Ichabod
2012
7.5
New Year’s Day 2013 will be a rude awakening for those who think they won’t have to worry too much longer about collection agencies coming after them for those student loans, but in the meantime, we’d better be prepared for a glut of metal albums dedicated to the apocalypse. Boston’s Ichabod is a stoner entry inspired by this supposed impending End Of Days, and damn if they don’t make one hell of a go at it.
2012 is the musical equivalent of a blackout drunkenness being kept in check only by a sinus-destroying amount of blow having been snorted. It’s that same indescribable sensation of praying to either wake up completely, or pass out, and being capable of neither that Ichabod imparts with their sludgy-thick riffs that are counterbalanced in their heaviness with a bright and vibrant rhythm section. This often makes for a pretty energetic listen even when things get repetitive, but thankfully the repetition never gets boring. A lot of the time you’ll also hear healthy chunks of shouted Motorhead and Coliseum come roaring to the forefront, but the entire album is layered with a weirdness that casts dreamlike waves across chords drenched in reverb. There’s a fair balance between psychedelics and pummeling groove, helped in no small way by the tasty production job, but on a slightly negative note, the use of samples gets to be a little overdone after a while.
You’ll suffer no shortage of swagger and mood with the title track, “Giving Up The Ghost,” and parts of “Sleeping Giants,” while the warbling "Gentlemen Of The Choir", and “Nile Song,” explores the spaced-out side of their personalities without losing interest along the latter track's very elaborate ten minute length. From a conceptual standpoint, Ichabod does a good job at keeping the cool vibe going despite a couple of harmless but out of place moments (“New Years Prayer”), but overall 2012 lays down a solidly tripped-out foundation that is admirably built upon in an effectively strange, and occasionally creepy way. Packed with substantial content, and lacking in too much filler, this is yet another worthy addition to the catalog of anyone who can appreciate the Crowbar on quaaludes aesthetic that Ichabod performs so very well.
Related
IchabodDreamscapes From Dead Space
10/30/2012