Black Night

Debut albums are almost universally hard to get just right, but if you're a Black Sabbath cover band led by a badass black dude who can play any riff he hears once, then, your original songs are bound to fucking slay. Also, the guy had been playing metal for years before Maryland's Iron Man even formed, so it's no wonder as to why when Hellhound Records dropped Black Night in 1993, true doom metal had another reason to keep thriving in obscurity. The lineup executed everything perfectly, as Rob Wretched's vocals are as perfectly un-technical as Ozzy's himself and Al's guitar tone is basically like having two bassists in the band, and that's after already cranking the bass knob on each amp to 10. Iron Man is the heaviest traditional doom band bar none. Al Morris took the crunch of Black Sabbath, Pentagram, and Saint Vitus coupled with his own riffing techniques and just fucking steamrolled everyone. He's not afraid to chug, palm mute, even throw in a bit of NWOBHM riffing, and still it's doomy as all hell.

This is very, very visceral traditional doom, which is one way Scott "Wino" from Iron Man's fellow Maryland doom band The Obsessed once described the genre. It's gritty to the point of musically and lyrically portraying impoverished, wrecked homes and dilapidated street corners, untrustworthy characters everywhere. "Choices" and "The Liar" are a frantic plea for change, but they carry a sense of anxiety, because it's like the band knows no one gives a fuck about the problems they're singing about. In the songs "Choices", after the line "no time to turn back now!", Al plays this half-palm muted, half-power chord riff that gets my sweat rolling and heart pounding every time, since it has such a stoic character. "The Liar" is like a hectic shuffle through crowds of selfish, bitter city folk, packing a massive doom punch, as does "Life After Death" which is aggressive yet mournful in its verses. The slower title track and "Vampires" feel more introspective in the sense of deep cuts from the early Trouble albums, but overall this shit is really depressing and gritty in a suck-it-up kind of way. They're carrying on through hell and back is the thing.

Even the fan-favorite "Leaving Town" (it's got the grooviest doom riff ever!) is a bit in the ballpark of lunacy caused by loneliness. The message is quite wholesome of course, just like closer "Why Can't You See Me?", it's really all about taking the time to have some empathy for someone other than your miserable self. "Life's Toll" meanwhile, deals with themes of trying to fill a void within oneself, also containing some of Al's best hammer-on action in his riffing. Unorthodox's drummer is also the drummer here, and I'd say his fills are fantastic just like Bill's were in early Black Sabbath. Again, very "visceral" sound to the drumming that makes the bassy tone of the music feel iron as fuck, just like the knight on the cover. Finally, Al's soloing is more Hendrix-influenced than anyone else in metal. Clearly a man of good taste!

Black Night isn't really pleasing to listen to. It's visceral for the millionth time. It makes you confront some ugly truths about life and what a struggle it can be, but it manages to have an uplifting silver lining through it all, making it tough as iron. Definitely the embodiment of balls-out, badass classic doom fucking metal. The Passage from 1994 is also a really good Iron Man album, albeit with a different songwriting approach and slightly less solo action from Al, but bar none Black Night is basically the best album Hellhound Records, a major doom label in the 90's, ever released, along with maybe V by Saint Vitus, Lunar Womb by The Obsessed, and Destruction of the Void by Count Raven, but Iron Man is way more underappreciated than most other classic true doom bands.

True American Doom Metal Done Right!

While elements such as skill and talent should not be discounted, becoming a trailblazer seems more a matter of timing than anything else. This is perhaps no less apparent than in the case of one of the American doom metal scene's unsung heroes and stylistic answer to Tony Iommi in Alfred Morris III. In every sense, this recently departed guitar hero was one of America's best kept secrets, and one who's career goes back about as far as the earliest incarnations of what would become said nation's early traditional doom pioneers The Obsessed and Saint Vitus when considering his prior band Force/Rat Salad. In light of this, his somewhat derivative and highly conservative approach as both a songwriter and a lead guitarist makes a great degree of sense, leaning far closer to the early to mid 70s work of Black Sabbath and carrying a muddy production character highly conducive to the sound heard on Master Of Reality and also the eponymous debut out of Budgie. Nevertheless, despite toiling around in the underground since 1976 at the age of 19, his craft wouldn't come to full fruition until the start of his last band Iron Man, at a time when doom metal of this variety was considered passe despite the ongoing careers of several prominent bands.

In the context of 1993, with the burgeoning stoner metal offshoot of this style taking off and the death/doom craze in full swing, Black Night stands as arguably one of the most blatant expressions of stylistic conservatism possible. This project's roots as a Sabbath tribute band are noticeable to a fault as familiar territory is explored at every possible facet, though in a way that clearly marks the disconnect between traditionalism and the subject of emulation. If one considers the whole scope of Black Sabbath's career in the 1970s, their free-flowing and then highly progressive approach saw a fairly gradual evolution that found the band in a highly different place circa 1978 that mirrored the general ebb and flow of popular music of the day to an extent. By contrast, Morris and company are wholly oblivious to the ephemeral nature of the music climate of the early to mid 1990s and express their sound through a historical amalgam that distills the doom-elements of Sabbath's sound from their debut up until Vol. 4 and occasionally sneaks in a few subtle nods to their late 70s material. The result is a far more stylistically consistent yet musically less adventurous approach that mirrors the characteristic sound of traditional doom circa 1981-1985.

Despite the lack of stylistic progression in Iron Man's approach, this album proves to be a very strong and enthralling musical affair, showcasing a collective effort by four capable contributors. The weak link of the bunch proves to be vocalist Rob Levey, who comes off as a somewhat less distinctive combination of Scott Wino's burly baritone and Scott Reagers' exaggerated, almost happy-go-lucky demeanor. On the one hand it's a bit refreshing to hear an orthodox emulation of Sabbath-inspired doom metal without an overt Ozzy Osbourne imitation, but Levey's approach tends to be a bit sloppy at times, and even off pitch when going into higher territory. The rhythm section supporting Morris' six-stringed assault is a far more effective team, with long-time fellow traveler since the Force/Rat Salad days and bassist Larry Brown literally channeling the spirit of Geezer Butler and acting as an unofficial dueling lead instrumentalist foil to the guitar, while drummer Ron Kalimon has a somewhat less wandering yet still loose and fill-happy take on Bill Ward's signature kit work. The resulting wall of sound exudes a sense of dragging heaviness and fatalism at a variety of tempos and does much to cover for Levey's limitations as a singer.

Given the large creative well provided by the original British pioneers to which this band still pays stylistic tribute, the collection of songs themselves is quite varied in spite of the generally stripped down arrangement. On the faster end of the spectrum is the shuffling, "Children Of The Grave" inspired cruiser "Choices" and somewhat punk-infused rocking speeders after the early Saint Vitus sound like "The Liar" and "Life After Death", each providing impact based riffing and a thundering battery that will kick the listener clean out of his drunken stupor. Truth be told, the whole first half of this album is fairly fast by doom standards, and it continues on a fairly up beat pace rhythmically up until what is arguably the greatest and most distinct offering of the entire album and closing number "Why Can't You See Me". This song is probably the most overt departure from the always heavy, stripped down rocking approach and listens more along the lines of a dense, almost epic trudge through the swamps of despair in a manner not too far from the spacey, keyboard-drenched sound that Count Raven was occasionally employing, though this song uses the keys a bit more sparingly and has a strong Sabbath Bloody Sabbath vibe once things pick up a bit.

In terms of this album, and indeed this band's past and present status of obscurity, the factors involved are many and not even tangentially related to the quality of their actual output. In addition to this band's late arrival relative to the stylistic climate of the day, frequent changes in lineup that culminated in Alfred Morris literally mirroring those that afflicted his object of inspiration Tony Iommi and a series of personal and touring setbacks basically hampered the promotional end of things. Consequently, when name-dropping both this project and the people involved, the single worded response "Who?" is all but inevitable, but it need not remain as such given the overall quality of the final product. Black Night presents a well oiled metallic machine with the heaviness of mid-80s Saint Vitus, the riff work and stylistic trappings of Black Sabbath and Pentagram, and a relatively concise and polished songwriting approach that is arguably a tad more accessible to any newcomer to the doom metal sub-genre that is only familiar with it via the classic Sabbath albums. Whatever cult status it currently enjoys is completely deserved, and a larger congregation for the lingering temple is definitely in order.

Maryland's Iron Man is a band that never really got any credit in the doom scene due to their bad luck more than their actual material. They always had an inconsistent line-up, going through 3 bassists, 7 drummers, and 5 vocalists, with Al Morris III being the sole constant member, sort of like Tony Iommi being the sole constant member of Black Sabbath. On top of that, the band suffered through countless canceled gigs and imploding tours. Not only that (like the previous reviewer mentioned), at the time this album was released, doom was taken to a new direction with bands like Kyuss and Sleep, who released Holy Mountain the same year and spearheaded the stoner metal genre.

Iron Man didn’t have something new to bring to the doom table like Kyuss and Sleep did at the time, but what they do have here is a good, old fashioned, traditional, no-bullshit type of doom album. Al Morris III is a very talented guitarist, playing classic Pentagram-esque riffs infused with Iommi-style solos. Even the bassist brings Geezer Butler to mind with his sluggish bass lines and the drumming is riddled with a lot of skillful drum rolls and ride shredding. The vocals though are the weakest part of the album. The vocalist, Rob Levey, just feels very forced at times; the rhythm of his vocals doesn’t really match the rhythm of the music, and on top of that the sound of his voice feels lacking and overall mediocre.

The first three tracks are enjoyable in their own right, but to me they’re the weaker songs. The better songs start after “Black Night”, more noticeably “Leaving Town”, the longest song of the album that you could say is Iron Man’s equivalent to Black Sabbath’s War Pigs and has a more upbeat feel to it with a jam part and Al Morris’s solos, “Life’s Toll” with its heavy riffs and double bass drumming only to be followed by a slower, softer part, and my favourite track of the album, the outro ”Time for Change”, composed of heavy, doomy riffs and bass lines with bluesy Iommi solos, and even Levey is more bearable here than the other songs on the album. Undoubtedly the best song.

Iron Man is a very talented band that should be influential doom legends, but instead they got stuck in the underground. This debut is definitely not their best material, but if you manage to find this record give, it a listen. It would please any fan of traditional doom metal.

When a new review challenge was announced on the Metal Archives, I looked at what classics I could write about and I remembered Iron Man's debut album Black Night and I knew it was a good choice. This band never really got the credit they deserved in my opinion. Many reasons could explain this folly. One : they never really got a stable lineup even though it's all about the guitarist Al Morris III. The band got more than 5 singers for fuck's sake! Two : they were probably 10 years too late, in 1993 the doom scene was already exploring many directions with Sleep, Kyuss and the likes and traditional doom got a bit left behind. Three : perhaps the band wasn't innovative enough for the new fans of the genre who thought that the Black Sabbath touch was getting boring. Hint : it never was and it never will be !

While Pentagram and Trouble were more essential to the development of the American doom metal scene, Iron Man is no less an extremely talented and important part of the equation. One of the best bands from the awesome Maryland scene, they're playing a very fun kind of traditional doom influenced by the most classical sound you can find. The album is almost 50 minutes for 10 tracks but it feels so short and you're left wanting for more. While there's some slower moments, they prefer to keep things groovy, baby and it's totally ok with me! Led by Morris, the album title is obviously a pun since he's definitely an epic black knight in shining armor. I always found interesting that an African American plays doom. Like a souvenir of the past, the bluesy influence of Jimi Hendrix is subtly present and appreciable. He has awesome riffs and solos in his arsenal and there's no filler. It's a fast doom band with a shitload of leads and it's always interesting and varied. The solos are never forced and are always full of feeling. It's never to show off and it's necessary to build the cool atmospheres like on the second half of ''Leaving Town''. Iron Man always been able to have both great riffs and solos but also good transitions between the two. It also doesn't forget the Sabbathesque greasy bass lines and the fun drum rolls but the highlight is clearly Morris' playing. He knows what doom is and what it should be and he's greatly successful at keeping it true. The lyrics are honest and nothing extravagant, they talk about life, social issues and concrete dark stuff even "Vampires", a metaphor about drugs. It can be a bit boring but it totally fits their music, it's not epic after all, it's the Saint Vitus' school and that's fine with me!

I can't really say I'm a big fan of the vocals on this album though. Rob Levey's performance on his only album with the band is merely decent. He apparently did nothing else based on what the Archives say. He can be compared to both Osbourne and Dio, I guess. He's definitely not bad but he's mundane, unmemorable and derivative. I highly suggest the other Iron Man albums, especially The Passage for better vocals. But let's not forget Morris' other band, Force and their only self titled album released 2 years before Black Night. A very good album with a woman at the mic, very interesting to say the least. If you like the current female fronted doom trend, be sure to check them out as well! They're a bluesy version and even more traditional band. Formed way back in 1976, it was an excellent prelude to Iron Man. Their future is bright with Dee Calhoun who's a very interesting singer with a lot of personality and I cannot wait to hear the new album titled South of the Earth set to be released this year.

Their music can be accused of conventionality but who really cares? It's traditional doom we're talking about and along with Revelation, Iron Man is very underrated. Yeah, many bands were pushing the metal universe to new heights of extremity during the early nineties. Doom has always been a conservative music genre, this opposition to change is both a blessing and a curse. I mean, I like to hear to some innovation in my doom but keeping things simple and playing it with honesty, love and passion is the most important thing. Black Night is a great example of traditional doom from a truly underrated band of its generation.

Metantoine's Magickal Realm