Ever get the feeling you just heard history being made? Not history like, “That's one small step for a man…” or, “I have a dream…” or, “Ever get the feeling you've been cheated,” I mean the sort of history that has played out before but has seemed to be so long gone that an entire set of ideas and styles had been lost forever but suddenly reasserts itself in one moment. When singer Dave Erickson belts, “We're commin' for you” in “Shame” – the lead-off track from Inward Eye's debut long-player, it feels an awful lot like that. It's an almost allegorical moment; like, “Yesterday, at The End Of The Century when headmaster Alice Cooper declared, “School's Out,””Dr. Feelgood,” Ugly Kid Joe and Little Miss Dangerous all ran in a panic and started a “Ballroom Blitz;” barking at the moon with no fear for the reaper as they ran for “Stonehenge.” It sounds bizarre and more than a little nonsensical, but Inward Eye invokes all of those classic, uniquely rock n' roll images as well as the sounds associated with those words in the forty minutes that comprise Throwing Bricks Instead Of Kisses.
While all of those ghosts might come out to play though, it should be said that nothing about the album feels stale, moldy or dated; with healthy doses of youth and enthusiasm, Inward Eye refreshes all of the classic sounds they so happily toy with here and wisely avoids any possible ironic or sarcastic connotations, it's all just a slap-happy romp. In songs including “Shame,” “Blind Paranoia” and “You Know I Know,” guitarist Kyle Erickson lifts so many classic riffs that it becomes impossible to distinguish or differentiate any particular one and so ends up sounding like an inspired, cock-swinging performance while brother Anders takes the best beats of John Speer (of Alice Cooper), Scott Asheton, Matt Sorum and Tommy Lee out, gets them drunk and clips them with a cube van before letting his brothers dance gleefully before the ensuing calamity.
As if to remove all doubt at what it is they're doing, as “You Know I Know” begins to trail off, Inward Eye takes the opportunity to ram together and run through every “timeless” guitar riff they ever wanted to write but didn't really have anywhere to place in these ten songs and calls it “Never Mind The Hipsters” as a simultaneous “Fuck You” and salute to the traditions they're tooling with. Somehow, the band still comes off with a genuine demeanor that wants to be loved and will make fans shake their fists in the air and cheer like their lives depend on it; how they pulled this marvelous con off is totally unknown, but it's definitely fun to listen to them do it.
Okay, so let's take stock because this dialogue is beginning to gush. On their first trip through the LP format, Inward Eye has managed to balance that precarious line between anthemic presence and an imitation of immediacy and screaming youth by tapping into the vintage, outlaw heart of rock n' roll. Rather than come off as prurient or mawkish though, Inward Eye falls onto the most salacious point so long missing from rock: the band has found the joy in teetering on the brink and made it possible to want to get behind them. Throwing Bricks Instead Of Kisses makes it safe to self-destruct again, and for the first time, the idea seems like fun.
Artist:
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Album:
Throwing Bricks Instead Of Kisses comes out August 18, 2009. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
