RIDE FOR REVENGE - Under The Eye (CD)

Ride for Revenge delves into a grimy, genre-blending form of black metal, sprinkling elements from various musical genres throughout their third album. Opening with "For Those about to Kneel," an all-electronic track reminiscent of outer-space transmissions, the band sets an eerie tone of impending alien invasion. The album swiftly transitions into a beastly onslaught of sound, where death metal and black metal influences merge into a mossy, sludgy amalgamation. "Prevail in Hell" offers a more conventional metal track with brisk, stuttering drums and crusty vocals. 

The album primarily features short tracks that lead deeper into a thick, unsettling mire. "The Endless Flood" showcases the band's sonic torment of a space monster, while "The Gutter and the Grave" relies on a somewhat ordinary rhythm, saved by a peculiar lead guitar solo. 

The subsequent five songs display improvement, with "Through" navigating familiar territory and introducing a dark, organ-like melody. "Conversation in Death" delivers a noisy, crunchy guitar onslaught with relentless drum loops. "From Darkness We Ride" adds a bizarre hiccup effect, amplifying the madness. "The Hawk Appears" stands out as a tribal-inspired piece with exotic percussive elements, offering a Middle Eastern or Indian essence. The outro, "Under the Eye," combines noise elements with gravelly textures and vocals.

While Ride for Revenge maintains their signature oddity and cold-blooded sludge, the inclusion of spacey ambient effects pushes their music into even more unconventional territory. However, the brevity of most tracks may not fully do justice to the intricate rhythms, eerie vocals, and deranged atmosphere of this experimental approach.