaborated with filmmaker Michael Ray Sheets and butoh performer Vanessa Skantze to create a video for the track “Elysium Elusive.” The clip premiered on Noisey in April, with the esteemed blog issuing, “With crust and sludge-influenced riffs meeting black metal’s tremolo picking at the noisiest crossroads, the band sets a tumultuous backdrop for vocalist Joy Von Spain’s otherworldly, operatic banshee wails. Her Siouxsie Sioux-gone-black metal vocals will give you chills, and add to the chaos instead of softening the band’s sound.”
Elsewhere the sentiment resonated. “Moros is all over the place sonically–not a moment is wasted and there’s no room for an iota of boredom,” championed Invisible Oranges, furthering, “Von Spain’s operatic vocal tendencies make it epic, the psychedelia embedded in it makes it hypnotic, and the blackness and sludge creates a harsh abrasiveness. Von Spain has the vocal power and control to soar, shriek, roar and growl and she does all that and more. Together, the musical landscape and her vocal extremities are a terrifying yet can’t-stop-listening experience.” Deaf Sparrow concurred, “There’s a quiescent calm that flows over much of Moros, brought outward into moments of inspiration like an oracle huffing fumes from the bowels of the earth and then shrieking and wailing, sometimes in operatics, at onlookers who dare discern her meaning. One would expect difficulty in going from one musical style to another, but EYE OF NIX have created a logical flow where the listener forgets from whence they came. Spellbinding is the word.”
Next month, EYE OF NIX will issue Moros digitally with two never-before-heard bonus tracks – “Blood In The Fire,” and “Rome Burned.
Elaborates the band of the re-release, “‘Blood In The Fire’ and ‘Rome Burned’ were both recorded in the Moros sessions. Although thematically different from the six album tracks, these two reach into their own separate realms of style and lyrical content.”
Moros Track Listing:
- Elysium Elusive
- We Perish
- Veil
- Turned To Ash
- Shroud
- Optime Vero
- Blood In The Fire * bonus track
- Rome Burned * bonus track
Moros will be available on November 6th via the band’s official BandCamp Page HERE. Additionally vinyl purchases will now come with the eight-track download and will be available for purchase HERE.
http://www.eyeofnix.bandcamp.com/album/moros
http://www.facebook.com/EYEOFNIX
http://www.eyeofnix.tumblr.com
http://www.beliefmowercult.bigcartel.com/artist/eye-of-nix