Citing 70s experimentalists Throbbing Gristle, This Heat and Faust, plus contemporaries including These New Puritans, Liars, Health and Factory Floor by way of references, the press release for this Italian electronic quartet's debut EP got my attention from the get-go.
On hearing the three tracks therein, I'm completely sold. The references are entirely justified and accurate, although Heels on Eels are no pale imitators of any or all of the aforementioned. Sharp-edged clanging guitars and skittering electronic cascades plus half-buried vocals, all wrapped in a heavy fog of cavernous reverb are key motifs of the sound HoE are pushing here. However, it's the intense, piledriving tribal percussion that dominates the first two tracks, 'Y' and 'N'. There are beats in abundance, but this sure as hell isn't a dance act.
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The final track, 'G' begins as a much sparser affair, and manages to be both ethereal and sinister at the same time. Then the deluge of drums and the feedback drown everything, the sonic tsunami washing up a sound that amalgamates Factory Floor, My Bloody Valentine and A Place to Bury Strangers.
To describe this as a promising start would be a major understatement. Making a racket like this, executed with such panache, Heels on Eels are destined to become a lot of people's new favourite band. And rightly so. A force to be reckoned with.
Heels on Eels on MySpace
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