Album Review: Iron Age – The Sleeping Eye

And now for something completely different.

My time in Richmond might have been brief, but it was lengthy enough to totally change my feelings about a genre I once had absolutely no love for: metal. There was a time when for all intents and purposes, I liked metal about as much as I liked really bad 90s country. And that ain’t much. But after a little while in the town that spawned Lamb of God (and Gwar, but that’s something else entirely), something remarkable happened. I began to enjoy metal. And these days, while not totally in love yet, I can say with some emphasis that I do indeed dig the metal. Which kinda comes in handy while listening to the new Iron Age record, The Sleeping Eye.

This is good shit, kids. If you like metal at all, you’re probably gonna like this record. It’s got your hellishly loud guitars, thrashing and throttling your eardrums from here to kingdom come. It’s got that drum sound reminiscent of what you might have enjoyed back in the heyday of (good) Metallica. Oh, and there’s some good old-fashioned shouting that occurs every now and again on this here album. I can’t quite figure out how, but I’m really starting to dig it when I can’t understand a word on account of all the shouting and deep growls that highlight so many good metal bands. I also love the way the songs on this album tend to lull you into a false sense of aural security before unleashing a battering ram of sound. It’s straight up ridiculously awesome.

Though it was released last year, it’s totally worth giving The Sleeping Eye a good listen (or several), especially when you’re in the mood for a little hullabaloo. These Iron Age dudes from Austin really know what they’re doing when it comes to making gawdawfully good noise. From here on out, I’m drinkin’ the Kool Aid.

mp3: Burden of Empire (Iron Age from The Sleeping Eye)