Download seem to be remarkably productive these days, and The Eyes Of Stanley Pain is the fourth release and the second full length album from the group in less than a year. However, it's most certainly not a case of "that difficult second album" for Download, as TESP is, if anything, even more impressive than their debut Furnace. It retains the chaos, density and energy of that album but moderates it slightly, adding a stronger rhythmic element that holds everything together much more cohesively than before.
The album as a whole is technically outstanding, with layers upon layers of rich, dark noise twisting and mingling. It doesn't take a huge leap of the imagination to see this album as being the sort of thing Skinny Puppy might have come up with around now had they been left to their own devices, albeit with more of a contemporary dance vibe. While Mark Spybey (also of Dead Voices On Air) provides the majority of the vocals, Psychic TV's Genesis P. Orridge once again guests, both musically and instrumentally. This time around his presence is far less of an annoyance than it was on Furnace, but he still doesn't add a great deal to the album.
Much as I like the album, I've got one or two misgivings. It's certainly an excellent disc, but at times one gets the impression that the high production values, and the intricate, dense and fascinating layers of noise form a beautiful sonic edifice surrounding...well, not very much, really. It's an ornate, but empty shell, a triumph of form over substance. Still, when you've got a form like this, who really cares about the lack of substance? The album also has a much wider appeal than Furnace did, courtesy of its varied and exciting rhythms, and I imagine many Skinny Puppy fans who disliked the first album will find this one far more accessible. One to check out for Download fans, Puppy-philes, and anyone who wants to hear what state-of-the-art dance/industrial crossover sounds like.
