“Welcome friend, to the hardest-rocking substance known to man: Souljacker.”
These words of DJ Killingspree appear on the back cover of the Eels’ new album, Souljacker. A solid and eclectic album? Sure. A testament to the future of rock music and savior of the world? Sorry, guys, not this time.
The Eels started mainly as the then solo artist E (a.k.a. Mark Everet). Eventually, though, live band members Butch (Jonathan Norton) and bassist Tommy Walters were considered part of the group. The first album from the Eels was Beautiful Freak, which yielded the hit song “Novocaine For the Soul” in 1996.
From there, they meandered off the popular music landscape to do more experimental and alternative music. Their latest album is no exception.
The title Souljacker comes from the nickname of a lesser-known serial killer. To cement this image further, E now sports a full beard and Unabomber-style hooded sweatshirt. It’s a little out there. But then again, so is the album. It is a collection of eccentric rock with a little rock edge for flavor.
E’s singing has a melodic spoken word feel. This makes his lyrics all the more important and understood. However, his lyrical content is more confusing than it is meaningful.
In “Dog-Faced Boy” E sings “Coming home from school today/ Crying all the way/ Ain’t no way for a boy to be/ Begging ma to shave me please.”
For a song based on a boy with the face of a dog, I guess it works. Still, is a song about a dog-faced boy, honestly, that necessary? Perhaps I’m too much of a square.
For the most part, the album is stripped down to the bare essential of drums, bass and guitar. “Souljacker pt.1” is a bare-bones, country-blues number with a gnarly guitar part playing along with the vocals.
There are songs, however, that very much make use of wonderful modern technology.
As a string contrast to “Souljacker pt.1,” “Souljacker pt.2” is almost Brian Eno-like in its ambient and ethereal tone.
The most prominent aspect of the entire record is its fuzziness. In almost every song, there is at least one fuzzed out or distorted guitar part.
In “Teenage Witch,” it sounds almost as though they got the master tapes a little too close to a lamp or something. Even the vocals are distorted and fuzzy.
This is also the case with “What is This Note.” It sounds as though E threw in every instrument he had and ran them all through a distortion pedal somehow.
Eels fans shouldn’t have a problem with this album.
It is in the same vein of their past works, such as Electro-Shock Blues or Oh! What a Beautiful Morning, but with slight twists for originality.
This should also be a nice buy for those willing to walk on the wild side every now and then. Grade: B
