Icarus Line

Icarus Line

All Things Under Heaven

Agitated

***THE ICARUS LINE's third full-length release for Agitated (their eigth album in total), following on from their imperious return to the fray in 2013 with the much lauded release of Slave Vows, followed up by its companion album release Avowed Slavery in 2014. Recorded and arranged live as a group in Cardamone's studio, Valley Recording Company in Burbank. The album features a guest appearance from legendary outsider artist Joe Coleman who helped coin the album title. Also appearing is Bad Seed / Grinderman/ Dirty Three band leader Warren Ellis who helped pen the track "Bedlam Blue" with Cardamone.   All Things Under Heaven packs the kind of swagger, raunch & ascent that would make Iggy Stooge and Sun Ra proud parents. It is a record that expands the vocabulary of what rock music can be without sacrificing the critical spirit that makes it Rock N Roll. The Icarus Line have summoned up the demons from the past, paid their homage and taken the sound in an entirely new direction; because this band are never ones to be caught on their knees. The album is a sprawling sonic landscape that has a timeless quality about it as it traverses between low valleys, towering skyscrapers and all the dirty alleyways that connect them. It's a record that's as sprawling as the city of Los Angeles to which The Icarus Line have always called home. It's a fuck you to the bite size society that has become music consumption. Life is bigger...

Icarus Line

Avowed Slavery

Agitated

Hey, this ain’t no “followup” number, this is the other arm getting a shot—the Slave Vows-era Icarus Line getting its i’s dotted. The companion release to that well-received 2013 album, Avowed Slavery completes the circle of fury. With the video release of “City Job” at the end of 2013, and Slave Vows still making people talk, it was time to put these songs to wax and prepare the world for The Icarus Line’s next move. This mini-album serves as a booster jab; the feral ferocity of the last album is here in spades, the fire in the band’s belly burning as hotly as ever. Frontman Joe Cardamone leads the gang once more into the rough—the desecrated war-zones of the music industry, American culture, and love—their brand of hellfire and brimstone rock ’n’ roll on full display. “Leeches and Seeds” is a frenetic blast of noise, Ben Hallett’s drums threatening to collapse eardrums. A grooving and slithering earworm, live favorite “Junkadelic” could be the bastard offspring of Clinton and Bargeld. “Raise Yer Crown” closes off side one, the band’s thump-and-grind Los Angeles swagger back in full effect. The B-side opens with the long-awaited studio version of “Salem Slims,” first aired on the band’s 2012 tour in support of Killing Joke. This fearless headrush is so completely an Icarus Line song, there’s no other comparison—howling vocals, building / destroying rhythms, shards of guitar stunning all within range. Final track “The Father / The Priest” asks: Is this the calm after the storm,...

Icarus Line

Slave Vows

Agitated

Slave Vows, the latest from Los Angeles hellions The Icarus Line, is quite possibly their best yet. A fearsome, vitriolic rock ’n’ roll outpouring of Stoogian glory, the album draws on the fury of Mono, the fire of Penance Soirée and the swagger of Black Lives at the Golden Coast and Wildlife. In one fell swoop, the band evokes the spirit of Funhouse, Everything Went Black, Goats Head Soup and Maggot Brain. This is not for the faint of heart! Slave Vows features new drummer Ben Hallett and original bassist Lance Arnao, the tightest rhythm section in the group’s history, underpinning the white-hot guitar flow from frontman Joe Cardamone. Some of these songs were blooded on the group’s 2012 European tour supporting Killing Joke. The Icarus Line is pure rock ’n’ roll hellfire, ebbing and flowing, slashing and burning, cauterizing anything that stands in its way.

Icarus Line

Bad Bloods (version) / Slow Death

Agitated

***“Meant to get this out for the recent tour, calamity struck at every turn, but its a coming, so be ready folks: Non album version of ‘Bad Bloods,’ backed with a high velocity, ‘they mean it’ version of ‘Slow Death’ by the Flaming Groovies. ICARUS LINE just released WildLife and also just did a handful of UK shows, proving they are still one of the best rock and roll bands out there right now...”—Agitated. Limited edition of 700 copies. UK import.