Slave Vows
The 11-minute opener lets the audience find its seats and get comfortable as the nasty growl of L.A.\'s Icarus Line moves front and center. This is a band determined to find the step beyond Iggy Pop\'s frightening come-ons and PJ Harvey\'s radical housequakes. \"Don\'t Let Me Save Your Soul\" sounds like a mix of those two influences counterbalancing one another. Elements of Ron Asheton\'s *Fun House*–like psychedelic swirled guitars turn the streetwise blues of \"Marathon Man\" into a well-decided battle of dynamics. A few keyboard and vocal overdubs aside, *Slave Vows* was cut live, with singer/guitarist/producer Joe Cardamone taking the band through the loosely formatted tunes one by one. Whether it\'s the hit-and-run intensity of the two-minute \"No Money Music\" or the extended whirlwind of \"Dead Body\" (which feels like a drive-by on L.A.\'s less traveled streets), The Icarus Line makes rock \'n\' roll sound dangerous again.
Los Angeles sleaze merchants Icarus Line continue on their road to redemption with their new Slave Vows, their best record since Penance Soiree. On Slave Vows,songs start out comely, lurching and depraved, only to explode into id-startled fits of furious chaos and noise-- nothing feels forced or wasted.
Los Angeles sleaze merchants Icarus Line continue on their road to redemption with their new Slave Vows, their best record since Penance Soiree. On Slave Vows,songs start out comely, lurching and depraved, only to explode into id-startled fits of furious chaos and noise-- nothing feels forced or wasted.
Written and recorded almost entirely live over a meagre two months, The Icarus Line's latest finds them at their peak when moving between the simmering heat and the fireball.
Written and recorded almost entirely live over a meagre two months, The Icarus Line's latest finds them at their peak when moving between the simmering heat and the fireball.
Clash reviews 'Slave Vows', the fifth studio album from LA punk-and-rock-and-rollers The Icarus Line, self-recorded in California...
Clash reviews 'Slave Vows', the fifth studio album from LA punk-and-rock-and-rollers The Icarus Line, self-recorded in California...
The Icarus Line - Slave Vows review: A defiant mix of robust post-punk and hypnotic psychedelia.
The Icarus Line - Slave Vows review: A defiant mix of robust post-punk and hypnotic psychedelia.