Think Rudimentary Peni on a heavy Killing Joke bender and you’re on the right track with this one. Normally, a band attempting such an endeavor would be begging to have their ears slapped back ‘cause, let’s be honest here, those are some King Kong-sized Underoos to attempt to fill, but they more than manage to hold their own. Maybe it’s ‘cause the lineup includes some folks who were actual contemporaries of those bands (current drummer is the Subhumans’ Trotsky, for instance), maybe it’s because they’ve somehow managed to tap into the same secret formula Peni and Killing Joke have been jealously guarding for three decades. Whatever it is, not only are Cross Stitched Eyes nudging a comfortable space for themselves on a very narrow shelf, they do it by owning, instead of aping, the sound. Put more succinctly, this is the best gloomy anarcho-punk inspired band I’ve heard in a good while.
–jimmy (Alternative Tentacles)