Wolf Eyes: Burned Mind

When I put Burned Mind, into my CD player, I knew I was going get pummeled with dense, jagged squelching and inaudible lyrics. However, I was not fully prepared just how literal the title was. Half way through the album my head became filled with sounds and thoughts moving at sharp angles to each other, colliding and causing nearly complete confusion. Whether this confusion was the deliberate result of meticulous craftsmanship or the bi-product of the onslaught of tape loops and feedback is a point of contention. I contend it is more the latter.

Wolf Eyes has released in the neighborhood of 50 EPs and singles since the mid-’90s. Most of them have been limited-run cassettes and CD-Rs, making it nearly impossible to keep up with their catalogue. Nathan Young created the band on his own by deconstructing and reconstructing noises and instruments by whatever means possible. He was then joined by Aaron Dilloway (who released some of the initial cassettes on his Hanson label) and ultimately by John Olson. They are as prolific as any band around and seem hell-bent on flooding the market with experimental, jack hammering malcontent.

Burned Mind‘s release on independent-giant, Sub Pop will grant Wolf Eyes even greater opportunity than before to spread their message to the masses. On this latest effort, the Michigan-based trio reaches to paint a dense, tortured picture of the world with the urgency of a caged animal. Not an entirely out of place sentiment in today’s times. Unfortunately, much of their message will likely be lost behind experiments in noise that detract more than serve the songs.

With a few exceptions, Burned Mind‘s slicing guitars and damaging synths are too random and jolting to allow the listener to really engage the music and draw from it what ferocity has gone into its creation. “Stabbed in the Face” is an intense piece of music that ultimately suffers as the focus shifts from developing the sounds, to an exercise in cramming as much noise as possible into a confined space. The track is not the only one that suffers such a fate. As a result, much of the urgency Wolf Eyes attempts to instill in its music is ultimately undermined by itself.

There are high points on the album, and ultimately their Sub Pop debut works itself into stride with “Village Oblivia”. The track begins with the stretching tones of pitch shifting and feedback-dialing while a heavy kick-drum rhythm provides a pounding introduction to an industrial nightmare. As the track progresses, distortion builds into a chaotic wave of static before abruptly cutting to the filler track, “Urine Burn”, and ultimately to the spiraling distortion and rattle of “Rattlesnake Shake”.

“Rattlesnake Shake” is the standout track on the album. Its haunting, spoken lyrics and its tail-spin feedback give the song a feeling of certain, impending disaster. Another highlight is the title track, which pulses beneath gnashing guitar and wailing sirens to evoke the darkest city streets. These songs succeed by building to suffocating peaks before letting go, rather than becoming bogged down in layer after layer noise for the sake of noise.

The allure of sound over content is a pitfall that many bands who experiment heavily in noise fall into. Too often, bands strive for the shock of discordant noise rather development of sound — an approach that works only so long before listeners become discontented or bored. Wolf Eyes provide enough earnestness and intensity to narrowly avoid this for now. However, if they continue on their path to search out less and less definable sounds, they could find themselves in this territory sooner than they think.

Wolf Eyes has its influences for sure. Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, comes to mind. However, this isn’t your grandpa’s industrial noise rock. They make music for the world now and the occasions when the world needs a little bit of acid thrown its eyes. So, for those looking for some aggression in their life and/or find most music in the industrial landscape too obvious or accessible, this album may be the misery nugget to get you through the dystopia of the holiday season. Those who are just beginning their foray into this world may want to look elsewhere.