By Keith Walsh
Recorded in a Pittsburgh studio created by an entrepreneur named Professor Amos, the self-titled debut album by Rated Eye sparkles with weird, infectious electric energy in post punk, prog blues and math rock forms. (My interview with Rated Eye is at Popular Culture Beat).
With compellingly strange vocals by Albert C. Hall front and center, the eight track set bristles with synchronized performances between guitarist Anthony Ambroso, bassist Dan Tomko, and drummer John Roman. With the unusual, hyperactive rhythmic patterns on Roman’s drums and Tomko’s interplay, and psychedelic, aggravated pyrotechnics from Ambroso’s guitar, and the aggressively masculine vocals by Hall, not to mention his eccentric lyrics, I’m reminded of of Captain Beefheart. As Hall pointed out in our interview on Popular Culture Beat, Howling Wolf is another source of inspiration.
“As for my lyrics, my primary focus is artistic expression. Sometimes I’ll write about things that I maybe wish were different, or that feel bad or unjust, but I don’t see my words causing real change in the world. I believe it is possible, but I’m no Woody Guthrie.“
Albert C. Hall of Rated Eye
As prog blues, Rated Eye break out from tradition in creative new ways. There’s lots of strange sounds that defy expectations, with the constantly changing, tight rhythmic synchronization of Roman and Tomko informed by tons of experience together, first in the post punk no wave band The 1985, in the late 90s. Hall came along later and joined them in 2013 with the band Night Vapor. With the addition of Ambroso on the newly minted Rated Eye, things move away from dense walls of guitar into more experimental and playful tones, rhythms and melodies. Rated Eye has more stylistic changes per song than most bands include on an entire album.
The opener “Burn Barrel” is a simmering song with a chiming guitar figure that explodes into rage and abandon in the choruses. “Mia Demon II” develops into a catchy though gritty groove, then jazzy weirdness, and a theme about wrestling with darkness. The dedication to the atonal weirdness is paradoxical because at times, melody will suddenly appear. The lyrics are often dramatic and nihilistic, as didactic acts of expression. “Pig’s Eye” channels aggression with a fast prog punk riff, and dark prophecies, while “Boring Billion” nominally aims at an ambitious capitalistic venture, the title apparently a play on words lampooning Elon Musk and metaphorically, perhaps the entire modern experience. “Where were they going without even knowing the way?”
Throughout Rated Eye, melody is used smartly but is secondary to the disjointed anthemic character of the songs, which comes from each of the members countering the other by playing against patterns. As Roman explained, the concept from the beginning was open ended. “The idea at least on my end was that I wanted to get people in a room and just see what actually happened instead of discussing it before hand.”
Hall’s lyrics are ideal vehicles to rage cleverly against economic and social dysfunction.
“The Crying Man” enters with tribal drums and psychedelic lead guitar, in a song about anguish that reveals a story that might be about the high price some people pay for the success of others.
“Economy Boro” starts off with a riff that could be inspired by Rush, with bass reaching often into the treble, with rattling drums and vocal lamentations. Along with the clever play on words of its title, “Miss Bliss” features a mutated metal riff, and Ambroso’s guitar tones and voicings throughout show a familiarity with classic metal. Given that all these songs have arrangements that deviate hard from standard rock songs, the band’s commitment to tight execution is super impressive. “Early Supper” shows a jazzier side of Tomko’s playing, with his bass guitar holding down a melodic figure against an odd meter, that contrasts against Ambroso’s soloing and riffs, in a song about abandonment, made all the more effective by the song’s strange time signatures.
The intense energy levels across the 27 minutes of Rated Eye and the flawless synchronization of the band are the perfect vehicles for Hall’s lyrics and showmanship. The attitudes towards suffering and disappointment, exemplified by images of fire on the album cover and the opening track, along with intense melodic and syllabic repetition, are poetic and instructive, demonstrating that making rock songs is one of the most practical ways to let off steam about all the discontentment that sadly is all too present today.
Rated Eye On Bandcamp
Rated Eye On Instagram
Rated Eye On Facebook
Wax Donut Records On Instagram
Night Vapor On Bandcamp
The 1985 On Bandcamp
Mercy Killer On Bandcamp
Q&A With Rated Eye At Popular Culture Beat
RATED EYE UPCOMING SHOWS
6/20 Pittsburgh PA / Squirrel Hill Sports Bar w/Crop, Gloom Doom
7/18 Detroit TBA w/ Bronson Arm, Lake Lake
7/19 Youngstown OH / Westside Bowl w/ Lake Lake
7/20 Pittsburgh PA / Govt Center w/ Lake Lake, Triceratops
7/21 Cleveland OH / No Class w/ Lake Lake
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