Les Yeux De La Tête

Jazz metal three-piece Les Yeux De La Tête’s (translation: The Eyes Of The Head) second full-length release, Mosca Violenta, is a vicious 11-song steamroller of sludgy riffs, raucous drum patterns, and avant-garde saxophone lines. For a guitarless, sparse album, MV is surprisingly theatrical and fascinating.

The trio’s doom jazz masterpiece opens with the demonic ska song “Fubar.” “Soutane Of Swing” is a dirty, free jazz dish with a saxophonic zest reminiscent of seminal blowers Ornette Coleman and John Zorn. The symphonic “Sloomer” is definitely one of the heaviest songs that my ears have ever been aroused by. “Les Rognons” is a harsh, mathy track that draws the listener in with its gritty bass, but oddly provides a sense of comfort with its atmospheric, jazzy sax lines.

Mosca Violenta proves that jazz has no boundaries. Whether you’re a purist who ritually grooves to Coltrane’s Live At The Village Vanguard, a stoner jamming out to your Doritos-covered Medeski Martin & Wood vinyl, or a metal-lover headbanging to the epicness of Les Yeux De La Tête or other jazz metal artists like The Dillinger Escape Plan or The Number Twelve Looks Like You, there’s a genre of jazz for everyone.

9.2 / 10 — Eli Zeger