Review Summary: Eye Empire haven't Evolved as much as the title may suggest, making this hardly an essential 40 minutes of hard rock and alt metal
Eye Empire aren't very well known for a supergroup, sure Submersed and Stereomud may not have been very popular but I was incredibly surprised with the lack of information about this band on the web. I've always stated to myself that sometimes the most un-known band can create the best material. After listening to 'Eye Empire's' first album and quite enjoying it I decided to give this a listen and see if any progression was made.
The song 'One Day' that begins the record starts with the pounding of the drums and a decent guitar riff that stays throughout, Despite the really good instruments, however there's one major problem I had noticed (Both with the song and throughout the album) Is the robotic production. Everything sounds clean, even the vocals have fade-outs which manage to annoy throughout, and while this was of little concern to me at the time, it begins to become annoying with a lack of punch to the vocals and instruments when compared to the band's debut.
After 'One Day' I found that the rest of the album is nearly virtually the same in terms of production, vocals, structures and lyrics. It's not a bad thing, since it'd keep genre fans happy, but it eventually gets repetitive and actually made me wonder if the band would have been better off creating a inconsistent but varied record compared to the consistent but unvaried record I got, that isn't to say the band haven't managed to pull off anything slightly different or technical throughout the album, but that they couldn't vary it enough to keep interest. A few major song highlights however come into play with the tracks 'Weakness' and 'The War Isn't Over' Both of these pull off the formula at it's best with some fast drumming, some great guitar work and interesting vocals. Even though there are moments of brilliance to be heard throughout the major problem is that even the best moments aren't memorable enough to make much impact.
The lighter tracks 'The Man I am' and 'Live Loud' manage to be highlights simply because they break up the typical formula and make things a little more interesting. Even though the bland lyrics make the songs lack the emotion the band were trying to create, the songs seem a little less robotic in terms of production compared to the heavier songs seen on the album and the solo that comes before the last chorus of 'Live Loud' manages to be a highlight.
Eye Empire haven't Evolved in any important way since their first album making 'Evolve' a 40 minute drag. It's just a shame that the band seem to sound more like a replica of many other hard rock bands and aren't willing to create their own respective mark. Don't expect anything from this but the sound of a band staying firmly in their comfort zone that they don't seem to be coming out of any time soon.
