Title Track Single/Video Now Playing + Preorders Posted
photo by Peter Troest
“This song is for the chuds on your social media feeds. The people who believe they have found the truth from a link with no sources…”
Copenhagen, Denmark-based hardcore outfit EYES has announced their second album, Congratulations, now confirmed for a February 3rd release via Indisciplinarian. Along with the announcement, the album’s first single and video for the title track “Congratulations!” have been released alongside preorders and more.
EYES’ two preceding releases – the eponymous 2018 debut EP and the 2020 debut album Underperformer – both proved them as a band on its own path, with both heart and brains to match it. With its genre defying musical approach and introspective generational lyrics, Underperformer marked an innovative freshness in the hardcore scene. Despite obstacles from a pandemic, the band left an indelible impression with performances on festivals such as Copenhell and by:Larm, while the remix release “Reperformer” contributed to the band’s air of unpredictability.
Their new album is titled Congratulations, even though there isn’t much to cheer about at the moment. Distrust among people and conspiracy theories, war and environmental catastrophe on the horizon, economic downfall and increasing inequality. The Western world anno 2023 is the foundation of Congratulations and its volatile, confrontational songs. Opposite the internalized thematic tones of Underperformer, the doubting self-reflection has now turned into anger and a feeling of powerlessness towards a world where the rich get richer and living conditions are worsened for everyone else. A world where the younger generations are abandoned again and again. A world where the only available distraction is to scream into an infinite digital void or to find an alternative reality while looking down on the so-called sheep following the flock and false prophets.
Congratulations is a further development of EYES’ sound and style with the band focusing on melody more than before, with off-kilter hooks and deep grooves throughout the album’s ten songs collectively shaping an unpredictable, rough, rocking, and catchy hardcore record produced with razor-sharp precision by Jacob Bredahl (LLNN, Lifesick).
A music video for the title track “Congratulations!” was produced in the unmistakable EYES manner, directed by the band’s steady visual wizard Jon Gotlev, who also created the new album artwork. Vocalist Victor Kaas states on the title track, “We immediately knew that this would be the title track. It just stuck. It’s catchy and different. Almost kraut-like. It’s more confrontational than anything else on the previous record. This song is for the chuds on your social media feeds. The people who believe they have found the truth from a link with no sources. The people from your school who suddenly invite you to join in on an ‘amazing business opportunity.’ The people who prefer crystals over science. Look at you, wasting air!”
Watch EYES’ video for “Congratulations!” HERE and stream the single HERE.
Congratulations will be released on LP, CD, cassette, and digital formats. The gatefold LP with a 24-page booklet will be pressed in a run of 100 copies on Splatter Cake vinyl and 400 copies on Black vinyl, the cassette in a run of 100 copies packed in a Maltese cross card case, and the CD will be released in a digipak with a 6-panel insert as a co-release with label comrades Nefarious Industries in the US.
Preorders for the physical formats are now available at Indisciplinarian’s webshop HERE, the CD can also be preordered at Nefarious Industries HERE, and the digital version can be presaved and preordered HERE.
Congratulations Track Listing:
1. Generation L
2. IT’S HAPPENING
3. Congratulations!
4. dull BOY
5. Value
6. Tearjerker
7. Bbbbbbbliss
8. Chew
9. The City
10. Ballast
A hometown release show for Congratulations has been confirmed for February 3rd, with additional live shows for 2023 will be announced shortly.
EYES Live:
2/03/2023 Musik Loppen – Copenhagen, DK *Congratulations release show w/ Galge, Smertegrænsens Toldere
