From Argonuata Record’s press release, “EYE OF THE GOLEM’s concept and history started, in Bologna, Italy, in the summer of 2019, like a duo. After various line-up changes they became a quartet: Hari the drummer present from the beginning, Andrea bass & vocals, Ale and Marc guitars.  The band play an original form of post metal influenced by different musical genres: heavy guitar riffs and beats with groovy distorted basslines and psychedelic parts accompanied by vocalizations of various extractions. They are constantly evolving towards different paths.”

The album has six songs, and “Black Cathedral” is first. The music is fairly chaotic and dissonant following the opening riff, and the vocals are somewhat buried within the massive weight. From there, it is a slow and desperate sound, hitting in those feelings of hopelessness that we all feel from time to time. The extended instrumental passage towards the end is a trippy affair. “Starvation” has a faster pace but that weight still carries much of the sound. It’s almost like you are slowly being crushed between feelings of inadequacy and the eyes of the world are upon you. Completely naked, you lash out in anger. “Absence of Body Doesn’t Mean Death” has another slow pace that stinks of pestilence, disease, and death. The band has removed all references to hope in these first three songs, and what you are left with is a combination of despair and anger.

“Psychic walls of Desperation” reaches a bit out of the pit, and out of the quicksand that you have been stuck in, and you raise your head and look around. All that you can see are dead bodies everywhere, and that sense of desperation can indeed drive a man mad. “Quantum Prison” probably has the most thorough sound of bleakness on the album, and listen to the way the bass and guitar melt into the drum beat to create a powerful sound that continues to beat you over the head even after drawing blood. “The Abyssal Zeitgeist Will Tear You Apart” closes the album. For me, the mostly smooth ride reminds me of a long drive through the desert at night, without encountering a soul. The ride gets bumpy towards the end however, and you are lucky to make it out alive.

To summarize the sound, first, they beat you over the head with relentlessly long riffs and thunderous drums. Next, they pummel your senses into a chaotic whirlwind of distortion and noise. Then, just when you think you’ve survived, they drag you through a pit of endless desperation that leaves your brain feeling like mush. Finally, they leave you in a desolate wasteland of sound, where melody and meaning have long since withered away, and all that remains is a hollow, echoing void.