Iceage are a Punk/Post-Punk nostalgia band from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band consists of five members, yes.. Five members and it's Punk, what the actual fuck. Their sound is reminiscent of the late 70's and early 80's Punk sound, taking influence from artists on either side of the scale such as Joy Division and Wire. They bring in modern sound production influences and create a sonic, loud and noisy Punk album with great guitar riffs and accessible bass work.
The opening track called 'White Rune' is a thunderous guitar song, with an absolutely incredible mind blistering sound. It reminds me of a Boredoms experimental piece with the white noise and heavy drumming. There's a lack of reverb and exaggerated use of distortion. this sound definitely has that Japanese-esque sound which can be mingled with Punk. It;s an instant favourite by myself and a sand out track on the album.
Many of the songs follow the same pattern they've all got the same drum opening the guitar work, then vocals, then bass and that's the style they have instead of the legendary original Post-Punk sound of opening guitar work building upon that. This albums only 25 minutes long and was recorded in four days, so the grit and raw production techniques show through incredibly well.
They bring in Lot's of layers of distortion and this crates that textual style of noise and hard hitting sound. It's far too distorted and in your face to gain a wide, acceptable audience. It's straight forward punk, but it's 40 years too late.
I pay my respects to the band for creating an album of worthy punk material for 2011, which has been critically acclaimed by many. Personally, I feel the album lacks in character and stand out tracks. Without some form of middle ground, the album falls. It's flawed by fast paced drumming and the 'in one ear and right out the other' sound. The track 'Remember' is a perfect example of the fast drumming and stylistic vocal with a memorable opening guitar riff, just to explode into Noise and layers which makes every individual instrument unrecognisable.
Nothing sticks. The guitar riff's, the bass, the overpowering drums, the aged vocals.. It's all just on big drop of nostalgia. I enjoy my punk rock, noise rock and post-punk, but this album is far behind in terms of lyrical content, production techniques, sound and cultural status. I do enjoy some tracks. The opening two tracks sound fantastic and are the ones likely to bring you back. One of the advantages this album has over others is it's short length, at just 25 minutes you can easily listen to the album several times before forming opinions.
~Eddie
7.7