CONSUMPTION

This is where the band has matured. Check the euphoric reviews below - these guys don't lie!

EYESTRINGS is a Ryan Parmenter’s band. Ryan is a nephew of Matthew Parmenter, DISCIPLINE’s leader and solo artist. Matt is an outstanding songwriter and composer, he manages to make his songs proggy without overfilling them with burden of long instrumental wackery. First EYESTRINGS release failed to meet my expectations – I expected DISCIPLINE-related surely but it didn’t happen. Second EYESTRINGS album offers more solid attempt, and I should note that if you’re into Dark Symphonic Prog you must get this one without hesitation. EYESTRINGS circa 2005 sound as a mixture of that good old DISCIPLINE (which was mixture of classic GENESIS, KING CRIMSON and VDGG) with…RADIOHEAD! Seriously, Ryan’s voice sounds very Thom-Yorkish- alike sometimes, and “Stagnant” is one of that best RADIOHEAD tracks they’ll never make. Epics like “Valid for a Week”, “Code of Tripe” and “Lifelines” (20minutes long!) filled with various tempo and rhythm changes and marked with undeniably catchy melodies floating above them; shorter tracks like “Slate Clean” offer even darker atmosphere, the one that only a man called Parmenter by a surname can put into a song (instrumental “Groove Seven” works as an exception here). Extremely recommended, and the only reason that I’ve abstained from 5 stars is not only Matthew’s shadow over my shoulder tempting me into the lap of comparison, but a strong belief that these folks can do even better.

I thought I had done some very interesting discoveries with this band Eyestrings where comparisons and resemblances were concerned. But after reading the other review here by Igor it appears it had already been noticed by someone else. This second album Consumption (unlike the debut which was much more neo progressive) makes the band indeed sound a lot like Discipline (75%), Radiohead (15%) with a touch of King Crimson (5%) and Gentle Giant or VDGG (5%). And makes the band in this style a strong contender for the eclectic subgenre all over sudden.

So I subscribe Igor's review with the exception of ... his enthusiasm. Apparently many proggers (because I noticed this before) like this switch in style by a band but not me. When a band claims to be a neo progressive band they should play like that and not do something completely different instead. Unless of course they prefer to be a 100% different band all at once. Consumption is a dark progressive album with hardly any straightforward harmonic melodies just a lot of hard to grasp inaccessible strange compositions. Like I said, on itself no problem except for the fact that it's nothing like neo prog should sound like.

So this can only end up as a two star result for me because that's what I usually give when I will hardly play an album anymore for fun reasons. Maybe if I want more challenging music when I'm in that particular mood but that rarely happens I'm afraid. There's simply too much really wonderful music waiting out there to be listened to. And Consumption is not one of them for me. So two stars it is.

A definite improvement over the debut.This one is more dynamic with better compositions in my opinion. I even have a top three when it comes to the songs. Once again i'll remind you all this is Ryan Parmenter's band, his uncle is Matthew from DISCIPLINE and Ryan's band happens to be made up of DISCIPLINE members.This is a concept album about consumption. Oh by the way I never though much about this band's name until I saw the album cover for this one.Yikes !

"All Sales Are Final" is a short intro led by strummed guitar, drums and reserved vocals. "Valid For A Week" has a good full sound to it and it's quite heavy. It settles before a minute with mellotron. Reserved vocals 2 1/2 minutes in then it turns heavy again. Settles with piano 4 1/2 minutes in as contrasts continue. "Stagnant" is a top three track for me. I like the guitar before 3 minutes. The tempo shifts throughout. It's just a laid back feel good song. "Code Of Triple" is another top three tune for me. It has some great sounding raw guitar early. A calm 2 minutes in. Sparse piano and an eerie soundscape takes over. Dark vocals before 3 1/2 minutes. It gets fuller with guitar a minute later. I like the intensity here. It settles 8 minutes in as piano and reserved vocals lead. Great sound. It kicks back in to end it.

"Slate Clean" is dark with drums. Vocals and piano arrive 1 1/2 minutes in. It picks up some. Guitar comes to the fore 5 minutes in. "Groove Seven" is the other top three song. And yes this one grooves pretty good. Some organ too and man they're all just lighting it up 1 1/2 minutes in. Mellotron a minute later. "Lifelines" is the 20 minute closer. Piano to start. Guitar and drums 2 minutes in before it settles with vocals. It gets heavier before 6 minutes but the tempo and mood will continue to change throughout.

Once again the lyrics are very well done and I feel the music is better than on the debut. A solid 3 stars. Good album.

Consumption from 2005 is the follow up and is 100% better then the first opus who was a pretty forgetable one to say the least. This is much more like it, the compositions, the arrangements and overall sound is better for sure and what is important is more intresting in passages. This time definetly sounds prog to my ears with an eclectic feel to it in some pieces and intresting is that Eyestrings here sounds very Discipline, that combination of Van Der Graaf Generator with King Crimson and some symphonic prog touches here and there, a perfect example is ending track Lifelines. Good ones are instrumental Groove seven, a very nice one with great passages, from guitar and keyboards work at full capacity, ending track is pretty much ok most of the time, has some good instrumental parts quite dark but works for me more then ok specilly the keyboards around min 13-15 very good sound and arrangements, another good one is Valid For A Week. So, definetly more serious release then debute and with a clear direction now towards eclectic zone then Burdened hands. Another awful cover art and booklet, damn designer, because the music this time is good. 3 solid stars.