{"id":31008,"date":"2015-06-11T00:01:13","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T00:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=31008"},"modified":"2015-06-11T01:07:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T01:07:50","slug":"album-review-icon-the-blacklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-icon-the-blacklist\/","title":{"rendered":"I.C.O.N – The Blacklist (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

I.C.O.N
The Blacklist<\/strong><\/span>
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\nMetalbox Recordings (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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In 2009, British rockers I.C.O.N released their debut album entitled New Born Life<\/em>. It was a half-decent start from the band up north, but as with so many bands, many of us were asking if the sophomore effort could live up to expectation.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I kind of expected the same thing, and that\u2019s exactly what I got; I.C.O.N are the sort of plodding heavy metal act who most probably wouldn\u2019t have got a look in back in the 80s or early 90s due to their rather derivative style. After seeing the video for \u2018Welcome To My War\u2019, I\u2019m still left wondering as to whether there\u2019s a place for these guys. What is clear at the moment in metal and has been evident for the last decade or so is that thousands of bands are happy to pay homage to their heroes, but seemingly without the passion. <\/p>\n

Now, on first listen I\u2019d say that \u2018Welcome To My War\u2019 is a nod to Metallica circa … And Justice For All<\/em><\/a> (1988) and The Black Album<\/em> (1991\u2019s Metallica<\/em>) and that\u2019s not something that sits comfortably with me, because I found both albums so tired and plodding. Seeing the Master Of Puppets<\/em> flag hanging up in the band\u2019s \u2018Welcome To My War\u2019 video filled me with both dread and excitement, but now I\u2019ve spun the album a few times I\u2019ve not really been moved to be honest. <\/p>\n

The Blacklist<\/em> is a rather standard, routine heavy metal record that likes to chug along, albeit in a clean-cut style of fashion, bringing with it the vocals of Mark Sagar who, if you ask me, has spent too much time aping James Hetfield (Metallica) in front of his mirror. It\u2019s almost as if the band hasn\u2019t realised that Metallica has millions of clones. As the riffs trudge along, I\u2019m left bemused. At no point have I ever been excited by the recent thrash resurgence, being rather sceptical and cynical of bands such as Evile, so why on earth should I applaud I.C.O.N? Well, I\u2019m still searching for that answer, because this is about as bland as metal gets, in any year or genre. <\/p>\n

I guess I\u2019m old-fashioned enough to cite numerous classy 80s thrash acts from the UK who never got the attention they deserved, and I.C.O.N isn\u2019t fit to lace the boots of any of them, whether it\u2019s Xentrix, Deathwish, Sabbat etc. It sums up that eagerness to ape and not create, with The Blacklist<\/em> marching aimlessly into brick walls like one of those toy robot machines that would hit an obstacle and flip over and continue, in spite of there being no clear route out. <\/p>\n

The album begins with \u2018A Room In Hell\u2019, complete with a slow, simmering twanging guitar. There\u2019s a flash of hope here as instrumental tracks go, but then we\u2019re into the mire of \u2018Feeding The Negative\u2019. One of the album\u2019s better tracks, it trudges with a hint of pace bolstered by Larry Paterson\u2019s drums, but as soon as the vocal comes in there is a huge, tepid lull \u2013 the band suddenly becomes a bog-standard pub band better suited to covering old rock songs. <\/p>\n

In spite the attempts of weight, so basic is the premise that one cannot feel that the band would be a far greater force with a more versatile vocalist. This is also evident with the weighty \u2018Grindin\u2019 Wheel\u2019 which is a no frills but adequate mid-paced plodder, but so lacking in identity and thrills, meaning that I.C.O.N are just another average British band punching above their weight. The turgid themes continue, in spite of some good leads from Scott Knowles; \u2018I\u2019m The Venom\u2019, \u2018Devil\u2019s Blacklist\u2019, \u2018Man Of The North\u2019 and \u2018Deconverted\u2019 are just a few examples of the band\u2019s ability to groove in weighty fashion, but offer nothing else apart from mediocre rock \u2019n\u2019 metal, hinting at that tired brand of aimless drudgery the early 2000s offered up with the likes of dullards Godsmack. <\/p>\n

Although I.C.O.N has showed progression with its songwriting since the debut and they have garnered a wealth of attention in the UK, I\u2019m clearly one of those who just simply does not understand the dull as ditchwater grooves of \u2018Wrong Way Back\u2019 and \u2018Drowning In Their Screams\u2019. In fact, I\u2019m finding it so hard to be moved in any way, shape or form by this record that only the word \u201caverage\u201d can be applied to such a bland statement of affairs. Sorry guys, but in this day and age I expect something more from bands.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I.C.O.NThe Blacklist Metalbox Recordings (2015)Rating: 5\/10 In 2009, British rockers I.C.O.N released their debut album entitled New Born Life. It was a half-decent start from the band up north, but as with so many bands, many of us were asking if the sophomore effort could live up to expectation. To be honest, I kind of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-i-c-o-n"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31008"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31011,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31008\/revisions\/31011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}