So, this album is called A Somber Preclusion of Being (Independent), huh? Cool, I’ll give this Vacant Eyes band a try. They’re from Massachusetts too? Great, I like supporting artists from my neck of the woods. What’s the worst that can happen? About seventy-five minutes have gone by and I think I may need a nap. The brain can only take so much.

So, Vacant Eyes isn’t for everyone. If you are content with life listening to Five Finger Death Punch while sipping a chilled energy drink in the comfort of a Volkswagen Jetta then maybe you sit this one out. Or you can give it a go and quickly realize that you’re jumping from playing Call of Duty straight into Army Ranger training. Take our opener ‘A Colorless Eternity’ (gotta love the names) that comes in at just under seventeen minutes and is somehow crushingly weary yet occasionally uplifting. Must be the well-placed blast beats from Chris Kudukey and Mark Richardson’s subtle keys that keep the spirit up. But don’t get too chipper as the tremolo picking comes in and you’re reminded that the world will end sooner rather than later.

At this point, I hope you packed a flashlight and some drinking water because we have quite the rocky road still ahead. The droning guitars keep coming in like a flooding tide and are propelled forward by seemingly endless volleys of double kick drums. If Josh Moran’s guttural howling is frying your brain, then take comfort in Richardson’s keyboards adding contrast in the background of ‘A Timeless Vault.’ And from here on out absorb whatever positivity you can and keep stabbing towards dark.

By the end of it all, you will probably have a thousand-mile stare and no desire for Monster or Rockstar, only black coffee from now on. The sun shines, but it provides no warmth. Maybe the mind can adapt to such bleakness after all.

Purchase the album here: http://vacanteyesdoom.bandcamp.com/

8/10

HANS LOPEZ