While Refused deconstructed post-hardcore, Iceage's stunning debut, New Brigade, slaps vibrant new life into the worked-over corpse of post-punk, radiating a breathless, desperate, ramshackle charm that runs counter to the frigid gloom of the music.
New Brigade earns a brand spanking title because it’s entirely unprejudiced, devoid of the qualms that taint talented musicians when they’ve been exposed to too much information.
While they still have room to grow as songwriters, the energy in every atom of New Brigade's charred, sub-25-minute rush is seductive.
New Brigade is over in about 23 minutes, and each second feels well worth your time.
It’s all tension and release, with barely a second wasted to gasp for air amidst the squall of a band on invigorating form.
New Brigade is charmingly underdeveloped, slapdash, and direct -- in other words, absolutely thrilling.
Whether it's the enigmatic profile that got Iceage noticed or all the name-checking and cross-referencing, New Brigade is really about a group that's making a name for itself, now and in the future. Iceage, to riff off the band's own words, isn't going to fade any time soon, only grow and grow.
It's clear that there's talent here that has the potential to be startlingly good, if they stay the course.
I listened to the Iceage discography for the first time at the start of the pandemic because I really wanted to get into this band's music, and I found that this particular album just did not work for me at all. Now over time I have warmed up to this album, especially seeing the ambition they would present on their next four albums (and the greatness in blending the romantic lyricism and the abrasive textures on their fifth album), and I see this project as one of quality and directness that I ... read more
For a post-punk album, it is definitely boring, as it usually a genre full of experiments, unexpected twists and turns and creative ideas. New Brigade does none of that for me, but it is still a good listen.
This project provides nothing up to standard past this snippet.
Genuinely, give You're Nothing a listen after this project, then Plowing Into the Field of Love. Those 2 projects spike in terms of quality like a stock market boom. I wasn't expecting to like their projects after this one because this is a crazy slog to push through. The sound of punk from this project isn't expanded upon at all, rarely you get experimental lights from this LP. You turn it on, run through 24 minutes, and come out ... read more
1 | Intro 0:46 | 89 |
2 | White Rune 2:41 | 94 |
3 | New Brigade 2:15 | 87 |
4 | Remember 2:13 | 85 |
5 | Rotting Heights 1:39 | 79 |
6 | Total Drench 1:38 | 83 |
7 | Broken Bone 2:29 | 89 |
8 | Collapse 2:10 | 82 |
9 | Eyes 2:02 | 86 |
10 | Count Me In 1:16 | 82 |
11 | Never Return 3:08 | 84 |
12 | You're Blessed 1:52 | 93 |
#10 | / | BBC |
#16 | / | The Needle Drop |
#19 | / | Stereogum |
#21 | / | A.V. Club |
#23 | / | SPIN |
#26 | / | Treble |
#35 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#36 | / | NME |
#37 | / | Pitchfork |
#43 | / | The Line of Best Fit |