Red Eyes
Obey the Beast

For some reason they do call themselves Red Eyes, the dutch band from Amsterdam. They claim to be playing a music that is a unique mix of styles, “oldschool heavy metal with their own new age touch” is how they are presented. And as if that wasn’t enough they are debuting with an album called Obey the Beast, a title usually reserved for the face painted primitive black/death metal guys and it was a fortunate surprise that it wasn’t. But still, I don’t feel like obeying any kind of beast, be it the one from Revelations in the Bible whom the black metal guys love or any other kind of beast. Thing is that the story does not really reveal which beast they refer to although that might not really mean anything, this beast might just be a metaphor for something, or something else.

So what about this beastly album then? I would say that their own description isn’t too shabby, they do sound more or less like their music originates in the classical sense of heavy metal with some modern touches especially in sound an power but also some musical elements are of the more modern kind. The songs are quite varied throughout the fifty minutes this album plays for, the sound is dynamic and they do have quite the raw sound as well making it a rather heavy, powerful and back to the roots kind of album. The thing is that they manage this variation and dynamics without being incoherent or fragmented and that is a decent feat for a traditional heavy metal band I would say. Another thing that has to strike you as a listener to this album is how mature it sounds, and this is a debut album with the only thing giving that away might be the lack of songs with a distinct hit potential.

I must admit that this album didn’t really appeal to me to begin with but with a few listens I would have to say that it has grown on me, it is a quality album with the songs being all very good, the dynamics of the album and its feel makes it a very fascinating album to listen to. I think that the title track is the best one on the album, maybe not a super catchy and overly memorable song but a great song nonetheless. And the rest of the songs on the album isn’t bad at all, actually they are really good all of them and I think this album is well worthy of attention if you are a fan of the genre. It required its time but in the end I think that it was well worth the time because it was an enjoyable album to listen to, maybe not the best one I’ve heard but still a good 50 minutes of entertainment.

So, if you are a fanatic of the classical heavy metal with some splices of modernity you should enjoy what these dutch guys has to offer. It has a certain charm this raw, edgy and dynamic heavy metal, an edge that I like and Obey the Beast is certainly a good debut album that shows many things for this band to build upon for future references. So, to end this before I start repeating myself too much: this is a good album, check it out.

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