Seeing Saints - The Deaf Ear

Seeing Saints

The Deaf Ear 
self-released; 2014

3.6 out of 5

By Eva Cantillo

You can’t help but get lost in the dark, rich and eerie nature of The Deaf Ear by Seeing Saints. This collection of songs is definitely not for the faint of heart and is more likely to strike a chord with people that enjoy hard metal or dark aggressive rock. Surprisingly this entire album was created by a solo-artist Joseph Tesoro who is from San Diego and brings his influences from big bands like Nine Inch Nails and Deafheaven to his guitar, drums and vocals styles that are used within The Deaf Ear.  

The first track on the album “Unraveled” starts off right away with fuzzy guitars and then shortly after the vocals begin speaking in almost a spoken-word fashion; the lyrics are basically bashing some person in which “the world would be better without you in it.” After the intro track, the next song “Give and Take” begins again with the distorted and psychotic vocals. Soon, the instruments bust out into an epic crescendo of high-energy guitars and non-stop drums. This song is very punk in nature and I can see a chaotic mosh pit ensuing during a live performance of this song. The vocals change throughout the song and I like the trippy sound of the lyrics; "Filling a hole inside but never feeling complete.” Toward the end, a great wave of guitar and drums righteously closes the song.

“Bliss” starts off with an industrial effect and really draws you into this electronically charged dystopian world. Soon the lyrics begin and soon enough we find out this song is all about ‘bliss.’ The lyrics illustrate deeper; “All your ignorance shows when you got everything in your empty hands, I'll give you something worth talking about… bliss, bliss, bliss, bliss.” After a while this song morphs into an anthem and it would be fun to yell this in unison with a crowd of people.

Recording sound quality of the album is a bit gritty, which creates an overall style on the album, and the songs are very unique as the vocals maintain a distorted and rough value throughout the album; it would be nice to have more transitions between the dark-sounding vocals and ominous vibes. This collection of songs is more likely for fans that enjoy hard metal or punk rock.

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