BURDENED HANDS

Another Parmenter in the prog field. Ryan, cousin of Discipline's Matthew Parmenter, strikes out with his own band Eyestrings. Uber-Bassist Mathew Kennedy joins Ryan and strengthens the ties to Discipline. Ryan has some vocal similarities to cousin Matthew, but has his own distinct timbre. Peter Gabriel is the main influence vocally, with many different voices and inflections. I was sometimes reminded of Echolyn's Ray Weston. Genesis provides the musical inspiration. Where Discipline is mostly shades of black, Eyestrings uses a more colorful palette. There are some memorable melodies, theatrical productions, strong solos, and interesting lyrics.

This is a grower. It'll take a few listens to get into it. It does plod along in a few places, but they are short lived moments.

I would recommend Eyestrings to (non-purist) fans of Genesis, Echolyn and Discipline.

After first few listenings I've managed to turn off my "parmenterism"-measuring apparatus and wholly concentrate on the work. Yes, this is NOT anything like dark and moody DISCIPLINE sound which I adore - Ryan's stuff is closer to SPOCK'S BEARD one and typical American Retro Prog of 90s. Personally I enjoyed only two songs (epics) here, as they were somewhow related to DISCIPLINE sound :( OK, I failed to be objective here, but it really didn't click on me. Rather bland record with few enjoyable moments. But I'm sure others will find a lot more to like here - hence 3 stars.

This is a Neo-Prog album which is staring at the AOR market and says "The grass is greener over there". This is an album who does not want to be a prog rock album. You get my drift.......

The first song Recovery is fairly good and proggy. The next two tracks destroys all the credibility of this album in my view (make that "ears"). The first one, Itchy Tickler, has a honky tonk theme and falls flat on it's face. The next one is an emotionally overcharged vocal driven song called Dead Supermen. An utterly horrible song with no redeeming features whatsoever. Both songs are rock'n'roll and not prog whatsoever.

The rest of the album picks up and there are some OK songs here. The band is not hopeless. But this album is all over the place. Mostly in the AOR land. Eyestrings must also had an eye for the likes of Radiohead and the Emo rock scene when producing the songs here. I guess this music is very palatable in the high schools on the US east-coast.

The songs are pretty long on this album. Around six and a half minutes long on average. Unfortunate, long songs does not always make a good album. This is not an album I enjoy. I find it pretty dismal and award it 2 stars.

2 stars

EYESTRINGS is the project of Ryan Parmenter who is Matthew Parmenter's (DISCIPLINE) nephew. A couple of DISCIPLINE band members are also part of this band. This doesn't sound anything like DISCIPLINE regardless of the connections. I would say though that Ryan can write some excellent lyrics, not as good as his uncle but then not too many can write that good.

"Recovery" is probably the best track along with the closing one. Piano to open before a full sound arrives quickly.Vocals before a minute. It's darker 3 1/2 minutes in and heavier too. Some tasteful guitar plays over top. Contrasts continue. "Itchy Tickler" is more upbeat and I like the almost dreamy section when it settles 2 minutes in. "Dead Supermen" is melancholic with reserved vocals. Some mellotron here too. "Anachronism" opens with drums as guitar then the vocals join in. The vocals are almost lost in the mix here at times.

"Funnel" opens with piano before drums and vocals arrive before a minute. A prolonged instrumental section ends it. "Just A Body" is laid back early. It's heavier before 1 1/2 minutes. It then picks up and lightens before 2 minutes. Themes are repeated. "Slackjaw" is a song I can't get into with the rough and theatrical vocals. It's so long too. "Nothing" is mellow with reserved vocals.It's fuller late. "Time Will Tell" has a heavy beat and some energy as the guitar comes in. Vocals follow. It's an okay tune. "Empty Box" actually has some bass you can hear 1 1/2 minutes in. Some organ and mellotron too. Good song.

Tough to even offer 3 stars up for this one.

Eyestrings was formed in 2002 by Ryan Parmenter the nephew of Disciplines voice Matthew Parmenter. He gathered around him two members from Discipline - Mathew Kennedy (bass) and Bob Young (drums) and the a guitar player. Man, this album named Burdened hands released in 2004 is a total waste for me, I mean I've had hard time listning to this at once, it is so dull and full of everything that in the end I didn't know what I've listning to and is to damn long clocking over 65 min in lengh. This has nothing to do with Discipline, musicaly speaking and is not neo prog at all, is hardly related to my ears, really. Besides the opening track Recovery and the ending piece Empty box who are the longest from this album and the best and the most prog this album has to offer, what is in the middle of Burdened hands is absolutly pointless mishmash. And above all I don't really enjoy very much his voice, is ok but far from spectacular. 2 stars is best I can give, the next album is little better for sure then this . Awful cover art and booklet aswell if was something more to gone wrong here.