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By GREG MAKI
The 69 Eyes, the self-proclaimed “Helsinki Vampires,” certainly look dangerous in their Misfits-like black leather and makeup. But take away the Sisters of Mercy-inspired goth overtones and we’re left with rather innocuous hard rock packed with hooks that virtually scream out for heavy rotation on your local rock radio station—not that there’s anything wrong with that.
If fellow Fins HIM are the Bon Jovi of goth, The 69 Eyes might be the genre’s Guns N’ Roses. Their sound isn’t exactly similar and frontman Jyrki69’s Iggy-Pop-by-way-of-Peter-Steele vocals surely won’t bring visions of Axl to your head, but Angels, The 69 Eyes’ ninth studio release, has the sleazy Hollywood feel that Guns N’ Roses captured better than anyone. Take a listen to the strutting “Perfect Skin” and you’ll see what I mean. There’s even a song called “Los Angeles,” on which Jyrki69 describes the city’s many deeply-rooted societal issues but finds none of them is enough to turn him away. Then there’s “Rocker,” a song that would be nothing but infantile and cheesy if the band wasn’t so committed to living up to its proclamation of being “a goddamn rocker.” And, yeah, the song rocks. An unexpected sentimental side emerges on the strings-laden “Star of Fate” and “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams,” a new version of the title track from the band’s 1997 release. It’s a pleasant surprise that shows they aren’t as one-dimensional as they initially appear.
Having achieved superstardom in their native country, The 69 Eyes appear to have set their sights on the United States . Their entire back catalog is available via Cleopatra Records and they toured here for the first time in 2006. Angels, while it doesn’t abandon the band’s goth roots, bears an obvious American stamp, both lyrically and sonically. |
