Sonntag, 21. Juni 2015

iron walrus - the plague

the new iron walrus record at hand. it just took this five-piece from osnabrück one year to come up with their second full length, entitled 'the plague'. this was actually the album i heard stuff from first, before i got to know any songs of 'insidious black sea'. on 'insidious...' you can hear that the band had an idea of what they wanted to sound like, on 'the plague' however they seem to have felt way more comfortable and grown together.
the songs have more depth and really stand as one. whereas 'insidious...' had some hits, the sophomore record is an unholy unit where it's hard to pick a favourite. therefore i will give you the link to the redfield records youtube channel, where you have the chance to listen to the album in all its glory.
beside the better song-writing of the walrus, vocalist sven's voice really stands out. it seems he treated his vocal chords with a huge amount of tobacco goods and whiskey in the course of the last year. so grumbling and barking that it reminds me of crowbar's kirk windstein to some extent. the art work goes hand in hand with the band's name and shows some consistency looking at the debut.
i really like that maritime theme. the record even ends with some sounds of the sea. when i ordered the records at the beginning of may the cd-version was already out since a few months and redfield had some problems with the pressing plant. as june came the vinyl was finally there and the outcome looks pretty neat. numbered sleeves, printed dust sleeves and nice marbled dark red vinyl. love when orders come with a little personal note. 525 made. get a copy here. nice job, redfield records. 2015.