photo by Michael Ray Sheets
Seattle sound contortionists EYE OF NIX will bring their sonic rituals to the stage next month for three special performances in Washington and Oregon, including a show supporting SubRosa and Eight Bells on November 18th on their home turf followed by an appearance at Dismal Fest, also in Seattle, on January 19th. Additional live ceremonies will be announced in the weeks to come. In the meantime, check out live footage from the band at the Panic Room in Portland last May below:
EYE OF NIX:
11/10/2016 Cryptatropa – Olympia, WA
11/11/2016 High Water Mark – Portland, OR
11/18/2016 Highline Bar – Seattle, WA w/ SubRosa, Eight Bells
01/19/2017 Dismal Fest @ LoFi – Seattle, WA
EYE OF NIX recently spent some time with Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Pallbearer, Taurus etc.) at The Hallowed Halls in Portland, Oregon recording the follow-up to last year’s critically-lauded Moros full-length. Titled Black Somnia, official release details will be unveiled in due time. Comments vocalist Joy Von Spain, “Our second full-length Black Somnia includes five songs exploring fear and terror in waking and dream, as well as a newly recorded extended version of ‘A Curse.'”
Among Seattle’s best kept secrets, EYE OF NIX was forged in the Autumn of 2012 and is a result of five veteran musicians from diverse backgrounds coming together to create abrasive yet shape-shifting sounds. Together the eclectic collective – vocalist Joy Von Spain, drummer Justin Straw (Same-Sex Dictator), guitarist Nicholas Martinez, bassist Gerald Hansen, and noise artist Masaaki Masao – manifest a sound that’s at once wondrous and threatening; harsh, and harrowing yet intermittently beautiful.
Initially released via Eugene, Oregon-based imprint Belief Mower (Muscle And Marrow, Hungers, Eagle Twin et al), Moros was captured by the hands of engineer Brandon Fitzsimons (Bell Witch, Anhedonist, Haunted Horses) at Airport Grocery in Seattle and mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx in San Francisco. The record was reissued digitally with two never-before-heard bonus tracks: “Blood In The Fire,” and “Rome Burned.”
“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
“Moros is all over the place sonically – not a moment is wasted and there’s no room for an iota of boredom… [Joy] 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.” – Invisible Oranges
“Joy Von Spain is a modern Jarboe, her inhumanly versatile, operatic pipes cutting through the racket to illuminate the darkness – sometimes bluesy, sometimes brutal, always powerful. EYE OF NIX is a kitchen-sink kind of band – there’s a bit of everything in here, but when it’s all combined and set before you, it’s mesmerizing.” – The Bandcamp Blog
“If your tastes… touch on a wide expanse of sonic darkness, then this album dabbles in all of those with equal mastery – be it black metal, post-punk, sludge, slow-core or noise rock.” – Cvlt Nation
“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…Spellbinding…” – Deaf Sparrow
“EYE OF NIX are in a league all of their own and have crafted one of the most interesting releases of 2015. Moros is a strange, dark and destructive record that defies categorization. The maddening, churning, claustrophobic doom and gloom EYE OF NIX create on this record will satisfy those looking for a new sonic twist. The metal outsider will be so enthralled by these blackened compositions, he or she won’t even feel it when Moros drags them to Hades.” – American Aftermath
Moros is still available via the band’s official BandCamp Page 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