Album Type: Full
Length
Date Released: 12/9/2014
Label: Relapse
Records
‘The Tyranny of Will’ CD/DD/LP track listing:
01. Tyranny of Will
02. I Won t Go
03. Eyeball Gore
04. Close to Toast
05. Bet on Black
06. Miserable Failure
07. The Living Skull
08. In Greed We Trust
09. Glocking Out
10. Rat Shit
11. U Lock the Bike Cop
12. Broken Bottles
13. Bleeding Frenzy
14. Bored to Death
15. Class Holes
16. Obsolete Man
17. Nameless
18. Exit the Game
19. Your Kid’s an Asshole
20. Patriotic Shock
21. Bill of Fights
22. Consensual Harassment
23. Just Say Go
24. Four More Years
25. The Sentence is Death
Bio:
IRON REAGAN’S Relapse debut
‘The Tyranny Of Will’ is a 24 song wrecking ball of hardcore- punk/thrash
fury. Fronted by the venomously lyical Tony Foresta (Municipal Waste), on
paper IRON REAGAN is a Richmond, VA supergroup (the band also features Phil
Hall of Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse, etc as well as Ryan Parrish of
Darkest Hour together with members of Mammoth Grinder). In practice IRON
REAGAN are WAY more than just a supergroup project---they have toured the world
several times over levelling audiences with their furious live show. This
is a fully formed raging band that have delivered one of the heaviest hardcore
records of the year that is guaranteed to be on the top of both metalheads’ and
punk rockers’ year end lists.
The
Band:
Tony Foresta | Vocals
Phil Hall | Guitar
Mark Bronzino | Guitar
Rob Skotis | Bass
Ryan Parrish | Drums
Phil Hall | Guitar
Mark Bronzino | Guitar
Rob Skotis | Bass
Ryan Parrish | Drums
Review:
Straight out of Richmond with 40
ounces in hand and enough hair to make a Sasquatch jealous, is the glorious
return of sensual thrash outfit, Iron Reagan. Following their self-titled,
debut album and secondary EP, ‘Spoiled Identity’ both released independently--Reagan’s latest, ‘The Tyranny of Will’,
was recently dropped by the good people at Relapse Records and it’s 33 minutes
of pure, unadulterated, face-melting thrash!
Formed by vocalist Tony Foresta and
guitarist Phil “LandPhil” Hall,--both of Municipal Waste fame--Iron Reagan is a
super group in the head-banging world with Ryan Parrish (Darkest Hour) on
drums, Mark Bronzino (Kicking Spit & Mammoth Grinder) on second guitar and
Rob Skotis on bass, their latest additional to the presidential party. By
combining early thrash metal with punk ethics, Reagan straddles the best of
both worlds in the same vain as Municipal Waste, but stray from Waste’s “party
‘til you puke” sound with personal and political lyrics.
Thankfully, ‘The Tyranny of Will’
isn’t a departure from Reagan’s previous releases, continuing an abrasive path
of musical destruction. While numbers like “Your Kid’s an Asshole” exemplify
the band’s humor, songs like the title-track, “In Greed We Trust” and “Bill of
Fights” are straight-in-your-face political songs with a punk edge. Iron Reagan
might be a bunch of
long-haired metal heads but this
is an outfit who can see what’s going on and have something to say about it. .
. or at least inspire their audience to get really pissed off.
Quickly after the album’s release,
the band posted a hilarious video of them taking over downtown Portland for
“Miserable Failure” a visceral two-minute track that epitomizes Reagan’s sound.
Short, bloody and fast, in its simplicity are complex layers between Bronzino &
Hall’s guitars and the backbone of Skotis and Parrish. The music is blasted by
Foresta’s shotgun vocals and honest songwriting about the consequences of
living by your own rules and why you shouldn’t give a fuck about other’s
judgments.
On a more touching note, ‘Tyranny’
features a track called “The Living Skull” about the late, great Dave Brockie
of Gwar, whom the album is also dedicated to. The number opens with a quick
soundbite exchange of ex-lead singer for A Band of Orcs, Jerrad Laign, and
Brockie from last year’s ‘Madness At The Core of Time’ tour—the last U.S. run
Gwar would make before the singer’s untimely death.
Laign: “What happened? Who made you
mad, dude?” Brockie: “Nobody made me mad, I was just trying to have a good
time!
I only mention this because I was
working for A Band of Orcs on that tour and that quote by Dave symbolizes a lot
of the man I met for those two and a half months. An insanely intelligent, hard
working man, Brockie was also a madman in the best of ways; always down to have
a good time, no matter what the cost and often misinterpreted. As Foresta said
in an interview for About.com published on September 11th of this
year,
“[Brockie] taught me a lot about
having a strong work ethic, whether being at home or on the road; how to be
down to earth, but not letting people walk over you.”
The metal family is a close one,
with many friendships that run deeper than blood. Iron Reagan is one of the
bands at the heart of the American community, with ties extending across the
nation and the world in a globalization of metal. ‘The Tyranny of Will’ is
strong and relentless, reigning hellfire on anyone ballsy enough to mess with
Iron Reagan’s shot at FOUR MORE BEERS!!!!
Words by: Mat
Weir
You can pick up a copy here
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