Austria might be famous for quite a few things in this world – mountains, delicious food and a weird dialect for example – but Doom Metal is not exactly one. However IRON HEEL hailing from the country’s capital Vienna have all the darkened potential to change this, bringing misery and sweet leaf-ish epicness upon us with their debut full length Book Of Grief.
Already turning heads with their demo, IRON HEEL kept evolving in an absolutely exemplary manner. The predominantly screamed, harsh vocals of the band’s early days are almost gone completely (except for a few moments when gastly cries mirror the ugliness of this world, like in Sleepwalker), giving way for truly epic, dramatic vocals raised in the school of Candlemassionism. If you listen to this and don’t want to stand on a mountain top with a 6.5 ft long sword in your hand something is seriously wrong with you.
The music is more than a mere backdrop to the vocal performance. The pounding riffs are the foundation everything else is built upon, and there are plenty of truly awesome ones here: Powerful, simple and slugishly dragging along the guitar work reminds me quite a bit of Electric Wizard. However IRON HEEL doesn’t only rely on the blatant riff delivery but also show off great skills when it comes down to tasteful guitar leads and innovative ideas – just check out Mountain Throne halfway through the song: an almost quiet moment that owes as much to Doom Metal as it does to Post Rock, but in a very untypical, non-sucking way.
In my ears are the cries of the stricken; and I can see, as I have seen in the past, all the marring and mangling of the sweet, beautiful flesh, and the souls torn with violence from proud bodies and hurled to God. Thus do we poor humans attain our ends, striving through carnage and destruction to bring lasting peace and happiness upon the earth.
(Jack London, The Iron Heel)
I do not know if IRON HEEL took their name from Jack London’s novel, but the quote above just perfectly outlines the atmosphere present on Book Of Grief. Of course there’s darkness, misery and pain present on this record, but in the end of the day IRON HEEL also manage to let tiny bits of hope gleam through all the plight.
There’s no doubt about it: Book Of Grief is an absolute gem of the Doom genre, adapting enough of the traditional elements to remain true to the game but including just the right amount of progressive ideas and influences from other genres to remain interesting throughout the whole 40 minutes of the album. If you like your riffs heavier than heaven, don’t look any further.
Jørn Egil Svanem
January 30, 2014 at 7:56 am
I’m enjoyin this!