IRON REAGAN - The Tyranny Of Will
September 19, 2014, 10 years ago
(Relapse Records)
Something really, really odd happened to me the other day: at the ripe ol' age of 37, I suddenly started loving crossover. Go figure; it was a genre that I always had a strong feeling of indifference towards, finding it contained all the right elements but never quite clicked. Then, I was listening to an Excel reissue and damned if it didn't all start making sense. Only took 20 years of me giving it a concerted effort. Anyway, now I get it, which makes releases like this Relapse debut (second full-length in total) from Richmond, Virginia's Iron Reagan all the more enjoyable (with a lineup boasting dudes from Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse, and Mammoth Grinder, it better be enjoyable). From the Nuclear Assault-loving vocal line of the opening title track to the amped-up D.R.I-isms of every single other song on the album (except for that quick Minor Threat hat-tip in "Bill Of Fights"), this is one high-octane (extremely high-octane, for much of it) album, with 24 songs in 31 minutes making up The Tyranny Of Will, a good handful of them clocking in at under one minute. A good handful of them also sound like a good handful of other crossover bands' songs, Iron Reagan's ongoing struggle to find their own identity firmly squashed under the weight of solid and unforgiving genre homage, here done with tons of heart and energy, end result being forgettable but fully awesome.
