4 out of 5

Label: Expert Work Records

Produced by: Shane Hochstetler

Four selected cuts from two digital-only (I think) self-released EPs, lathe-cut onto 10″ by Expert Work – whose owner is one-time Bald Eagler Justin Nardy – this is an excellent, rocking, fun sample of how sharp BE could be, while also quite clearly showing off the main attribute I’d criticize: they sort of lack an m.o. It’s hard when your band members are clearly in to all styles of hardcore and punk, and are good at all of those, and when the band’s ‘tude slots into a semi-serious realm where the hooks are weighty, but you have song titles like ‘Chuck Norris, Sing Me To Sleep’ and everything’s delivered with a smirk. So the collection of these four songs doesn’t give a clear picture of the band, while at the same time: each track is pretty awesome.

Opener – the already named Norris track – swings from indie acoustics into thrashy, throat-shredding punk, setting us up for the noise rock build-and-release of ‘Lions Lips and Tiger Tongues’, leading into two ‘Clean Living‘-era cuts on the B-side which combine some 70s rock fanaticism with math and, smartly paired with the A-side cuts, doses of punk and build-and-release style hardcore.

The punk stuff is the most linear out of the batch, but it’s tastefully deployed so you can’t just characterize the band that way; the buildups mentioned are done in my favorite fashion, where an already loud track finds room to somehow get louder and more powerful; and the combo of the kind of vaguely 70s-style stoner metal with all of these other elements on ‘Do Drugs’ is sneaky and wild. Just, again, it’s not that this stuff isn’t combined well, only that it’s hard to say what Bald Eagle’s sound exactly was.

However, even if that ends up being distilled here, the fact that the BE experience is super effectively boiled down to four wholly excellent tracks makes it only worth mentioning when you’re, like, trying to write a review.