Showing posts with label Iron Reagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iron Reagan. Show all posts

Sunday 4 November 2018

Iron Reagan "Dark Days Ahead" (2018)


If your looking for a fast and furious eight minutes of fist pumping mania, then Crossover Thrash outfit Iron Reagan have got your covered. Well beyond the heyday of Hardcore and Thrash Metal music meeting in the mid eighties, the five piece thrashers from Richmond Virginia revisit the sound with a modernized aesthetic, unrelenting intensity and bloodthirsty attitude. This is the best of them Ive heard so far and its a little jarring to think such high quality tracks wouldn't make the album cut.

From Authority to Watch You Die, the band lay down a furious pace spurred on by a thunderous snare that ricochets off lively, razor sharp distortion guitars, thrashing power chords back and forth, dizzying around the fret board. With songs lasting between one to two minutes they blitz through the riffage without circling back to the verse chorus formula. It propels the music forward, which is already running itself in a race of the cliff. Gang shouts and throaty yells of frustration and anger just further this rebellion of youthful energy and anger.

In the short space it occupies, the music finds degrees of techniques that span both edges of the Crossover sound. My favorite song, Patronizer, brings out some classic Slayer riffing style that leads into a wonderful explosion of ferocity as the gang shout cries out "pat-ro-niz-er". The following track also utilizes some of the Thrash Metal veterans sounds, its suits this band so well. Its five songs all offer something great and ultimately its too short for its own good! Can't wait for the next album.

Favorite Tracks: Patronizer, The Devistation
Rating: 4/10

Friday 24 February 2017

Iron Reagan "Crossover Ministry" (2017)


Given this bands line up, consisting of members from Municipal Waste, Cannibas Corpse and Darkest Hour, you may consider them a super group of sorts. They are very much in the spirit of Singer Foresta's main band Municipal Waste, Crossover, that moment in the 80s where Thrash Metal and Hardcore music crossed paths. Iron Reagan is all about the fun and attitude of the music, with the occasional political statement sprinkled in it is mostly a balls to the wall thrasher of a record that goes full pelt for the hell of it, barely letting up for a breather.

Its leaning is far more to the Hardcore but the occasional bursts of fast guitar thrashing and electric guitar solos keep it all hanging in the balance. With that comes a consistency as the eighteen short songs stick to a fairly routine formula instrumentally. The albums tone is frenetic, sonic and sounds is if its ready to burst at the seems in any moment. A gorgeous, punchy snare drum compliments the distortion guitars that has a reminiscent Slayer tone to it with the more Metal riffs. Underneath it the thuds of pedal kicks and rumbling baselines add to the imminent and maddening vibrations.

With a consistency in approach one song generally bleeds into the next and the affair becomes a little monotone but in a few moments it elevates itself with theme and a sense of humor. "Fuck The Neighbors" poking fun at party hard attitudes with an anthem to blare at rude neighbors who complain about loud music at five in the morning! Total jokes... that and a few other songs liven up what is a little stale album given a large selection of similar sounding riffs. The records tone, energy and attitude makes for a fun experience although it was dampened a little for me by Foresta's thin screams which just aren't to my taste the gang shouts however are fantastic and make many a good hook through the run time.

Favorite Tracks: Dead With My Friends, Fuck The Neighbors, Bleed The Fifth, Dogsnotgods
Rating: 6/10