Customer Reviews

Between the Eyes, Vol. 2

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up this album because I had Fun With Knives and Twisted Thought Transistor, and I liked VAC. Also, this store was having a huge going out of business sale... so yeah. When I first listened to it, it was industrial, that's for sure, but a bit slower and LOT darker, musically. At first I thought it was merely okay, but as time went on, I started listening to it more and more. I know not everyone will like it... in fact at work today my music got banned because I was playing VAC and my boss called it Satanic... so no more of my music! But anyways, it will take some getting used to, but if you give it a chance, there is evil awesomeness to be heard!!! My favorite tracks on here are Hell One and Hell Two listened together, 27 Days of Rain and Dark Lights. Awesome CD, very recommended for those into dark evil music!

As i loved the up beat tempo of the first Between the Eyes album, i was expecting the 2nd to be slightly less rhythmic and dance oriented in it's material, and it most certainly is, but not in a bad way at all. The material on this cd is mostly VERY old unreleased B-sides from the [Church of Acid / Calling Ov The Dead] Era's, and serves nicely as a past look into the beginings of Velvet Acid Christ...In my opinion, the sound on this album is very ' Goth ' oriented, Tracks like "Pain" and "Rain For 27 Days" show Bryan's heavy influences with The Cure, The Legendary Pink Dots, ect. Overall an excellent CD, although it may take awhile to grow on a NEW VaC fan, for die hard fans and collectors, this cd will be a great addition to your library, i'm predicting that Between the Eyes Volume 3 will be even better!

VAC is consistently dark and moody, but this is perhaps their darkest album. turn off the lights and enjoy at a loud volume. a very good album, and a good indicator of what 'lust for blood' delivered on

Although this album features very few actually dancy songs as many of their later albums do, it does offer some of the more powerful, melodic, brooding soundscapes Velvet Acid Christ is known for. From beginning to end, Vol.3 delivers. My personal favorites are Dark Lights, Pain, Falling Snow, Rain for 27 Days and Killing Me. If you're considering buying this album just remember this: these songs are almost nothing like those on Fun With Knives, Lust For Blood, or even the later "Between the Eyes" albums. If you're looking for good dance music, forget it. This cd features music meant to be listened to, thought about, and listened to again. If you're a hard core VAC fan, this is defintely worth a purchase. But if you're simply looking for dance music to play at a party, again, forget it. You will be severly disappointed. But if you are looking for something thought provoking, dark, powerful, and all together hauntingly beautiful, you'll hit the mark with this great album.

I am not joking about that. Sometimes I will exaggerate the qualities of a Cd, but this is for real. There are no feel good songs on here. I can only listen to this Cd when I am in extreme despair. This is a very underrated industrial band. Bryan Erickson (the man behind the band) is a very depressed individual. At least that is the impression his music gives me. Some have said that VAC are un-original. That may be true to a degree. I mean it doesn't have the variety that FLA has, or the crazy creativity of Skinny Puppy. Where VAC excels is emotion and atmosphere. Erickson would make a good composer for horror movie music if you ask me. Most of his Cd's have fantastic movie sample's. He takes awesome quotes from great movies and they add a lot to his music. This Cd has less voice samples than the others. Not only does he have good taste in films, but he also likes a very good variety of music including some Black Metal. Much like me, only he is talented and successful LOL.

Hell One 8 Not dancy, and definitely not upbeat. This song is just about setting the mood with dreary melody, and groaning moans.

Hell Two 8 Another very dreary song. This one continues where Hell One left off. Only this one picks up the pace a little bit.

Dark Lights 8.5 Parts of this song are downbeat and brooding. There are moments when you can almost see the light through the darkness. Not for long because right when it starts to get pretty the lights go out, and you sink back into darkness.

Pain 8.5 This song is definitely reflecting his cure influence. This is loaded with suicide inspiring melody. This one makes me think of a foggy autumn graveyard in the middle of a decaying
inner city.

Falling Snow 8 Another morbidly fine example of sonic sadness. This one gets a little repetitive, but I think that is by design since it wears on your mind.

Mental Depression 9.5 Some of the most haunting music ever. This one is actually more danceable than most on this Cd.

Rain for 27 Days 7.5 A good continuation of the gloom and doom. This one doesn't stand out as much as the others do.

Killing Me 10 Definitely one of my favorite VAC songs ever. Despite the misery in the song this one actually is kind of pretty. The whispering vocals accompanied by Bryan's usual groaning gives this a great atmosphere.

We Have to See, We Have to Know 8.5 This is like a Gothic trance song. No lyrics just movie samples from some movie that I cant put my finger on.( Part of the fun of listening to VAC is trying to place what movie he took a sample from.) This is a longer song thick with dread.

Serial Killer 101 F*#k!ng spectacular. I don't even think I can describe this one. This one is more aggressive than the other's. Perfect! Tied as my favorite with Killing ME, And Hail the Dead Souls.

Decent to Darkness 8.5 Nightmarish music from hell. Makes my manic malevolent mind more morosely maddened.

Hail to the Dead Souls 10 As I said one of my favorites. This is a Keyboard driven Gothic masterpiece. This one is probably the most pure beautiful songs on the Cd.

I'm Gonna Wrap Myself in Your Intestines 7.5 Good but they should have ended with Hail/dead/souls. This one is close to being upbeat. At least in comparison to the preceding anthems of dread and decay.

If you are looking to get into VAC I would suggest this first only if you are interested in the more depressing stuff. Between the eyes vol 3 Is more of a mix of this with some more danceable elements. Fun with Drugs if you want the most danceable cd. Twisted Thought generator if you want a more
introspective trance Cd. Hex angel/Calling of the dead have more variety. Between the eyes vol 1 only if you are already a fan, and you like remixes. And finally Volume 4 if want to hear VAC's harder edge.

this volume serves more of a purpose then volume 1 did. while volume 1 was merely remixes for the most part this CD focuses more on b-sides. there is about 6 or 7 new songs on here that your average vac fan prolly hasnt heard. and the songs that are already owned, well atleast they are good picks. hopefully volume 3 will be even better.

another excellent release by velvet acid christ. although i already heard all of these songs from neuro, pestilence, ect. the strongest definitively song on this cd is we have to see we have to know its the one i would recommend to start with. But first i would recommend the vol 1 then this one because its much stronger then vol 2. umm i also have to disagree with velvet acid christ's review... nine inch nails is nothing similar to vac, both are excellent artists though. actually vac,nin, skinny puppy are my top 3 bands.

In under a year?s time, Velvet Acid Christ has released the ?Pretty Toy? single, ?Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia)?, and ?Between the Eyes Volume 1?. To continue the successes of these releases, and to add onto the retrospect collection, VAC is ready to release ?Between the Eyes Volume 2?. Featuring a ?lucky number? of thirteen tracks, ?Between the Eyes Volume 2? further delves into the past of this highly prolific one-man band. Several tracks were taken from early demo tapes as well as the ?Church of Acid? album which help to give a full representation of where Velvet Acid Christ first began his musical career. Additionally, ?Between the Eyes Volume 2? will replace the soon to be out of print ?Church of Acid.? A must have for fans and newcomers alike.

As you can see, my amazon username is derived from the one man project Velvet Acid Christ. I have a friend who has burned me various goth/industrial cds for me and all of them included tracks by Velvet Acid Christ which was how I became familiar of the industrial project. Trent Reznor has nothing on VAC if you ask me. Nine Inch Nails to me is the Michael Bolton of industrial music. What I like about VAC is that Bryan Erickson (a/k/a Disease Factory) combines both goth and industrial music into his music. Yesterday I finally bought my first full length Velvet Acid Christ cd. I was hoping to find either "Fun With Knives" (which I am still looking for) or "Twisted Thought Generator"). "Between the Eyes 2" picks up where the first volume leaves off (although I don't own the first volume). It is a collection of early VAC music. I really can't compare this cd with VAC's other works but from what few songs I have been exposed to, a lot of Bryan Erickson's music doesn't all sound the same. I was pleasantly surprised by how some of the songs on "Between the Eyes 2" were more mellow than the songs I were exposed to. Since Amazon has yet to post the track list, I will post them up myself.

1. Hell One (a haunting instrumental)
2. Hell Two (a really excellent industrial song. Imagine NIN but better)
3. Dark Lights (this song simply gave me the chills)
4. Pain
5. Falling Snow
6. Mental Depression
7. Rain For 27 Days
8. Killing Me (Probably one of the best tracks on this cd)
9. We Have to See, We Have to Know
10. Serial Killer 101 (another personal favorite of mine)
11. Decent to Darkness
12. Hail to the Dead Souls
13. I'm Gonna Wrap Myself in Your Intestines

I loved what I heard on "Between the Eyes 2". I personally thought it was a great introduction to Bryan's music. The music is dark and the lyrics really speaks to me which is why I can relate more to goth/industrial bands than I can with rock bands. I was also surprised to hear a different side to Bryan Erickson after hearing a few of his much harder edge songs. After taking an unsabbatical from one of my favorite genres of music for the past several months, VAC has rekindled my love for industrial music.