Released: 26/01/24
Expanding on their bludgeoning debut Tub of Lard, the self-titled follow-up from Philadelphia’s Eye Flys once again proves them once again to be the best of a notable wave of noise rock bands who've grown up on classic AmRep Records bands. Eye Flys are angry, to be sure, and direct a good dose of their ire at late-stage capitalism, but (and thank goodness) the trio of vocalist/guitarist Jake Smith, bassist Kevin Bernsten and drummer Patrick Forrest are in no way po-faced sludge-metal bores – as demonstrated by the song titles on Eye Flys, including 'Trepanation Summer’ and ‘Bananarchy Zoo’.
While the three-piece’s indebtedness to AmRep legends such Jesus Lizard and Melvins is obvious – and a shout out to another excellent band of which they remind me, London’s Part Chimp – Eye Flys do absolutely ferocious jack-hammer noise rock of the highest quality – and for fans of the genre, like me, that’s honestly all we need.