Wolf Eyes - Dead Hills

      This 2002 EP by the prolific noise-trio Wolf Eyes is one of the best releases of their entire monstrous 150+ album discography.

      Dead Hills starts out with the deep raspy sound of an unknown killer breathing. Breathing that's deep and booming enough to knock a few pictures off the wall. A gong comes out of nowhere and crashes in your face. No matter how many times you listen to this you will never know when to expect that gong. During the 11 minutes and 8 seconds of this "song" you will be scared by many other noises that come out of seemingly nowhere. For a while it seems that it's over. This slashing-in-the-woods soundtrack is done. But it's simply the eye of the storm and the sounds all come blasting back. Birds and insects and dogs scream out as if to urge on the killing. It builds and builds and finally drops back to the breathing of the killer as it fades out.

      The second track on this CD (Dead Hills 2) starts with a more frantic beat. A distorted drum machine pumping next to a echoing hissing. Nate Young's mumbled poetry rises up from the sounds and calls to you. He sounds disgusted with you. Insects buzz and screech around you. A silence of the lambs sort of feeling that only gets louder and louder until the final few notes.

      Rotten Tropics also has the distored drum machine beat. Rather than an echoing hiss this song uses a sound like that of an alarm deep in a factory signaling the overheating of some sort of burning metal. Nate Young again slurs disgusted poetry though a lot less prominent this time around. The song has the sound of a dance hit dropped down the garbage disposal of a rusty sink. The beat is twisted and deranged.

      Though this is a short at around 20min long - it is some of the best 20mins of music Wolf Eyes have ever released.


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