Blighted Eye – Agony’s Bespoke

Written by on 12-09-2024 at 23:08.

Nightingale is a movie from 2018. It is a raw, hard-hitting and harsh story about the colonization of Australia, a film full of pain, anger, disgust and suffering. A film that, due to the various scenes of rape and murder, due to the violent nature, will not be easy for everyone to watch and can leave you with an uncomfortable impression. It is a harsh representation of the violence and racism that was inflicted on the indigenous Australian population at that time. Not surprising that you can only watch it with disgust, right?

For those who do not know the movie: the young Irish Clare is a prisoner in colonial Australia in 1825. A period in which British troops subjugate the local population, suppress uprisings and the genocide of the Aboriginal population takes place. Clare works as a servant for a lieutenant. He forces her to sing for his soldiers and she is therefore nicknamed: The Nightingale. He also has the decision whether to release her. When she asks after it, he punishes her brutality by raping her. When she then tries to escape him by fleeing with her husband and baby, he manages to intercept her. What follows is a traumatic scene, in which Clare is raped twice and her husband and baby are killed. She swears revenge on the officer, who has meanwhile left for Launceston (Tasmania) with a group, and she goes after him. She is accompanied by the Aboriginal hunter Billy, who knows the Australian landscape very well. Despite their different origins, they soon realize that they are both survivors of conquered peoples with persecuted cultures. So, off to Launceston …

This movie will probably have made a deep impression on the members of Blighted Eye: in any case, they found inspiration in it for their debut album Agony’s Bespoke. This album, like the movie, also deals with the power of violence, poisonous revenge and the lasting emotional and psychological suffering of trauma. “I feel a pit growing in my soul, pulsating with sinister intent. …  I am not human anymore; you took that away from me. O what pleasure I will feel in taking it from you.” (In Enmity) and “My crusade is not one of selflessness, but pure rage and indignation. I know that my quest for vengeance shall not bring me peace, though it will bring me joy to know that you who has wronged me, now suffers more than I.” (A Reverent Stillness) can be heard on the album.

The quartet from Seattle has been around since 2019 and released the EP Wretched in 2020. On this EP, Blighted Eye showed progressive death metal with a black edge. The four songs on it all last longer than six minutes and consist of a nice balance between technical skill, dogged ferocity and compositional diversity. Rawness and gloom defined the sound. This musical line is continued on Agony’s Bespoke. Songs like The Wounding, Howls From Beyond The Mist, Pallid and the title and closing track Agony’s Bespoke are full of tempo changes, layered, melodic guitar lines, compelling, heavy riffs, intriguing drum patterns, surprising twists, intense passages and menacing vocals. Sometimes the band chooses to fill in the vocals rather black-edged (A Feast For Worms), which adds an extra layer to the dark theme of the album.

Then menacing, somewhat oppressive and dark, then heartbreaking and sharp: the band constantly challenges you as a listener. This happens partly because each song has a few surprising components and/or segments in it, which provide crucial variation and refinement. Nowhere does it degenerate into insignificant, meaningless parts, but everywhere smooth, richly varied compositions flow from it. To be able to get everything out in their songs, these, just like on Wretched, are a bit longer, without growing to a truly colossal size. Only the ominous, instrumental Nightingale, which is nothing more than a prelude to A Reverent Stillness, lasts a tad longer than one minute, the rest of the songs clock in at least six minutes, with the last song at eleven minutes as an absolute highlight.

Agony’s Bespoke by Blighted Eye may be based on an intensely sad history and revolves around feelings of revenge and the enormously intense impact that events can have on someone’s life, but – unlike the movie on which it is based – it never leaves a bitter, desperate taste. In fact: it has become an extremely fascinating and lively album. A mighty fine debut.

Score:

86/100

Label:

Beyond The Top Records , 2024

Tracklisting:

  1. Tragoedia
  2. The Wounding
  3. In Enmity
  4. Howls from Beyond the Mist
  5. A Feast for Worms
  6. Pallid
  7. Nightingale
  8. A Reverent Stillness
  9. Agony’s Bespoke

Line-up:

  • Kyle Chapman – Vocals, guitar
  • John Devos – Drums
  • Ben Gassman – Bass
  • Christopher Jones – Guitar

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