Eagle Twin is an American

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

band formed in Salt Lake City, Utah by singer/guitarist

Gentry Densley Gentry Densely is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter. A longtime fixture on Salt Lake City, Utah's punk, metal and experimental music scenes, Densely has been involved in numerous bands but is best known for leading the groups Iceburn, As ...

and drummer Tyler Smith. Eagle Twin's music could be broadly classified as doom metal or sludge metal, but also touches on

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

, blues rock, jazz fusion and psychedelic rock, featuring lengthy instrumental passages and Densley's gruff, half-chanted vocals, which occasionally veer into

overtone singing Overtone singing – also known as overtone chanting, harmonic singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and diphonic singing – is a set of singing techniques in which the vocalist manipulates the resonances of the vocal tract, in order to arous ...

Background

Unlike

's previous band

Iceburn Iceburn, known later as the Iceburn Collective, was a musical group formed in 1991 in Salt Lake City, Utah, US, by guitarist/vocalist/composer Gentry Densley, the sole constant member through multiple personnel changes. They were known for their ...

, which explored a fusion of punk rock, metal, jazz, classical music and free improvisation, Eagle Twin is more directly rooted in heavy metal traditions, particularly the focus upon the guitar

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

. When asked what shaped the Eagle Twin sound, Densley replied: Eagle Twin's debut album, ''The Unkindness of Crows'', was released in 2009 by

Southern Lord Records Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It specialized in experimental metal: particularly doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal. The label later expanded its line-up to include a ...

. A loose concept album presenting a creation myth based on folklore and mythology about

crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

s, the album's liner notes state "We extend apologies for our shameless fleecing of dead poets, native myths, mormon hymns, japanese haikus,

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in sever ...

, and especially

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

." Hughes's 1970 collection ''

Crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

'' was a key inspiration for the album. Gentry Densley said: Critic Gregory Heaney of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

gives the album four-out-of-five stars, writing, "While not necessarily for the masses, ''The Unkindness of Crows'' is a solid experience for anyone looking for something that plays with the oom/sludge metalgenre in an interesting, and powerfully noisy, way."Heaney, Gregory
"Eagle Twin - The Unkindness of Crows"

. Retrieved February 12, 2014. Critic Daren Cowan rates the album at seven out of ten: "Each track relates a dark, cerebral sound with psychedelic undertones ..Densley’s voice brings a unique aspect to the album. Due to the length of each track and the album’s plodding nature, ''The Unkindness of Crows'' requires a certain mood to digest, but should fit followers of Southern Lord’s classic catalogue quite well."Cowan, Darren
"Eagle Twin - The Unkindness of Crows (Southern Lord Records)"
. Blistering.com. Retrieved February 12, 2014. Their second album, ''The Feather Tipped The Serpent's Scale'', was released by Southern Lord on August 28, 2012. Densley said that the album differs from the band's debut in that it has a "more specific arc for the overall album and narrative. We ended up with the birds burning in their battle with the sun, turning into snakes. We wanted to eventually evolve the reptilian back to the avian in the end. To us it was just an extension of our previous methodology with more emphasis on transformation or progression".Dale, Lachlan (September 26, 2012)
"Interviews : Eagle Twin – 'things were getting pretty dark and low in our lives' (An interview with Gentry Densely)"

Metal Obsession
Retrieved February 12, 2014.

Line-Up

- vocals, guitars * Tyler Smith - drums

Discography

Albums

* ''The Unkindness of Crows'' (2009) * ''The Feather Tipped the Serpent's Scale'' (2012) * ''The Thundering Heard'' (2018)

Splits

* Split with Night Terror (2009) * Split with Pombagira (2010)

References

{{Authority control Southern Lord Records artists Heavy metal duos Heavy metal musical groups from Utah Musical groups from Salt Lake City Musical groups established in 2007 2007 establishments in Utah