In the Wake of an Ethereal Nightmare

In collaboration with 15 Counts of Arson, Ire week comes to an early terminus. Head over there to download Ire's first LP and scroll down a little for the second and some early tracks. I predict some disagreement as to which of the band's releases showcases their best material; since I have the floor, I'll say that "What Seed, What Root?" is my favorite. It really is a matter of taste, but on "WSWR?" I love the way the band exchanged some of the emotive sentimentality and cold mathematics of their previous two phases for warmer, riff-centered song-writing, along with some crushingly repetitive, hypnotic sequences. The song lengths are a bit shorter than their first LP, but the entire project retains an expansive feel as each song flows into the next with a narrative fluidity. To allocate Ire to a genre at the end of their career is not easy, but they might have found a comfortable spot near Token Tantrum or Lost, yet I can see logically how some of the members would be involved in The Black Hand demo as their next project. For full enjoyment, play it loud, and play it when you're not too antsy or distracted.

"What Seed, What Root?" by Ire (Scorched Earth Policy Records, 1999)

Appreciating Darkness

Our exploration of Canada's contribution to nineties hardcore and metal continues with a fairly unique split LP between Seized and Ire. For most of its life on my turn table, I had only listened to the Seized side-- their sound being unlike anything else I was listening to at the time, yet the tracks were powerful and engaging. Perhaps I was seduced by each track's serene opening, each following an idyllic trail that slowly darkens into a forest of mysterious and sinister goings-on. To say that the tracks are bass-driven is a redundancy after we see in the notes that there are three bass players and no guitarist in the lineup. Seized also employed a violinist who knows her limitations and adds great ambiance, and a vocalist who might have listened to some Cathedral records at some point. If all of this sounds strange, it's because it is; but not in a bad way. Seized is a case where oddness enhances greatness. These would be the last tracks the band would record (and the best), but they also left behind two split 7"s and I believe a 7".
My avoidance of Ire would end with time and the inevitable opening-up of my musical tastes. I still have reservations over the "PC" spoken word portion at the end of "She," (not over its validity, but over its necessity/delivery) but now I just dismiss it as a product of the zeitgeist. At this point, the backbone of Ire's metal was ossified of the same stuff as Rorschach, but tending in the more "sentimental" direction (read: "EMOtive") of bands like Groundwork or Grievance. As the band worked out its ideas, it's easy to see that these guys were endowed with considerable skill and conviction which would continue...

... on their follow-up 7" also posted below. These three tracks see the band giving into their aggressive tendencies and abandoning some of the dissonant flourishes present in past tracks. As is perhaps predictable with musicians like these, the band would experiment a little more with their style on their ensuing two LPs, which I hope to post later this week.

Seized/Ire Split LP (Spineless/Fetus Records)

Ire 7" (Schema Records)