Polyphia - With Eyes To See | Not On Par With The Last Album

Polyphia – "With Eyes to See" FIRST TIME reaction. A new single from the upcoming album Be Not Afraid, and an actual music video this time, which I'd been asking for. Full thoughts below. First, a fix from last time: I turned the bass boost off. On the last reaction I had it running at about 50% on a song that was already bass-heavy, and I was drowning. This one I heard properly, and it's still enormously bass-forward — Clay Gober is doing a lot of work here. On the music: these singles aren't landing for me the way the last album did. What pulled me into Polyphia was virtuosity — people operating at the top 1% of the top 1% of their craft. These feel more like a clusterfuck than that, and I'd rather they stopped digitising the drums so heavily. That's not hate, it's just where I am. You're going to like some records more than others. What I did love: the synths around the seven-minute mark are heavenly, and the juxtaposition they build the whole track on — hard into harder, light into dark, heaven into hell — is exactly the thing they're best at. The middle section also gave me strong Look But Don't Touch energy visually, which I'd been hoping they'd return to. On the video itself, I'll say what I said in the reaction: I come to an instrumental band for the instrumentation. Polyphia can make whatever they want and should keep true to themselves — it's their music. I'm just here for what they play. If that means I close my eyes and listen next time, fine. The album title is Be Not Afraid, which tells you the register they're working in. 💬 Are these singles doing it for you, or are you waiting to hear the full record? 🔔 Subscribe — I'll be reacting to the whole album when it drops. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 A new Polyphia single 0:15 I turned the bass boost off 1:37 First listen 1:55 It's an actual music video 2:41 I think Tim's been doing psychedelics 2:50 Why I'm only here for the music 3:32 Stop digitising the drums 4:58 The psychedelic portal 5:40 This is giving me Look But Don't Touch 7:04 Those synths are heavenly 7:36 Is this the rapture? 8:35 Be Not Afraid, and my honest verdict 10:46 What I came to Polyphia for 11:22 Hard and harder All rights to the original song belong to Polyphia and their label. This video is commentary and analysis. #Polyphia #WithEyesToSee #reaction