Iron Monkey – Iron Monkey (1996)

October 6, 2012

It has been a long wait, but I bet a whole bunch of people are happy with Earache for finally deciding to press both Iron Monkey records onto wax for the first time ever. They are pressed from digital masters, so I wasn’t expecting the world but they actually sound absolutely fantastic. I’ve always been put off by Earache’s CD comp of all Iron Monkey shit (I’m a record-in-it’s-original-form kinda guy), so when I heard about these vinyl pressings I jumped at the chance to own each record individually. I got mine from HMV for like 3 pence.*

Anyway, this is a classic of the sludge sub genre (or at least I feel it is). For me it channels the vibe and sound of Take as…era Eyehategod and makes it more direct and streamlined; more, should I say, to the point. Also those vocals sound like they have a permanent flanger effect but they are a hundred percent natural. Shit blows my mind. I love this album but for some reason I don’t feel I can talk about it in depth. Nevertheless, I am happy to final own a copy of it (coloured too!). Listen loud please. Rest in piece Mr. Morrow.

*PS: I take back everything I said about HMV’s excellent vinyl prices! One day in early August nearly all of the records for sale fucking doubled in price for absolutely no reason. Fuck them!