The Icarus Line
Penance Soiree

THE REVIEW

The fury within.

If Audioslave's debut has already bored you after a few listens, if you think Perry Farrel & Co. have lost their edge, if you still lament the heart-wrench absence of At The Drive In, if grunge, garage, and metal disappoint you because they've become just a matter of appearances... Then listening to the new Icarus Line album might console you.

Black Flag, Birthday Party, The Stooges, Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Black Heart Procession, Spiritualized, and Ink & Dagger. These are the proclaimed influences of the Los Angeles-based Icarus Line, a band partly hardcore, partly metal, and partly alternative rock. In other words, nothing new under the sky, but I feel compelled to highlight this band for their musical attitude, aimed at deconstructing the entire '90s era into a truly evolved and yet loyal taste.

The Icarus Line are the new heralds of a sound that is an uncomfortable and nerve-wracking mixture, relentless and heavily imposed with devoted intensity on the influences mentioned earlier. In the words of vocalist Joe Cardamone: "The music we make is meant to make us hate...". One thing is certain, this quintet is doing nothing to endear themselves to the show business or sector journalists, but V2 still wanted to take a shot by releasing Penance Soiree, the second album after the decent success at home of their debut Mono (2001).

In Penance Soiree, we find spontaneous fervor and frantic musical movement (which some purists might find excessive, almost baroque, redundant, exaggerated), supporting the frontman Caradamone (who screams and shouts like few others in the world), alternating moments of pure fury with those of surprising and piercing melodic intensity. Cardamone has an interesting voice, capable of binding the various influences declared by the band, giving them balanced plausibility and ferocity.

Thirteen tracks in total on Penance Soiree, an uncomfortable album (even in its politicized lyrics), extreme, yet damn compelling and gripping. What distinguishes this band from others in vogue these days is the right dose (meaning a lot) of Grit, with a capital G: sharp, clever, determined, fierce. Quite an achievement, considering the heavy musical predecessors of the band.

The Icarus Line are abrasive, biting, very professional, and truly badass inside. This quintet will inevitably win you over, despite all their attempts to make you hate them.

Recommended for those who do not suffer from heart conditions.