Ever get the feeling something’s watching you from the shadows? Clawing its way from the rancid detritus of a punk tradition long thought past its expiration date, Rats Eyes was a rebirth of all that’s wonderfully wretched about hardcore. Rats Eyes set out to redefine the genre, prying the nails from its coffin and defibrillating the corpse inside. Headed up by the snarling vocals of Gabe Serbian (The Locust, Holy Molar, Head Wound City, Cattle Decapitation), Rats Eyes features a sordid cast of vermin including Jason Blackmore (Sirhan Sirhan) on guitar, Jimmy Armbrust (Louis XIV) on bass and John Cota (Hostile Comb-Over, City of Whores) on drums. This is a cadre of San Diego’s old guard and its experience is patent. With the percussive precision of a Kalashnikov, Cota lays a blistering groundwork that’s reinforced by Armbrust’s rumbling bass lines. Blackie’s guitar work is like open-heart surgery with a rusty box-cutter. And when it comes to the vocals put forth by Serbian—well, gird your fucking eardrums, ye hapless victims. It all amounts to a sonic assault on par with the best 80s-era hardcore: Black Flag, Battalion of Saints, GBH, Discharge, Adolescents, et al. The band’s name itself comes from one of Black Flag’s most caustic tracks. (Picture a half-naked Henry Rollins growling “I see the world through Rats Eyes!” and you will begin to see the world as this band sees it.) After the eventual departure of Serbian, the remaining three members would go on to form Death Eyes with vocalist Alberto Jurado.

Track Listing:
01. Halfway Human
02. They See In The Dark
03. Filthy Teacher
04. Smart Probes
05. Rat Blender
06. Cave Crawl
07. Gregorian Milk
08. Genital Worms
09. We Walk Through Walls
10. Depraved Cretins
11. Chris Bieck
12. Dickheads Guide To Asshole Island