CoH - IIRON [Editions Mego - 2011]Eleven years after the release of IRON by CoH, Ivan Pavlov (creator of CoH and cofounder of Soisong) presents to us IIRON. Once again the sound artist and engineer has extended his study of Metal by turning it inside itself and injecting it with an electronic flourish. Shadowy artwork by Stephan O’Malley prepares us for the dark sounds we are about to experience. CoH builds upon the original IRON with new guitar riffs, glitch effects and eerie drone. The acoustic pieces that are found in “Red Square”, “War End War” and “Satsugaii” were originally recorded in 1988-1990 in the former USSR and taken from cassette.
Opening with “Red Square” we find an industrial, heavy, electronic symphony. It is a slice of pulsing beats bolstered with heavy riffs. From that initial song Pavlov is able to construct additional pieces of music that are just as heavy, psychedelic, intense and rhythmic.
“War End War” is a slow grind of machine like effects, droning guitars and colorful spacey sounds. It twists and turns into something trance-like before returning to a tenacious riot of beats. “Soii Noir” also has pulsing, slow riffs but this time there is a perfect blend of industrial effects that are appealing. Picture Skinny Puppy meets Black Sabbath. “Satsugaii” rounds out IIRON with a snake-like winding rhythm that is infectious, the guitars are playful and humorous bordering on shredding.
It would be easy to discuss and dissect each song as to their nuances; but with IIRON that really is unnecessary. Each track is just perfect plainly said. In truth it is so good that it’s a bonus there are no vocals. That probably would have destroyed the wonderful cohesiveness and fluidity of the compositions. Pavlov is able to marry the heavy, primal guitars of metal with a myriad of electronic and glitch loops and in doing so he has created something that is dark, intense and flawless. Viktorya Kaufholz
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