BACK IN BLOOD - The 69 Eyes (EMI through Amphead/The End Records/Nuclear Blast)
Metal schmetal. Most of it leaves me cold. Too many lyrics about goblins and pentagrams written by people on strong anti-depressants that sadly haven't yet kicked in. And there's that guitar tone...Repeated exposure to "Spinal Tap" has a lasting legacy on listening tastes and for every raised devil's head hand salute in this mind's eye, there's a miniature Stonehenge sculpture being lowered out of the ceiling. All that considered, however, there's something about one this from glam Finnish band 69 Eyes that works.
Call it an insidious form of mental break-and-enter but "Back In Blood" seeped into the subconscious one quiet afternoon in the Bar. It was playing in the background while some maintenance work was underway and after a couple of spins, strangely starting sounding like the Glitter Band playing on an alt. version of Iggy's overtly commercial stab-at-middle-class-success, "Brick By Brick", with some of the less monotone moments of "Instinct" thrown in for good measure.
Now don't get me wrong; "Brick By Brick" isn't the Pop's greatest moment (it's not even close) but some of its folk-rock songs do have merit, even with the "Starfucker" press-ganged presence of members of Guns & Roses, and as for "Instinct", well, if only the rougher edges hadn't been cut off with a production angle grinder. But back to "Back In Blood", where vocalist Jykri 69 has a timbre and pitch not a million miles distant from Ig's baritone croon. The rest of his crew is capable of whipping up a fearsome brew of metallic glam KO crossed with Goth.
Grammy-winning producer Matt Hyde (Slayer, Monster Magnet) worked the faders and gives the sound that sheen that grates slightly on my ears but seems more attractive than a bucketload of Brazilian white to US radio programmers.
If the sound is closer to Turbonegro's "Apocalypse Dudes" than "Live In Japan" then that's not coincidental. "Back In Blood" might qualify as the same sort of guilty pleasure as most of TBNGR's recent back catalogue, although without the smirking dick-and-arse humour. Think of The 69 Eyes as Motley Crew with a new septum and some better songs, or Lords Of The Church without Stiv. - The Barman
1/2
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