Saturday 16 June 2018

The Stone Eye - Kevlar, Kryptonite, Gloria (Album Review)


Release date: June 02nd 2018. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

Kevlar, Kryptonite, Gloria – Tracklisting

1.Hand of Silk 03:28
2.Cut Him Loose 03:26
3.Eyes of Eden 04:51
4.Tin Man 03:25
5.Gone Girl 03:48
6.Black Cat 04:26
7.Chariots 04:01
8.Cellar Dogs 04:48
9.A Palace for an Unborn King 03:04
10.See the Sun 03:48
11.Kevlar, Kryptonite, Gloria 15:40

Members

Jeremiah Bertin : Drums
Stephen Burdick : Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboard

Review

Kevlar, Kryptonite, Gloria is the new album from Alternative/Stoner Rock Band – The Stone Eye. Coming 10 months after their last album, The Stone Eye carry on the heavy and twisted hybrid rock sound that contains elements of Grunge, Stoner, Indie, Sludge, Punk and Psychedelic Rock. Taking influence from Alice In Chains, The Stone Eye have came back with a darker and more twisted album compared to their last album The Meadow.

The opening track – Hand Of Silk – is perhaps the best song that A Perfect Circle have never written. It has an early APC vibe but merged with hazy psychedelic sounds that offers one of the albums best songs. The guitar work is frantic and quite progressive in places.

Second track – Cut Him Loose – is heavily inspired by Alice In Chains with the sludgy guitars giving way to a psychedelic freak-out towards the end of the song. The grunge aspect is quite strong both lyrically and vocally as The Stone Eye don’t settle on a standard sound. Be prepared for The Stone Eye to sound quite different on most of the songs on this album.

As the band have adopted a chameleon like effect when they change the whole tone of the album when the mood calls for it. I can’t review each of the 11 songs on the album but I will highlight some of the best songs on the album – Eyes of Eden, Tin Man, Black Cat, See The Sun and the excellent title track - Kevlar, Kryptonite, Gloria.

Unfortunately the album suffers from the same issues that plagued the last album. It’s on way too long and this album sees The Stone Eye lose focus and become disjointed at times.

However lets focus on the positives and there is a lot of great things on this album. Such as intelligent songwriting, superb instrumental work, varied use of different genres and the fantastic production. As this album sounds superb from the start. The album has quite a rebellious sound and I put that down to the superb production.

Overall, The Stone Eye have created a solid and superbly entertaining album that will no doubt see the band’s reputation grow steadily within the Stoner Rock/Metal scene.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to The Stone Eye for the promo. Kevlar, Kryptonite, Gloria is available to buy on CD/DD now.

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