Sonntag, 23. Februar 2014

iron heel - book of grief

you, as a constant reader, may have recognised, i buy a lot of records from the german distro per koro. as it happens per koro isn't only a distro but a label on its own too. markus/per koro released some good stuff in the past (fear my thoughts, deathrite, avalanche and more) and it's always quality vinyl, presentation-wise. so i use to always check out what's coming. this time it's about the first full length of the austrian band iron heel, that appeared in december 2013.
they play some kind of doom metal. i'm not sure how to categorise them, because this is usually not the type of music i'm listening to. so here is what i found in the description. huge epic riffs meet sludge-infested rhythms and the vocals are full of blues-orientated harmonies. the lyrics deal with ritual mummification, hungry ghosts and open graves. for fans of serpent venom, goatsnake and st. vitus. as i'm not familiar with the aforementioned bands i'm not sure if the comparisons are accurate but probably you want to check them out for yourself, anyway. here's your chance.
i love the first song 'book of grief' and the rest is in the same vein. but it's five songs in 45 minutes and it's hard for me to listen to this record in one go, because of the slowness of the songs. as a hardcore and tech death metal fan i just need some tempo. nonetheless i really like the crushing heaviness of these kiloton riffs. the presentation is outstanding. thick matte card for the sleeve plus ace artwork, thick paper for the insert, also with great art on one side and nice clear vinyl in a black dust sleeve. very solid job! at this point are still coloured copies left. i presume 100 of them made. per koro records. 2013.


on a side note: you remember my post about the fear my thoughts - the great collapse record i scored on ebay? it was released by per koro in 2004. my copy came without an insert and i wasn't sure if this was the way it was meant to be. so i asked markus and to cut a long story short he sent me an insert he had still lying around and my copy is complete now. thanks a million, markus!