In our unwitting and unnecessary battle with patience, it sometimes seems that patience doesn’t have a chance. It sometimes seems that patience goes against our nature. It sometimes seems like we should all just go listen to some Pentagram albums and call it a day.
But then comes Eidetic Seeing. And then comes their third album, “Against Nature.” And then comes the overwhelming bliss of submitting to the great beast, patience.
Let the record show that we hold Eidetic Seeing in the highest possible regard, in particular “Drink the Sun,” their 2012 album, which felt and sounded as if it were recorded in the aftermath of a meteor fire. This cosmic cannonball of amplification didn’t just hold our attention; it pulverized our attention – it rendered our attention inconsequential at best. “Drink the Sun” was an album we absolutely consumed, impatiently waiting for more.
More has now come in the form of “Against Nature,” and if that “more” means that we find this album to be even more aurally alarming, even more dense, even more like bearing witness to a slowly unfolding psychotic avalanche … well, it’s not for lack of patience. The album opens true to its nature, at a strictly serpentine pace, until the eight minutes of “A Snake Whose Years Are Long” intersect with the eight minutes of “White Flight,” until the two are simply one, and “Against Nature” becomes the most natural thing you could ever hear, a dizzying declaration of distortion-driven dominance.
Where “Drink the Sun” felt solar powered, “Against Nature” is glacial – not always in pace, but in tone. This is a cold album. This is a hard album. This is a powerful album, a tuned-down Tesla coil of confusion and cohesion strapped to the backs of three guys from Brooklyn, crashing themselves directly into the frozen face of space-rock mountain, resourcefully building “Against Nature” up amongst the wreckage.
Listen: On the topic of Eidetic Seeing’s “Against Nature,” our friend Mr. Atavist boiled it down to the statement, “certainly not for everyone.” We must remind ourselves that this is true. Some people are in to these sounds and some people are not. There’s nothing these apes can do to convince you one way or the other. Even if we were to tell you that “Against Nature” is certainly one of the most compelling and complete albums to pass between our ears in many a drunken sun, in many a cold moon. Even if we were to tell you that “Against Nature” fulfills our lifelong dream of wondering what Celtic Frost would have sounded like if Tom. G. Warrior became obsessed with Mahavishnu Orchestra instead of Venom. Really, all you can do is listen.
Mr. Atavist also called “Against Nature” “fucked up.” This is certainly true as well – but we don’t need reminding of this. Eidetic Seeing are there, patiently waiting to relay that message, loudly.
“Against Nature” by Eidetic Seeing is available here. It’s worth your time.You can read our 2012 interview with the band here.
“Think of anger. Anger is the mind that wishes to harm and hurt. Patience is the mind that holds back from harming or hurting. Anger is most difficult to deal with; patience is most difficult to develop. Patience is the only thing that defeats anger.
Don’t be disappointed if you can’t do it right away. Even after years of practice you may find that you’re still losing your temper. It’s all right. But you will also notice that the power of anger has weakened, that it doesn’t last as long, and does not as easily turn into hatred.
If patience comes easily to you, wonderful. If not, how do you go from anger to patience?”
– Gelek Rimpoche, “The Real Enemy”
Revolt of the Apes 
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