Icarus Line Avowed Slavery

Hey, this ain’t no “followup” number, this is the other arm getting a shot—the Slave Vows-era Icarus Line getting its i’s dotted. The companion release to that well-received 2013 album, Avowed Slavery completes the circle of fury.

With the video release of “City Job” at the end of 2013, and Slave Vows still making people talk, it was time to put these songs to wax and prepare the world for The Icarus Line’s next move. This mini-album serves as a booster jab; the feral ferocity of the last album is here in spades, the fire in the band’s belly burning as hotly as ever. Frontman Joe Cardamone leads the gang once more into the rough—the desecrated war-zones of the music industry, American culture, and love—their brand of hellfire and brimstone rock ’n’ roll on full display.

“Leeches and Seeds” is a frenetic blast of noise, Ben Hallett’s drums threatening to collapse eardrums. A grooving and slithering earworm, live favorite “Junkadelic” could be the bastard offspring of Clinton and Bargeld. “Raise Yer Crown” closes off side one, the band’s thump-and-grind Los Angeles swagger back in full effect. The B-side opens with the long-awaited studio version of “Salem Slims,” first aired on the band’s 2012 tour in support of Killing Joke. This fearless headrush is so completely an Icarus Line song, there’s no other comparison—howling vocals, building / destroying rhythms, shards of guitar stunning all within range. Final track “The Father / The Priest” asks: Is this the calm after the storm, the comedown, the penance for the passion? Or is it the the current incarnation of The Icarus Line momentarily laying down their tools to prepare for the next go?