[MTN 17 - Summer 1998 - 3000 copies]
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Track List: Earth Ride  Percept Memorial Sympathy Trial |
PRESSING INFO:
2,000 CD, 1,000 LP
REVIEWS/DESCRIPTIONS:
"When I first heard this, I was a little afraid it sounded too much like Bloodlet, since I'd been expecting something
with quicker tempos, like the work on their 7". Now that I listen to it again, I'm blown away, I have no doubts or
complaints. What Bloodlet was trying to do - create monstrous, desolate slow motion nightmares out of drastically
down-tuned guitars, roaring vocals, and painfully dragged tempos - and failed to do, due to the decay of their
artistic integrity and too much drug use - happens here, to such an extent that those of us who (misled by Bloodlet)
doubted this equation could ever create anything really emotional are now regretting our words. These songs are
genuinely eerie: the band is expect at creating atmosphere out of the broad spaces in their music (slower music has
more space in it, you know... and when they drop out the guitars, leaving only the growly bass, there's enough
space to fit whole empires of darkness), and they only use the most stomach-churning of minor chord scales. The
first song begins something the same way His Hero Is Gone's "Monuments" record did: heavy distorted chords, then
a pause for a mournful, lonely guitar crying into empty space, before the distortion/destruction return again,
punctuated by those heartbreaking high notes - only, in Ire's case, with no more speed than the first time. They add
the Slayer harmonies on the guitars at one point, the way Overcast loved to (on a groove in the second song that
might bring Black Sabbath to mind if it was played at at least 78 r.p.m.). A little double bass and even a blastbeat
(that somehow sounds as lugubrious as all the slow stuff) appear towards the end of the CD. There's an interesting
tension in Ire, in that their lyrics and general motivations revolve around specific political issues (the prison-industrial
complex and the images and misinformation spread by the mass media, for two examples), while their music is
unmistakably introspective and abstract in its slow, painful spookiness. And just how slow is Ire, you ask? Well, this
CD is a half hour long, and that's just four songs." - Inside Front #12
"This strikes with the subtlety of a sledge hammer powering down on your noggin. IRE combine slow to mid-tempo with a heavy force that pushes force with strength. They bring to mind HIS HERO IS GONE, in the way they create this massive wall of noize that has a crushing weight, almost an auditor (sic) destructive force. Dark, brooding, and abrasive. Then there's a part of this band that reminds me of the punishing aspects of GRIEF. Methodic at moments with corrosive vocals. IRE play the kind of music you listen to alone in the dark late late late at night . Or early in the morning, depending on where you stand." - Engine Fanzine #6
"Well, I had my ganga and was already to feel IRE when I put on this disk, but it turns out the E is short, and IRE is a noun, not an adjective used by the island folk to describe good vibrations. Much slower than ragga, Ire's music is filthy evil metal. We're talking four songs, twenty-something minutes. Can you say DIRGE? This is not hardcore, don't try to fool yourself, but don't worry because there aren't any solos and the lyrics are actually intelligent and thoughtful enough to merit EXPLANATIONS (not disclaimers like on Slayer's "Reign in Blood" LP where they assured us all they weren't REALLY glorifying the holocaust). Fans of that band (before they got bad but after they were super-fast) will dig the riffage here, though. This is heavy, bludgeoning, sandpaper-gargling, fucking metal. They drop each chord like a safe on Wile E Coyote's head. roaaar." - JEFF, MTNCIA
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