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| Rusty Eye – ‘Possessor’ (Self Released) |
| CD Reviews |
| Written by Gaz E |
 The murky origins of horror soaked thrash ‘n’ rollers Rusty Eye can be traced back to Mexico City in 1995.
The band relocated to Hollywood a year after the recruitment of drummer Miss Randall in 2003 and a special mention should be afforded to this particular femme fatale; a one-time World’s Fastest Drummer finalist who is easier on the eye than your average scream queen, Miss Randall not only produced and co-engineered this album but also provides a slew of genre-hopping vocals that range from a gutter rock drawl to a Michale Graves-style croon and full-blown dramatic theatrics. Guitarist Baron Murtland and bassist/vocalist Mr. Rust flesh out the remainder of Rusty Eye. Engineered by Jeremy Blair (Guns N’ Roses, Fear Factory), ‘Possessor’ is cursed with a spattering of special guest appearances; guitarist and producer Waldemar Sorychta (Lacuna Coil, Moonspell, Grip Inc) turns up on a couple of tracks and mixes another, while ‘Wings Of A Demon’ and ‘Mondo Cane’ feature Italian horror film composer Claudio Simonetti, he of Goblin infamy. It is, however, the appearance of Circus Of Power vocalist Alex Mitchell that will pique the interest of the average uber rocker. ‘The Serial Kind’ sees Mitchell and Randall trade vocals in an ode to the cult of celebrity afforded to your everyday serial killer over a riff that has one demon-booted foot in classic Kiss riff territory before peeling off a layer of skin and galloping into unchartered horror metal waters with a mid-section complete with chugging guitars and spoken word segment. A real rock curio that provides ‘Possessor’ with its most immediate moment. Wrapped in striking cover art by the legendary Joe Petagno, the man responsible for a legion of stunning Motorhead covers, ‘Possessor’ is equal parts killer and kitsch with a number song titles being love letters to infamous horror flicks of a golden era, with ‘Mondo Cane’ being a fine example; this ambitious number, featuring the afore-mentioned Claudio Simonetti, is a five minute mini-epic that unleashes a couple of classic-sounding thrash riffs before dipping a skeletal toe into Cradle Of Filth territory. ‘Those Who Flee From The Sun’ is a corpse-painted collision of time changes and garage horror metal. ‘The Entity (Ghostly Lust)’ is a slow burner of a track that will penetrate you as you sleep – a real stand out track on an album of real ambition. Let’s not beat around the bush – Rusty Eye are far from the finished article. They are raw and a little untamed yet they have a terrific taste for fleshing things out to epic proportions. It can’t be easy swimming against the tide of aural fashion at all times, yet this band are making their own rules and for that they deserve a mass showing of horns. Without compromise, they are making records exactly how they want them to be. Their ambition is a beating baboon heart at the centre of all their thinking. Their state of the art website – featuring multi camera angle live performances of every song from this album – is further proof of this. Think of ‘Possessor’ as their film school; they have got their famous friends to help them out and push their product further into the mass consciousness but their next step is vital and will decide if they are to be Argentos or also-rans. My black heart beats for the former. |
