It’s all too easy to sit back and wallow in your own self-importance and ponder your musical knowledge and experience, so I would be comfortable in saying that there aren’t many bands I would say I have not heard of (there probably is a big, long list to be honest). I would imagine those that remain a mystery to me, exist in genres that I am barely on speaking terms with, but in general, I would say that I can be (partially) relied upon to have at least ‘heard’ of most of the bands that are broken on the rack here at Citadel Ave Noctum. Imagine my disquiet (ne embarrassment) when I put my hand up for what I initially thought were a new kid on the block, Iceburn, only to discover that not only are they viewed as genre pioneers in the alt rock, metal, free form jazz world, but upon further inspection, Salt Lake City, Utah residents Iceburn have been around since 1991, which would put their inception at a time when I was listening to new genre classics such as albums Carcass’s ‘Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious’, Sepultura’s thrash/death metal classic ‘Arise’, and Morbid Angel’s ‘Blessed Are The Sick’. Point being, at the time of Iceburn’s debut album, I was knee deep in the metal nomenclature and despite maybe not being a uber fan of this subgenre in 1991, I am genuinely perplexed, that this is the first time I have come across this particular band.
Anyway, if you can ignore the past paragraph jam packed with middle-aged flagellation and self-aggrandising, it’s probably a good point to start talking about Iceburn’s first full-length release in almost 20 years. Asclepius which is made of up of just two tracks which run to around eighteen minutes each and given the oeuvre of the band, the length of tracks may not come as a complete surprise as the band have precedent here, that subjugate conventional thinking around the presentment and style of their music which is part metal, part rock, part doom, part sludge all wrapped up in a filthy cloak of semi-improv, free form jazz.
First track (of two) ‘Healing The Ouroboros’ starts off as all epic, eighteen minute tracks should, in ominous fashion, as staccato floor toms, pound a slow methodical beat, like a prelude to an invading horde of Orcs marching onto its next conquest. So far, so atmospheric, as the tempo builds slightly, before segueing into riffs that rain down like a refreshing shower of agent orange (the chemical not the band), all muddied, over-driven, fuzzy, Sabbath influenced metal rain. You can hear the swooshing of long hair flying through the studio’s rarefied air, as flared jeans quiver and the heavy dope smoke parts just enough to catch a glimpse of a high-hat or a mike stand. It’s all big, brassy and has an infectious groove to it that just about keeps boredom at bay as the band plough through the near eighteen-minute running time. It’s a soupcon of Scissorfight’s southern influenced fighting rock and metal in terms of the groove and has splashes of Clutch in their lighter moments.
Onto second track ‘Dhalia Rides The Firebird’ and to be frank, rather than extrapolate and build on the first track, it seems that the band spliced an hours jam into two tracks. It doesn’t really take off or go anywhere different, as the song meanders about, shaking its ass and doing the old bait and switch of the quiet, loud, quiet school of song dynamics. It’s an odd one really, because as I sit typing this on a grey, rainy prelude to the day before I start my ‘proper’ job, Iceburn, isn’t the worst thing to start your day. In fact, it’s a comforting, competent and well produced, that has enough swagger and swing that keeps you on your toes and just about rescues these two tracks from being in that dangerous position where the music slides into the background and a spreadsheet takes precedent.
Given the build up from a historical perspective, and having delved into their back catalogue, I guess I had primed myself for a life changing experience, but, alas, no. What we have here is a band stretching its legs and offering up an album that just about falls the right side of pretentiousness. A competent album that is equal parts, early Alice in Chains, Sabbath and Clutch, I don’t think this is a true return to the bands avantgarde and challenging past. I don’t hear the jazz influences and it misses the more muscular metallic riffs present on their earlier albums. Said riffs seem to have been side-lined in favour of a more ‘mainstream’ and conventual approach. Not a problem in itself, all things considered, this is a good solid album but, given the longevity and musical precedent Iceburn bring to the table, this could be viewed as a missed opportunity.
(6/10 Nick Griffiths)
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