Boom went the dynamite as Seattle powerviolence mainstays Iron Lung, tore through Philly’s First Unitarian Church with Dream Decay, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Salvation, and Backslider in tow. Without a weak cog in this dense line-up of eclectic talents hosted by R5, Backslider broke the relative silence with a poignant 2-man assault, doing the East Coast pv section proud. Backslider is celebrating a great new studio effort, Consequences (stream below fold), that should not be missed by any fans of the genre. Philly locals and Youth Attack recording artists, Salvation followed up with an irate offering of properly pissed off hardcore that elevated the raucous several degrees.
The second two-man band of the evening, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, broke into what I can only defer to as the “indescribable” arena of noise rock. Lots of drive, noise, and what some might call hook sections, tumbled forward with reckless abandon, but almost magical glue, energizing and captivating the audience who were clearly strapped in for the ride.
The other-worldly sounds did not, however, prepare the audience for Iron Lung‘s tour and label mates, Dream Decay. Like a juggernaut plowing through walls of feedback, the drummer/vocal attack had an unstoppable inertia. Noise rock at heart, but throw in a saxophone, and delivery that border-lined insanity, and you can begin to get your head around this Seattle duo. Dream Decay also has a new LP, N V N V N V, out now via Iron Lung Records that can be sampled below the fold.
In the end, Iron Lung was a fitting closer, complete with feedback drenched powervoilence and the duo’s patented driving grind-into-bowel-moving sludge. A few technical difficulties punctuated with a few power outages only seemed to further rabble-rouse the already clamorous attendees. Stage long forgone, Iron Lung was completely surrounded by fans who swarmed around the duo like a pack of hungry wolves. The band proceeded to tear through barrage of tracks that spanned their prolific history as they continue to tour in support of White Glove Test, the band’s latest studio effort with three versions currently being offered through their own own label imprint, Iron Lung Records.
All photos by Blow The Scene Senior Photographer, Dante Torrieri (Useless Rebel Imaging)
Salvation
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