Icarus The Owl - Icarus The Owl (2014) [Gorgatz]

Icarus The Owl - Icarus The Owl (2014) [Gorgatz]



- I N F O -

Independent rock outfit, Icarus The Owl, decided to go into the studio last year and record their third full-length album with Kris Crummett who produced the latest albums from Dance Gavin Dance and Further Seems Forever, among others. The band’s Kickstarter-backed, self-titled record is their most polished to date and clocks in at a wonderful 54 minutes.

The album begins with “Ignore Check Engine Lights,” a good showing of the band’s more technical side, along with their urgent sound. At times the band played around with a techno-meets-rock sound and on some tracks it worked, but on others like, “In Aeternum,” there was just too much going on. Simplicity is often the key, and sometimes it seemed as if the band tried to go for too many varying sounds on one track. The best one-two punch comes on the seventh and eighth tracks: “Touchstone” and “Lily Trotter.” “Touchstone” has a way of bringing about the teenage angst in all of us and “Lily Trotter” is the perfect mixture of Icarus’ rock and techno sound with fantastic lyrics.

The new self-titled release from Icarus The Owl is a splendid one that proves the band is one to be reckoned with. The album is greatly driven by complicated instrumentals and soaring choruses, a conglomeration which very few bands are able to perfect. The urgency of the lyrics paired with the unmistakable vocals of Joey Rubenstein gives the record the feel of a much more veteran band. Especially for an independent band Icarus The Owl did a phenomenal job of crafting an album worthy of any rock-lover’s iPod.

When I hear Icarus, I think of PERIPHERY’s most recognised song. When I hear The Owl, I think of the owl on the cover of DEFTONES’s ‘Diamond Eyes’. When I hear ICARUS THE OWL, I think of many different things, musical and non-musical. And even think that Icarus is a good name for a pet Owl. Progressive/Pop Punk act from Oregon, ICARUS THE OWL have smashed up their third record under the band’s name as the album title.

After countless times of listening, I still had a rough time deciding whether it was something I liked or not. It’s rather hard to describe, but it wasn’. However some tracks I rather enjoyed included ‘In Aeternum’, ‘Ignore Check Engine Lights’ and ‘Chronos Destroyer’. What they’ve done seems to be quite a new thing, but at the same time in each song, they seem to sound like one band with another. Such as FAIR TO MIDLAND goes DJENT with Spencer Sotelo as their vocalist, a bit of PROTEST THE HERO with ALL TIME LOW or TESSERACT featuring MAYDAY PARADE.

There are a large number of bands in the Progressive genre who try too hard to be the next PERIPHERY, CIRCLES or TESSERACT, which, to me is a bit of a problem that happens in the metal industry. And then there are bands who try their hardest to be as original as possible. This isn’t a bad album, but a little bit more experimentation would do the trick to make it better, and it isn’t an album I’d listen to front start to finish, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate this band. All the members have got good quality in their style of playing which is one part of what impresses me about them. The band could be very interesting if they worked with a whole new set of buttons. But if Progressive Pop Punk seems to be your thing, by all means give this album a go and it just might be to your liking.

Many of us persistent music listeners stopped following modern prog the instant it seeped into so many other styles of music, when it proceeded to contribute considerable fluff over formative structuring. So trust me, I totally get that a “progressive pop rock” (dubbed by the band itself, mind you) album like Icarus the Owl sounds as if it belongs to a genre hybrid that would've worked best a few years ago, when it had been less thoroughly explored. For starters, this album has those breakneck tapped guitar lines, which are utterly taxing for those unaccustomed to such a style, and on top of that, Joey Rubinstein’s vocals brandish everything about pop-punk that causes unease in those dipping their proverbial toes in the genre. It's no secret that subtlety is hard to come by in Icarus' trademark sound- even if this record does roll along more smoothly than 2012’s Love Always, Leviathan.

Sonically over-the-top music like this may have been more my thing a few years ago, sure, but that sure doesn’t mean it can’t get to the core of me when done well in 2014. Icarus The Owl’s self-titled record is an amalgam of everything I’ve loved about all these differing styles over the last few years. It’s a substantial offering of the same feelings I got when I first heard prog done well- the realization that a single group of people can accomplish so many interesting sounds and textures with their instruments. But the album also offers the memorability that truly special releases sometimes need- despite the occasionally overwrought song structures on Icarus The Owl, it features a consistently melodic core that persists long after the record stops spinning. Some songs wear hooks on their sleeves, like the soon-to-be fan favorites (“Flint and Steel”) and the songs that could belong on the radio, if only for thirty seconds (that introduction to “Crimson Covered Walls”, seriously.) Others take their time to boil, but eventually settle to some sort of melodic crux that defines the tune.

It’s these moments that really matter. No matter how impressive Joey Rubinstein’s guitar chops are, it’s the melodies that drive this record home. It hits on so many points that Love Always, Leviathan only occasionally struck, and it’s more carefully calculated on the whole. Just listen to “In Aeternum” and maybe you’ll hear what I do: a band who creates complex, dynamic, intimate tunes about love and longing. And I don’t know about you, but I’m sure as hell tired of pretending those concepts don’t apply to me anymore.

- T R A C K L I S T -

1. Ignore Check Engine Lights
2. Black Fish
3. Dethroned
4. In Aeternum
5. This Too Will Pass
6. The Monster Within
7. Touchstone
8. Lily Trotter
9. Flint And Steel
10. Crimson Covered Walls
11. Input. Time. Destruct.
12. Chronos, The Destroyer
13. The Pharmacist

Format: mp3, CBR 320 kbps
Genre: Alt. Rock / Pop Punk / Post Hardcore
Size: 124.05 MB