Beak-Eyri

Jenn Cohen | April 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

by Brandon Marshall

As of late, new releases in music have been far from inspiring for me. It seems with each new release, bands are becoming more contrived and forced with the help of slick production. As a result, this has made me long for the raw and gritty sound of a hard-working blue-collar band with everything to prove, that bleeds music and actually plays it, not loops every note in Pro Tools.

While reading the bio on Beak, my morbid curiosity piqued, and I thought I would give them a spin while remaining far from optimistic. As the first track became the second and third, I found, not exactly what I was looking for, but a band that sounds honest with a D.I.Y approach.

With a U.S. release date of April 3, Beak’s five-song EP (Someoddpilot Records) entitled Eyri, is a sub-fusion of underground metal that takes the listener through a metal history lesson via. Eyri displays heavy influence from Doom, Sludge, post-hardcore, prog, and even draws upon a few trace elements of Crust. Eyri maintains a heavy vs. melodic balance between tremolo picking, and screeching vocals with Lo-fi production that gives a sound reminiscent of the 4 track.

Eyri is a strong debut from Beak that leaves the listener wanting more after the five-song EP is finished; mainly, because it’s a decent disk. Not perfect, not original, but Eyri proves to be an exciting listen from start to finish.