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November 2024

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The Eye Jabs: Sounds of the Fourth Dimension

Melodic/Psychedelic Rock

3.0/5.0

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Unsigned / Self-released
Words: Craig Hartranft    Added: 12.07.2014

You have to find some humor in their band names: The Eye Jabs. A rather uncomfortable thought, getting jabbed in the eye by a thumb or such. Then there's the band's fascination with old Fifties and Sixties sci-fi b-movies; their Facebook photo album is filled with pictures from films eclectic, odd, and mostly forgotten. Then they try to spin these themes with this retro rock, melodic psychedelic rock of the late Sixties and early Seventies. Not necessarily an odd combination, or novel for that matter. Ergo Sounds of the Fourth Dimension. And there is a lot of it: 13 songs at better than 55 minutes. Musically speaking, they do this classic rock genre quite well.

The problem is that after about five songs, the fifth being the over long trainwreck Burning Shadows, you've heard basically everything the band can do, every psych rock trick that's up their sleeves. It's not that there aren't some differences between songs, but monotony soon sets in, followed by it's brother boredom, then first cousin ambivalence shows up to pull the CD from your player and put it away never to be heard from again. Much of this comes from the vocals of Dave Long and Nathan Butterhorn (not knowing who the principal lead is) which have this serious low key, nearly unemotional, drone, enough to put you to sleep. Then there's that certain, can't quite put your finger on, wild card, that sets your ears to listen but your mind to hypnotic sleep. Maybe it's the consistent dryness and melancholy of the rhythm section's beat and groove. In this case maybe this album could be the soundtrack to their own sci-fi b-movie where an evil alien band uses the hypnotic tones of their music to enslave mankind. Works for me.

The Eye Jabs - Voodoo Man

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The Eye Jabs spin retro classic psychedelic rock with their love of old sci-fi b-movies from some interesting, but ultimately with often dry and lifeless results.

Alphabetical Index

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]