Iceburn - Firon

Year: 1995

Label: Victory

All this Victory Records talk on this blog got me to thinking about how great the record label was at one time. Tony Victory was on course to dethrone the illustrious Revelation as the top (bull)dog in the hardcore game, and then, much like Revelation, the label started veering off course into the fickle world of "post hardcore". There were some successes, and some failures, but I think this Iceburn record served as the high water mark for the label until Deadguy came along a few years later. Of course now...well, who knows what the fuck Victory Records is up to...but it sure as shit ain't anything like this.

So anyway, like most hardcore foot soldiers of that era, I bought the Iceburn 7" from Victory on the label's reputation alone, and was dumbfounded by it's contents (which in retrospect are really not all that ground-breaking, but it didn't sound like Judge...so I was dumbfounded alright). Well, imagine my surprise when the full length follow-up shows up, and completely changes modern hardcore. The songs started stretching out, the instrumentation was overlaid with jazz influences, the guitars were thick and heavy, and the vocals were wild, with lyrics more akin to poetry than "friendship issues". It was a whole new world, and at the time there was nobody who sounded like them. Years later when I heard Craw for the first time, I thought, "that sounds like Iceburn". I guess I sorta thought that Tool sounded like Iceburn...but I hate Tool, and would hate to tarnish Iceburn's reputation with that comparison. 

If you like the stuff on this blog, and you like some metal, maybe some hardcore...then you'll like this one.

DL