Wolf Eyes: Dead Hills (4.5/5)

Year: 2002
Label: Troubleman
Genre: Dark Ambient Noise
TRT: 23:26

Wolf Eyes was a gateway group for me. I had hear 3 seconds of a Merzbow track earlier that year, and immediately spurned the idea of listening to, literally, noise. Let alone aknowledging it as a genre. Well fast forward a few months to the annual MacRock festival at James Madison University. I saw Wolf Eyes on the bill, and was intrigued. I wondered how the hell "noise" could be pulled off live. I had no idea what was in store for me. Sitting there on the side of the stage I was mesmerized by the technique and precision used to make the unearthly sounds coming out of the speaker system. It was something like an out-of-body experience, I was just floating. That concert completely changed the way I listened to music, as well as my own thoughts and definitions of what exactly music is.

I picked up this EP and their full-length Burned Mind that day, and listened to this EP on the drive home. It's one of the most disturbing things I've heard. Completely enthralling, it creeps under your skin like tiny little scarabs, gnawing a way to your heart.

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