Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind
(Sub Pop)
To some, it was the beginning of the end, to others the beginning of better things to come, but, after a flurry of discussion and consternation on the part of fans and observers, finally, the issue of the release of a Wolf Eyes album on Sub Pop has been focused down to what really matters, a new album by the Michigan trio. Though their complete discography is a monster of over fifty releases, most limited run CDRs and cassettes, an “official” full-length release by the trio is a rarer occurrence than might be expected. Burned Mind is the band’s first release since their inexplicable but entirely deserving explosion, that of Sonic Youth opening slots, All Tomorrow’s Parties UK, and a review in Jane magazine, of all places. Luckily, a deeper dip into the pool of widespread musical notoriety hasn’t diluted Wolf Eyes’ music one bit, and Burned Mind continues the trio’s caustic crusade.
“Stabbed in the Face” may be Burned Mind’s fan-favorite, and the fist-pumping successor to “Burn Your House Down” as a live highlight, but it’s a testament to the album’s quality that it doesn’t stand out among the disc’s other tracks. Improvisations, always an important part of the Wolf Eyes aesthetic, have a more prominent place on Burned Mind than on some of the band’s other “official” releases, and though, with respect to duration, they’re often more interludes than songs, per se, tracks like “Reaper’s Gong” and Urine burn are far from filler, representing some of Wolf Eyes’ most interesting work on the album. The Wolf Eyes “sound,” as it were, has been copped countless times in recent years, though that fact doesn’t water down Burned Mind’’s most identifiably Wolflike music. Dilloway, Olson, and Young aren’t unable or afraid to veer from their own usual path, and tracks like “Burned Mind” and “Black Vomit” feature some new gnarls in Wolf Eyes’ sound at a time in which complacency might be forgivable.
Burned Mind is the first high profile release since the explosion of noise music into the broader musical consciousness, and, like it or not, Wolf Eyes have become the music’s leading poster boys. Whether or not Nate Young’s photo will ever grace the pages of Teen Beat might still be up for debate, but it’s impossible to deny that, with all of the added attention given to Wolf Eyes recently, Burned Mind is, in some ways, their most important record yet. Wolf Eyes are up to the challenge though, and have made an album that should please hardcore fans and entrance new listeners both. In the end, when semi-famous comics on VH1 review the year 2004, Burned Mind may be a tiny footnote, or, more likely, not garner mention at all, but, perhaps for the first time, this Wolf Eyes release is an event of note to more than a select few. The underground has again risen to the surface, and while the mark Wolf Eyes put on the world of pop culture may not make history, it’s good to know that Burned Mind will still contribute to the immediate decay of the frontal lobes of more than a few unassuming listeners.
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