Band:	H-Blockx
Album:	Fly Eyes
Style:	Nu metal
Release date:	1998
Guest review by:	Bad English

01. Fly
02. One Day
03. 9:08 A.M.
04. Liquid Sunlight
05. Take Me Home
06. Even Goes
07. Without You
08. Stars
09. Tell Me Why
10. Black Skies
11. Can't Break My Fear
12. Cold
13. Heartblood
14. Wish
15. Paradise Valley

Me and nu metal - some will say, "WTF, this guy is bitching about nu, progressive, power, core, math, djent..." and so on. Yes, I do, and in principle, those genres suck. Before I judge a genre, I listen to the bands within it, and in my case most of those bands are not worth the trouble.

This band is nothing special, same as other nu metal bands, and I was tired of MTV2 and other networks trying to promote this as metal, so we should be happy that the internet came around and opened up new possibilities. Fly Eyes is like a skateboarder with those funny shorts, one of those who skates around, does nothing, and swears often while dating some girl. But, as I mentioned the skateboard (because this music is made for such people), they often do jumping tricks, and with this album, H-Blockx jumped as high as they could, higher than any nu metal band ever had.

I am an old fucker now, and I have no life. I still think real life is between 16 and 22, when you don't need to wash your clothes, make food, care about life - you just enjoy it with mates, play footy, swim, listen to music... Now, as an old man, I remember that I did that; this geezer did that back in the day, like memories of my life's story. Lyrically, this album is like a story of life, a story of events (no, not a love story or broken heart story), something that makes you remember how good life was in the past. It has emotions, and though "nu metal has emotions" is some of the biggest nonsense ever spoken, emotions it has nonetheless.

Not all the songs are perfect; there are a lot of standard nu metal riffs, but there is a more complex mixture between guitar riffs, drums, and ballads (like the songs "One Day," "Take Me Home," or "Stars"). These are great songs with great riffs and feeling, American college songs, songs about walking hand-in-hand with your crush. Like I've said before, ballads enrich music. It's a mix between something awesome and something so-so, but since a few songs are truly great, it makes the album a bit better. Somehow, all the lyrics and music find a way. "Even Flow" - I mean, "Even Goes" - sounds a bit like the Pearl Jam "classic." There are rap metal elements in the music; for example, the song "Without You." Well, the band offers no respite; every song is somehow different, which makes the album so good. "Can't Break My Fear" is a jumping song, an anger song. "Tell Me Why" is a teenage college tune, a graduation-party-kissing tune, like Blur or something. There is also an 11-minute song, rare in the nu metal genre.

How did I get into such a band? Well, it's simple - my friend gave me a tape when I was 16 or something, and I played it often throughout the whole summer. With no internet, we just listened to what we had, a mix of genres from death, black, and thrash to heavy, gothic, and hard rock. Today's people have the luxury of finding better music if they don't like X and Y; I had no such luxury. It was almost impossible to find anything about a band; you just randomly discovered a tape somewhere. We should be very happy that we have the internet; it's one of the greatest inventions for discovering new music (and you can even listen to it for free).

Thanks to ScreamingSteelUS for help and proofreading!