Ironiclast - The DamnedThings

Wed 9th Feb, 2011 in Music Reviews

If you’ve been ruing the lack of a good, hard-rock album in your life recently, then you’ll be very pleased with The Damned Things debut release, Ironiclast. An album that is packed to the brim with brilliant vocals, catchy guitar hooks and superb drumming – The Damned Things have already proved that with careful experimentation and collaboration, the end result can be an incredibly positive one.

A project festures Joe Trohman from Fall Out Boy and Ian Scott of Anthrax joined by friends Andy Hurley, Keith Buckley, Rob Caggiano and Josh Newton of Fall Out Boy, Anthrax, and Every Time I Die respectively.

The Damned Things have a fairly deep line of axeman in their possession, and they obviously have no trepidations letting us know they’re aware of that from the opening track Handbook for the Recently Deceased. We’ve Got A Situation Here will get stuck in your head quite easily, the video clip accompanying this song is a bag of laughs, and it’s quite discernible that all members of the band are enjoying thoroughly what they’re doing, which is a great indication of the future of their music, or so one could hope. The album closes nicely with The Blues Havin’ Blues, a song with gritty guitar riffs, topped off with a drum-laden treat which puts the proverbial icing on the cake, and leaves the listener enticed to come back for a second helping when their sophomore release arrives.

Ironiclast is definitely worth a listen whether you’re a fan of Fall Out Boy, Anthrax or Every Time I Die or not. In an industry that seems to be lacking bands and albums like them The Damned Things offer a no-frills, hard-rock album that commits to exactly what they set out to do – rock hard.