English rock band The Smile released a new album on Jan. 26 called “Wall of Eyes.” After releasing their first album in 2022, The Smile announced their second album in Nov. of last year, with the announcement they released three singles that are also a part of the album Wall of Eyes.
This album takes a different spin on ¨rock¨ music, and it’s safe to say I enjoyed it. The music is softer and the vocals are better. The three singles included in the album are “Wall of Eyes,” “Friend of a Friend” and “Bending Hectic”.
“Wall of Eyes” has a very vibey, almost beachy tune to it. The vocals are somewhat drowned out by the guitar but not in a way that is too overpowering or boring to listen to. The end of the song really gets across the idea of having lots of eyes on you. I liked this song, the melody has lots of flow and makes you want to sway while listening. However, the lyrics don’t do a lot for me. Until the end of the song, there seems to be no clear meaning. If the vocals were more prominent, maybe the story would have been more clear.
¨Friend of a Friend¨ is a very simplistic song. It consists of high-pitched vocals with a soft, strong bass in the background. The drums help to carry the song along, and the piano is a nice touch, tying everything together. The message of friendship throughout this song is nicely conveyed. This song’s purpose was easy to understand. This was my favorite song of the whole album because of the piano. The touch of the piano was something new and gave the piece some spice. It made the song flow very nicely and made it easy on the ears. This song is what proved the album to be less rock and more chill as a listener.
¨Bending Hectic¨ is the longest on the album, coming in at eight minutes long. The song starts off very calm with a bass and guitar that come together to make the background dynamics, which change in loudness as the song goes on. The ending of the song is very abrupt with screeching and drums crossing into more vocals, adding the rock aspect into this song. “Bending Hectic” was my least favorite song on this album. Eight minutes was too long and I quickly lost my attention. I couldn’t find a distinct story being told, which was way before the song ended. The ending dynamic completely ruins the flow of this song. 30 seconds of a high-pitched sound into aggressive drums ruined the calm vibe of the beginning of the song, making it hard to differentiate what the band’s vision was.
Overall, I liked this album. It seems as though The Smile is trying to take a step away from their rock persona and a step into quieter music with better vocals. However, the album seems surface level and could have used more potent story telling.
¨Wall of Eyes:¨ ★★★☆☆
