Search - Icarus Line :: Penance Soiree

Best Album Ever

B. Carnahan | 10/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I really think that people who don't like this album simply don't like rock music. With this record, the Icarus Line take influences ranging over the entire spectrum of rock 'n' roll and manage to push them forward into a sound that is breathtaking in its originality. Do you like The Stooges? Or My Bloody Valentine? What about The Jesus Lizard? Or Born Against, Funkadelic, Suicide, Spiritualized, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, Ink & Dagger? Do you like music at all?



The guitars of Aaron North and Alvin DeGuzman clash against each other like some demon cocktail of Fugazi and the MC5. The rhythm section of Don Devore (a legend in his own right) and Jeff Watson is unbeatable - they attack each song like bulldozers, each going into wild new structures dead on. And on top of all the mayhem, Joe Cardamone sings like a bastard child of Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger who grew up listening to the Dwarves.



This album is a landmark record. No one liked Funhouse when that album came out. Now it's looked at as one of the most revolutionary records ever released. In 30 years, everyone will be looking back at this album and wondering how the Icarus Line could produce such awe-inspiring material."