Ironaut "Self-Titled EP"

    Los Angeles doom trio Ironaut hammers out some killer axe wielding jams on their five song self-titled EP. Heavy sounding tunes that display musical brutality and Sabbath like grooves, allow listeners to feverishly bang their heads and have one wild hard rocking time. 

    I think what stood out most vividly on this EP is the tight sound that the band was able to create with each track. The music really flows and for a trio they have an impressive full sound. I am reminded of bands like High on Fire and Orange Goblin, because the band combines these fast paced speed demon riffs with these moments of slow skull crushing terror. 

    The ferocity of the opening track, “Horned Goat,” demands attention by constructing this unforgiving verse riff. Also, the band writes these pissed off sounding lyrics that compliments the instrumental compositions quite well. Ironaut’s guitar, bass and drum structures are very basic doom and hard rock in style, so if you are expecting a progressive and dynamic release, you might be setting the bar a bit too high. Their style definitely puts more emphasis on simple yet brutal sounding riffs, which is why the band does a solid job coming up with these hard hitting doom rock pieces of music. “Yellow King,” is a slamming song and features some bombastic drumming. I think the drumming at times gives the band an extra kick of aggression. 

    Song three on the EP, “Acid Wash,” is one of my favorite tracks from Ironaut on this EP. The intro guitar riff sounds very seventies psychedelic hard rock and even mixes in some quick tempo guitar and bass parts that gives the piece a hardcore punk feel. “Atomic Voyage,” actually changes up the band’s usual songwriting formula with an acoustic intro that paves the way for a haunting doom composition. Finishing off the EP, “The Dead Look in My Eyes,” keeps the reverb dial turned up high and the band’s singer/bassist continues to shout out vicious lyrics with a loud and harsh vocal tone. The song contains so much musical attitude that you just don’t hear very often in the world of music, especially that crap they play on MTV nowadays(if they still play music). 

    Now, I have reviewed a fair amount of bands who play this style, but Ironaut did find a way to throw in their own musical personality and the group sounds really tight. Also, for a three piece they seem to offer a loud seismic ground shaking sound. I think my only suggestion would be to keep experimenting with those slow and evil sounding atmospheres like on “Atomic Voyage,” while consistently throwing down unforgiving riffs like on, “Acid Wash.” Overall, it is doom and it kicks major metal ass...enough said as to why you should check this band out. 

Ironaut Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ironautmusic/