Ninth House – The Eye That Refuses to Blink. 

The second full-length cd from these relentlessly 
haunting, goth-tinged, Americana-inflected rockers 
was worth the wait. It’s arguably their best effort 
to date and an instant contender for best of the 
year. Ninth House sprang from the ashes of 
Apostates ,a punk rock Lower East Side turned Goth 
Rock band. This edition of Ninth House - two guitarists and one keyboardists later – finds the band mining darker territory than ever, with richly rewarding results. 

Their first cd Swim in the Silence ranks as a 
classic of New York underground rock, an ambitious, 
artsy adventure ;singer Mark Sinnis 
comes across as something of a cross between Ian 
Curtis and Johnny Cash. 

The title of the new album, The Eye That Refuses to Blink could be used to describe the listener: it’s as hard to tear yourself away from the songs on this cd as it is to tear your eyes away from the scene of a bad accident, to resist the urge to see if the ambulance crew pulls the sheet all the way over the bloody form lying motionless on the stretcher. 

The cd opens auspiciously with The Company You’ll 
Keep, new guitarist Bernard SanJuan’s evil, Helter Skelter-style riff building to a roaring crescendo of guitar and string synthesizer on the chorus, all the way through to the inexorable despair of the 
slow walk down the scale at the end of the song. 
Other standout tracks include Follow the Line, a 
crashing, 6/8 ode to drunk driving; the title track; 
a bitter, epic, druggy dirge, and Forsaken Psalm, 
with its hymn-like overtones leading up to a 
gleefully macabre lyrical joke: Manhattan goth 
mainstay and author Voltaire lends his sepulchral 
voice to one of the verses. As a special treat, dark 
siren Randi Russo lends a gorgeously ghostly vocal 
to the deathly quiet, rockabilly-tinged Jealousy. 
Also included are a couple of choice covers, a 
furious, guitar-driven version of the Psychedelic 
Furs classic The Ghost in You as well as a 
Gothic/Punk rock take on Send Me an 
Angel, the 1984 radio hit by Australian 
synth-popsters Real Life. The album ends on the same note it started with, another epic appropriately entitled Death Song which builds from Sinnis’ pitchblende vocals over somber strings to the manic depression of the song’s central hook, recurring again and again like a machete-wielding psycho 
who can’t seem to finish off his victim. 

With 80s nostalgia here in full force - Interpol 
being the poor man’s Wire, Radio 4 the poor man’s 
Gang of Four, the Killers a slightly less sissified 
version of Duran Duran - Ninth House manages to tap 
into that vein without sounding like a pale 
imitation. Sure, they’ve got that big anthemic 
sound, that fast 2/4 drumbeat that U2 made so 
popular, the swooshy synthesized strings, those 
anguished vocals and the requisite all-black 
stagewear. But it’s not about the fashion or the 
pose. It’s about the music, all white-knuckle 
intensity as the songs plummet into the void. 

Kierkegaard would have liked this band. Fans of Joy 
Division, the Cure, Bauhaus and the Smiths should 
check them out. But their angry, death-obsessed 
sound will also appeal to fans of Pink Floyd as well 
as the gamut of goth bands ranging from Death in 
June to Sisters of Mercy. 

Trifecta Shows-NYC
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With a voice as heartfelt as Michael Stipe's and a soul in the vein of Johnny Cash New York's Ninth House tears away the conventions of what gothic music is expected to be on their latest release "The Eye that Refuses to Blink." A blend of gothic rock and undertones of country are what greets listeners on this powerful and delightful record from the catchy "The Company You'll Keep" to the classic Goth sounding "Death Song." It's easy to say that Ninth House will become a mainstay in New York 's scene… that is if they have not all ready.

A personal favorite, "The Ghost in You," is a radio worthy track that borders upon a pop sensibility that is so achingly good that it's become a personally irritating fact of musical life that Ninth House hasn't gained lasting, mainstream notoriety for their skill as song writers. Again, vocalist Mark Sinnis' tonality threatens a Michael Stipe comparison, especially when we come up upon the chorus. It is hard, as a journalist, to get away with writing a review without throwing in comparisons to established artists so hopefully this comparison will be forgiven when the band reads this. It is meant with the most sincere praise that can be offered.

Country music influences come into play on the second favorite track, "Follow the Line," which is where the Johnny Cash comparison enters. Perhaps it is ignorance on my own part at Cash's own style but that is who comes to mind in the refrain. Regardless this song sticks in one's head for hours on end and refuses to go until "Once in an Ordinary Life" takes over. This song is a complete hit and should be the third stop on a first listen pass through. Again, there are undertones of a country feel to the track but it is absolutely perfect. It wouldn't sound right any other way.

I could go on and on about how great this album is but I will allow you to decide for yourself. Purists may be interested in checking out the track "Forsaken Psalm" which features the underground legend Voltaire from NYC. There is also a little bonus in the form of "Send Me an Angel" which was originally performed by the Australian group Real Life and it is definitely a noteworthy version.

Conclusion: Ninth House and their record "The Eye that Refuses to Blink" are a hit. Enough said.
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This is their second CD, a delightful cemetery-and-western fusion that manages to combine the heaviest, pitch-black Goth tradition with rockabilly Americana. Frontman Mark Sinnis’s melodious compositions and rich vocals backed by virtuoso guitar solos, hypnotic rhythms and atmospheric synthesizer force listeners to look deep into the dark recesses of love, life and especially of death. 
The album is loaded with rousing epic anthems dealing with the terrors of being at death’s door, or even one fatal step beyond, and each is a morbid masterpiece.Forsaken 
Psalm, a cynical gospel number prominently featuring a pipe organ, represents a collaboration with Goth idol Voltaire. Follow the Line presents an allegory of life as a suicidal drunken drive to destruction. 
One or two songs are happily written in a major key, but delivered with an irresistible rocking groove, and there are a couple of covers that do more than justice to the Real Life and Psychedelic Furs originals. 

By Doktor John/The Aquarian 
Grade A
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