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Released on September 29, 2014 via Independent
Empty Yard Experiment are a five-piece band formed in Dubai in 2006. Kallisti, their second album, mixes post-rock, rock, grunge, progressive rock and some straight metal into a one-hour album, whilst managing to create some strong, heavy moments with some quiet melody. Their music is as diverse as their cultural backgrounds, its members being from Serbia, India and Iran.
‘Sunyata’, the first track mixes some really well composed and melodic piano with discordant strings and some rather unsettling mumbled spoken word. On the first listen I wasn’t really sure what to expect next from this album. Next, ‘Greenflash’, starts with a Tool-like intro, some nice drum work, heavy, but with some delicate little touches. Bassist Kaveh Kashani creates a very Justin Chancellor-esque bass riff. The song builds and layers nicely and builds to a fantastic ending. Preradovic’s vocals on this track feel a little strained however. I’m not surprised to hear some strong Tool influences in E.Y.E’s music, it is mentioned in their promo material. They take this influence and add some of their own touches and for me, it works really well
‘The Blue Eyes of a Dog’ is a brooding, intense, post-rock/progressive track. An instrumental track with plenty of atmosphere and starts to show the creativity and feeling that E.Y.E are capable of. ‘There Will Never Be’ starts with a old-sounding, slightly out-of-tune piano, hushed vocals. Took me a while to think of who this reminded me of, on further listens I realised some late-era Trent Reznor was what I was trying to think of. Track six, ‘Entropy’, is back to some good old fashioned grunge/rock. Vocals reminiscent of Layne Stayley. Preradovic’s vocals are much stronger on this song, this time really adding some substance and colour to the track. The middle of the track is, as before, spoken word and ending with some early Alice in Chains screams.
‘Anomie’, which I’ll be honest I had to look up the meaning of (a condition of instability resulting from the breakdown of standards and values, apparently), interspersed with choppy little guitar riffs, something like Johnny Greenwood would write. The drummer, Josh Saldanha, as previously on ‘Greenflash’ really adds something to this track. He never tries too hard but always seems to add just enough. ‘Lost in a Void That I Know Far Too Well ?’ is another track that takes its time to build. Some strong Dream Theatre vibes throughout. E.Y.E, in my opinion are a stronger band when drummer Saldanha is given space for expression.
‘Untitled’, track 10, almost feels a little out of place on this album. There are a multitude of influences and genres on this record, which is one of this band’s great strengths, but this does feel like a token ballad. ‘Untitled’ does win some extra bonus points for having an accordion in the middle passage. There isn’t enough accordion in prog/post-rock/grunge/metal music for my liking.
‘God Has His Reasons’ is the best track on this album, all the better for the massive drum track. The song layers and builds to a heavy, frenetic ending. I do wonder why I had to wait until track 12 for this. Call me inpatient or potentially very old fashioned, but I would put the good stuff up front. Last up is ‘The Call’, in the vein of previous tracks is a slow-burner, which ebbs and flows and finally builds to a huge, heavy, epic ending.
Interspersed amongst these tracks are several quieter, melodic, instrumental, post-rock type tracks. These tracks, ‘Red’, ‘Blue’, ‘Sama’ and ‘Green’, do add something to the album as a whole, but really only work when this album is treated as a complete piece. They will work well for the vinyl fans among us, but not so well if they pop-up on a playlist.
There are a few tracks on this album, ‘Greenflash’, ‘God has His Reasons’ and ‘The Call’, which are really fantastic, with a stellar mix of some great influences. I think it is safe to say that this album is more than the sum of its parts. Kallisti, E.Y.E’s sophomore effort has some real highlights. Diversity, some real technical ability and creativity with the ability to build a track to a crescendo, this band evidently know each other well, but I think this will only grow and develop in the future. I would like to see how this band perform live, something tells me that a band like this may be a real spectacle when seen in a live setting.
