Iceage – New Brigade – Styrofoam Drone

Denmark’s latest musical sensation ICEAGE release their debut album “New Brigade” to much praise and throughout summer they will make first-time appearances in many cities across the United States.

Coming together for a full twenty-four minutes, it doesn’t take long to figure out why these dudes are catching on so well. With an album you can fit into your basic twenty minute car drive, it’s easy for this one to grow on you as you speed down the highway.

“New Brigade” is a soul-wrenching collection of ass-kicking jams that balances on a fine line between hardcore and post-punk music, created by four focused Copenhagen natives who know exactly how to exert their outrageous energy. Songs like “New Brigade” and “Broken Bone” present one main idea to start things off before they suddenly change directions and take a whole new route to their final destination. This quality not only shows their ability to be dynamic as a band, but it certainly leaves plenty of promising thoughts for such a fresh and young group.

Plenty of bruising, tom-heavy rhythms (like “Remember” and “Never Return”) are as primal as they are staggering, bringing me to say this entire album comes and goes in the blink of an eye. This means you WILL miss something on your first few listens, so be sure to give it the time it deserves to respectfully sink in. A handful of tracks don’t even breach the two minute mark, where songs paired together like “Rotting Heights” and “Total Drench” come off as a two-track punch combo that barely lasts three minutes, but the effects linger into the following week with severe consequences.

A sure album highlight reveals itself in “Collapse”, which is a mentally taxing listen even if that relentless guitar screech doesn’t manage to drive you mad. The song is based around the formulated screeching, much like how the follower “Eyes” is driven by metallic shards of guitar crunch – this is what it would sound like to put sheet-metal through a paper shredder. Another album highlight happens towards the end within “Never Return”, where cavernous guitars bounce of the rocky walls in distorted directions leaving you feel nothing short of being skinned alive. This leaves you with one more two minute rager to put you on your ass for the wrap up, simultaneously reminding you what these boys could be capable of in their future endeavors.

My Rating: 8.1/10
Genre/ Tags: Post-Punk, Hardcore, Danish
New Brigade: Tracklist:
1.) Intro
2.) White Rune
3.) New Brigade
4.) Remember
5.) Rotting Heights
6.) Total Drench
7.) Broken Bone
8.) Collapse
9.) Eyes
10.) Count Me In
11.) Never Return
12.) You’re Blessed