Preview: Iron Age @ Emo's [Tonight]

Back in the '80s, thrash metal offered a veritable “heavy” alternative to the zillions of hair metal bands, when pop metal was really a more accurate label for acts like RATT and Poison. Revisit “metal” from that era now, and Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax would be the ones to salvage '80s metal’s honor, along with the likes of Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses (not Britny Fox or Faster Pussycat). Iron Age threads the fine line between hardcore and metal but if you were to expand the family tree of the thrash and speed metal scene from that decade, you’d surely find this young Austin band in the rungs of the 21st century. The band formed here in 2005, dropped its debut Constant Struggle the following year, and performed at the inaugural Fun Fest in December 2006. This past August, Iron Age released its second full-length, The Sleeping Eye, a sonic blitzkrieg that should satisfy metal and hardcore fans alike.

The first track, “The Sleeping Eye of the Watcher,” offers a thunderous introduction to the penetrating riffs, sizzling solos, and bludgeoning drums that mark the album. “Dispossessed” might well be inspired by Motörhead with Jason Tarpey’s throaty voice harking back to Lemmy’s heyday and lending itself impeccably to Iron Age’s ominous sound throughout the record. There is a gothic nuance that surfaces every so often to add an extra element of doom and gloom while the somewhat out of place “Materia Prima” would probably have served a purpose if slotted after “A Younger Earth” to separate the latter half of the album, which has the feel of one long metal jam. “Arcana Pt. I” and “Arcana Pt. II” bleed into the obligatory eleven minute closer “The Way Is Narrow” -- the band shifts tempos expertly and delivers hearty doses of frenetic speed metal and sludgy stoner metal during the final twenty minutes or so. Overall, this is one heck of an effort from a local band and a breath of fresh air in a town focused on country and blues historically, and indie-rock and DJ culture at the moment. Catch Iron Age at Emo’s tonight; Dark Castle opens and Baroness headlines.

[Baroness MySpace]
[Iron Age MySpace]
[Dark Castle MySpace]