Iron Kind--s/t (4 song demo)
self-released 2001
Every now and then, in the music world, someone who is great "behind-the-scenes" decides to step out into the fray and take the rocking into their own hands. Unfortunately, for all their good intentions, the results are often less than convincing. Thankfully, that is not the case with this four song Iron Kind demo, featuring vocals from Game Two Records head honcho Conan Hultgren.
The first thing obvious about Iron Kind is that the music of Pentagram is their main point of inspiration and reference--these are four of the best Pentagram songs ever, not actually written by Pentagram, especially the opening track "Fastburn". It's fair to say Iron Kind's brand of Pentagram worship is on par with other like-minded bands such as Dreaming--both bands possess superior songwriting skills. In fact, Iron Kind has a bit of an edge on Dreaming in that Conan's vocals are much more listenable than the "quirky" vocal stylings of the Dreaming frontman.
That being said, there is one potential problem/downside to Iron Kind, albeit a long-term concern. While the songwriting is good and the performances are solid on this demo, the fact remains, at this point, Iron Kind lacks a unique "face" or identity--this is almost a total lift of Pentagram. There are glimmers of originality in the writing but, for right now, Conan sounds like he's just doing his best Bobby Liebling impersonation. To be fair, it is a good one. It should be said that Conan hasn't been singing for very long--he's doing a great job taking that into consideration. However, to have any lasting impact, Iron Kind, as a band and as individual performers, need to "discover" themselves a bit more. There's little doubt from the material on this demo that they're capable of doing just that--it's only a matter of time and experience.
In the end, these are four songs of quality doom. The songwriting, the performances, and the sound quality are all very pleasing to the ear. Let's just hope Iron Kind continues to progress because they're good enough to be around for a very long time if they do. I just fear if bands like this stagnate, it could bring the same spirit of lacking in originality which has ruined groove/"stoner" rock into the world of doom--that is a very dangerous and disheartening proposition. I'm confident and hopeful Iron Kind won't slip into that rut, though--I believe they're too good for that fate. A promising first outing, to be sure.
Get info on this demo directly from IRON KIND
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