Finally Austin, Texas hardcore/thrash warriors Iron Age are back with their second full length album. Where their first album Constant Struggle was an album filled with hardcore/thrash that was heavily inspired by bands like Cro-Mags and Leeway and oldschool thrash metal, they made a pretty huge change in their sound and appearance (for the people who’ve seen them recently, they changed from a clean cut hardcore band, to a gruff looking bearded stoner/metal band).

First let me say, that their debut album Constant Struggle out of 2006, is an awesome album, but what this band pulls off on this album is just fucking brilliant! Musically they are still a hardcore band, but their sound got way heavier and darker and a bit more to the straight forward metal/stoner sound. Imagine Celtic Frost, High On Fire, The Sword, Cro-Mags and (old) Corrosion Of Conformity in one big venue and all jam together and you pretty much have the sound of Iron Age. Oldschool ‘fists in the air’ metal mixed with crossover hardcore and thrash metal. Their singer Jason has a way raspier, harsher voice on this album as well.
 

Personally I really like their change of sound. It gives them even more variety and they can play shows as easy with hardcore bands like Rise And Fall as they can play with bands like High On Fire and Baroness.
 

From the first song on called ‘Sleeping Eye Of The Watchers’ it’s one big feast of thrashy riffs, bulldozer drums, headbanging metal parts and harsh sounding vocals. I love the sound on this album and all the songs on this album are winners, there’s not one weak song on this album! It’s good for the listener, that they have spacey keyboard interludes in between songs, to give you a short breather. Absolute highlight of the album is ‘Burden Of Empire’, which starts with an amazing heavy High On Fire riff that wants you to put your fists in the air and bang your head off! Also a song like ‘The Way Is Narrow’, which is a way faster crossover hardcore song in a Leeway kind of way, will rip you to pieces!
 

They changed their sound pretty drastically, so I can imagine that the old fans might not like this, but I’m sure they gain a lot of new fans in other scenes. They still honour their crossover forefathers, but at the same time treading new grounds in brutal atmosphere and doomy vibe. If you like you’re hardcore unconventional, harsh, heavy and basically metal as fuck, no need to look any further! Music will not get any better than this… Fuck, this is good!