Wow, this is a strange one. Danko Jones and his bassist John Calabrese team up with Finnish madmen Jussi Lehtisalo and Tomi Leppänen (both of Finnish rockers Circle), with the result being one of the most strangely listenable extended players you’ll hear this or any other year.
The titular opening track is a riot of early-eighties influences mashed into a tasty puree of Canada’s Max Webster and Prism with hints of Zappa here and there; A great start, for sure, but then the second track – 665 – is a galloping slice of occult metal that brings to mind Ozzy, Mercyful Fate and, ooh, Blue Öyster Cult at their most Moorcockian. What gives here? The link between the two tracks is that they are both absolutely brilliant, piqueing the listener’s interest and driving you on to find out where they’re going to take this thing next.
That the other two tracks featured here, Foes to Fire (which bizarelly sounds like Black Sabbath jamming with Night Ranger) and Rise of the Deth, don’t have the quicksilver brilliance of the first two is probably a little disappointing, though both are solid enough in their own right. It’s just that, on the evidence of tracks one and two Iron Magazine might be something very special indeed, and the merely adequate has no place in their universe. Still, I’m keen to see if this partnership develops beyond this one collaboration and I thin k you will be too if you give this a listen.
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