EP REVIEW: Evil Eyez – Torena
Not far north of Los Angeles, the city of Oxnard, California holds a key place in hardcore history. Known for an aggressive and often skate-punk influenced sound as pioneered by the likes of DR. KNOW, AGGRESSION and ILL REPUTE, the nardcore scene as it is known continues to deliver today, with bands like CIVIL CONFLICT, DEAD HEAT and TORENA leading the charge among many others. The latter of those have just released their latest EP Evil Eyez – their first release for the always excellent DAZE, and a follow-up to their 2021 debut full-length Cerebellum Prison.
Picking up largely where that LP left off, Evil Eyez once again sees the four-piece leaning into a groove-heavy style that walks a neat line between both the metal and hardcore sides of the metallic hardcore equation. The band have even named SEPULTURA as an influence and that’s easy enough to hear as soon as they kick into the headbanging main riff of opener and lead single Bleed. It’s a big, bouncy track, with all the expected gang vocals, chugging riffs, and a gargantuan closing breakdown that should give you a good idea of what you’re gonna get from these five songs and 13 minutes if you didn’t have one already.
The blows come thick and fast from there, from more groove metal bounce and another bruising breakdown in Stand Your Ground, through the particularly thrashy I’m Still Here, and into the gang vocal-driven highlight of Slave No More, where “I won’t be a fucking slave no more” provides a firm contender for the hardest lyric on quite possibly the hardest song on the entire EP. It all culminates very quickly in Trigger, a track which chooses not to go for any form of last-minute surprise and instead insists on delivering one final burst of chug-heavy crossover violence.
If anything, the main difference between this record and the band’s last one is that it just sounds that little bit better. Produced and mixed by Taylor Young (whose work with the likes XIBALBA, GOD’S HATE and REGIONAL JUSTICE CENTER makes him a very safe pair of hands for a record like this), Evil Eyez has a chunky, beefy sound that crucially doesn’t fall into the trap of feeling overdone or over-polished. It may be common enough for music like this, but it is worth mentioning here as it marks a minor yet welcome improvement on the slightly muddier sound of the band’s already strong debut.
Ultimately though, Evil Eyez delivers exactly as expected. There’s something about the tighter format of an EP that always suits music like this, and this record is definitely no exception. It tears by so quickly without any unnecessary frills or fancies, and while TORENA might not be reinventing the wheel here they do have all the riffs and aggro they need to make Oxnard proud yet again.
Rating: 7/10
Evil Eyez is out now via DAZE.
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