Icons Of Brutality - Between Glory And Despair

Icons Of Brutality surprisingly live up to their name. This is brutal work no doubt about it. 'Between Glory And Despair' is a monstrous record, at times the production becomes a little glitchy and post 90's, yet put that aside and you have a mighty metal album in need of playing incredibly loud. The nine tracks last just under half an hour which in my opinion is a perfect length for a death metal album. During this album's playthrough the vocals get a little bit tiring and predictable, but on tracks like 'Unleashed By The Carnifex', when halfway through the solo begins - this is what's clear about Icon's true indignation of a perfect death metal sound. The album overall relies on moments like that to whip up some sort of variation, keeping the listener occupied.

It's hard to distinguish between the tracks, as the drums literally sound the same on nearly every song. Distorted riffs over grunt-like shouting pummel through with immense audacity, revealing the band's proper sound. Whether or not this is the sound and genre they were planning on creating, it has now become a riddled structure of noise, which is certainly a label a few death metal bands are capable of. Icons Of Brutality's fanbase is probably that of a small amount, yet I would predict each fan to worship the floor that is walked on by this band. The influences are easily noticeable and can stretch from Entombed to At The Gates, which overall greets you with some rough idea of what this album may sound like yet I'd say there's more modern activity thrown into the system, especially on the final track 'Battalion 666' in which the vocalist spews out a new direction in vocals, in which I would have loved to of heard in some of the previous tracks to mix it up a little.

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  1. Just Let Them Burn
  2. Between Glory And Despair
  3. Accompained By Attrition
  4. Icons Of Brutality
  5. Built To Grind
  6. Unleashed By The Carnifex
  7. Right Leg Solution
  8. Sacred Days Of Tyranny
  9. Battalion 666

Reviewer: twansibon
Feb 27, 2013
Next review: Haut Et Court - La Vie

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