Sunday, 12 July 2020

Iron Pike - Be The Discomfort (Album Review)


Release date: June 21st 2020. Label: Self Released. Format: Cassette/DD

Be The Discomfort – Tracklisting

1.The Great Deep 08:35
2.Pig Manners 06:37
3.Forked Tongues 06:45
4.Loathe 07:51

Members

Niklas - organ, synthesizers, noise and vocals
Oscar - drums
Björn - Guitar and vocals
Bass and vocals on this album by Jakob.

Review


Be The Discomfort is the new album from Swedish Sludge Metallers Iron Pike and it’s quite a convincing and brutally heavy affair with the band playing a pummelling style of Hardcore based Doom/Sludge Metal. It’s a style of music that we’ve heard a million times before but if you’re on the lookout for a heavy style of Sludge Metal with great vocals to match then Iron Pike are the perfect band for you to checkout.

The album is expertly put together with a fantastic and free-flowing production that allows Iron Pike to grow naturally within the albums 30 minute running time. The gloomy atmospherics can be quite raw at times but this gives Iron Pike a more unsettling method of playing their down-tuned heavy sounds that ultimately brings a more claustrophobic style of Doom/Sludge Metal.

The song does have some trippy psychedelic parts spliced throughout the album with creepy soundbytes added along the way.

Opening song – The Great Deep – is the standout song on the album as Iron Pike utilize some great soundclips to portray a more deeper and emotionally involving blend of music. The vocals are a combination of clean vocals and harsh growls which are quite ferocious from start to finish. The lyrics could have done with some more work but overall this is a beautifully heavy and gloomy song that has some epic guitar sounds that allow Iron Pike to be noticed on their own merits.

The other songs on the album follow the same path as The Great Deep and Iron Pike do add different layers of heaviness to these songs with Forked Tongues and Loathe having a slightly more depressing and violent feel to them.

If you dig bands such as Cult Of Luna, CONAN and EyeHateGod then Iron Pike are the band for you. As Iron Pike are another welcome addition from the world famous Swedish Doom/Sludge Metal scene which has already given the world so many amazing acts. They prove on Be The Discomfort they are a band checking out and worth giving a damn about.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

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