Iskra

For some odd reason, I always equated black metal's hardcore nihilism back towards a more left-wing outlook where piss-ant ideals about god, nationalism, and authority were wiped away in a wave of bloodthirsty satanic liberation. While not necessarily satanic, Canada's Iskra certainly get the bloodthirsty part right with their very militant and explosively loud debut of blackened crust. How loud is this? try loud enough to blast the skin off your face. This album is excessive in volume, rage, and speed to the point where it seems like this music wants to reach out of whatever's playing it and kill you with its bare hands. This album was a signal that RABM was meant to be more than just a bunch of slogans and phrases put over black metal tremolos, but viable music that could out-aggressive a lot of their peers on a purely musical level. There is the problem of this thing just being a huge wall of anger barreling into you and little more, but that's kind of the point. This is perfect blackened crust for when simply protesting is just too little and you need to feel the violence, the force, and the unrest.

As stated before, a sheer overload of rage is essential to Iskra's debut. Everything is mixed to b as loud as possible and the two vocalists' animalistic snarling is made especially prominent. They sound like if a rabid pitbull mated with Seth Putnam, then had some freakish hybrid child whose only thoughts are fury and slaughter. Normally, it's important for lyrics to be understandable in political music like this, but the pure inarticulate rage spewing out of these guys does work well in a musical sense, even if the meaning in lost in the firestorm. Speaking of firestorms, the blistering riffs on this thing are insane. It's a barrage that feels like Discharge, Darkthrone, and Napalm Death on meth with the guitars raining riffs down on you like artillery into a wasted battlefield. The level of sonic excess on this thing makes it as satisfying and as brutal as crashing a pickaxe through a fascist's skull, especially on "Face of Capital", "Masters of War", and "Ash and Ruin" which are kickass hypersonic guitar volleys you could almost imagine shouting along to if the vocals were more discernable. Indeed, the vocals being hard to distinguish is a feature, but also a weakness of this album since a lot of this album can blend together as a result of that. None of it is ever bad, but it does reduce the power and identity of the otherwise excellent songs they have on roster. That can make this album kid of hard to stomach all in one sitting despite much of it being good. It kicks ass, it just needs something to set the tracks apart more. While it may want for variety, Iskra's excessive anger and blackened edge are great for your own episodes of rage, destruction, and fury at the injustices faced by most of the world right now.

If Sepultura wrote protest anthems, then Iskra are writing the soundtrack to a riot so fiery and violent that the riot cops would puss out and run away at the first sight of it. It's a whirlwind of savage shouting, fast-paced d-beat guitars mixed with black metal tremolos, and pulse-shattering tempos. Even with all of that being said, this thing does suffer from the shortcoming of only a few songs being distinct, and the lack of intelligible vocals contributes a lot to that problem. It's also easy for a lot of these songs to just blow right past you despite still being good. It makes for a somewhat memorable experience listening as an album, but much less so for the individual songs. Iskra is not terribly coherent, but it is wild, and this album still benefits a lot from how overcharged and motivated it is. Don't come here expecting high art, just savage blackened crust punk that overpowers everything with its exceptional levels of rage.

Although I don’t place much importance on vocals in extreme metal, I cannot fathom how anyone could stand to listen to Iskra’s self-titled debut more than a handful of times due to the insanely awful vocal portrayal. Much has been made about the vocals. They definitely come under the category of “you either love them or hate them” and I most certainly agree with the latter of the two. The vocals are atrocious though they’re in keeping with the vast majority of the music which, in its uncompromising form, is generally quite bland. Iskra, my first real taste of blackened crust, haven’t given me the impression this is a sub-genre I’ll enjoy. Aside from songs like ‘Threat Inflation’, a track which deviates from the majority on the album, albeit only at the beginning, is perhaps the only song which creates a sense of atmosphere that I enjoy. Although I’m not opposed to fast, raw music, I definitely am opposed to that which doesn’t create a suitable atmosphere for that fast, raw brand of music and Iskra’s self-titled debut definitely doesn’t muster up any sort of atmosphere which moves me in any positive way, shape or form. Each song tends to melt into one as the atmosphere doesn’t deal well with change.

The atmosphere is, essentially, dead. The vocals are totally overbearing, which is some feat considering the unrelenting nature of the music. The atmosphere doesn’t induce any sort of powerful emotions within me and, instead, just gives me one massive headache to contend with for the rest of the day. As I said, I’m definitely not opposed to fast, primitive and raw brands of music but there most certainly needs to be a defining quality in the music which keeps me coming back for more, despite the fact that the unrelenting style beats the absolute shit out of me every time I hear it. Whatever qualities this album harbours are definitely hidden well below the awful vocal approach, a characteristic of the album which significantly hinders the occasionally catchy riff which sparks the album into life here and there. Songs like ‘Threat Inflation’ add a sense of creative spark to the album, one which is fairly monotonous throughout. The introduction to the song, although not the usual standard of material from Canada’s Iskra, is cleaner, slow and far more thoughtful than anything else that occurs on the album for the rest of its meaningless duration.

I find albums of this nature lacking in emotive power, despite how visceral they try to sound. Instead of coming across as a powerful beast, or an indestructible machine intent on causing global destruction and devastation, much of the music is bland and, in its unflinching form, very bland. Occasionally, despite the hindrance of the high-pitched, raspy vocals, the guitars which generate a catchy riff with which to hang on to for dear life, as shown on songs like ‘Culture of Cowardice’ but the songs are quite technical and adore shifting from one riff to another in quick succession without stopping to admire the one genuinely cool sounding riff for too long. Each song seems to contain at least one generally decent riff and a direction which appears to be setting the sound straight but the fast, cold nature of the record isn’t set on sticking around for too long and, not before long, each song moves on from the cool passage onto one that doesn’t inspire or offer any intrigue. A lot of the music is simply suffocated by the dense, sludge like atmosphere and the vocal approach. Had the vocals been a bit more relaxed and a lot less intent on being the center piece to the album, then this might have faired better. Areas like the bass might as well cease to exist.

Much like your standard grindcore album, Iskra’s self-titled album is far too obsessed with minor details when it should be focusing all its attention on the riffs and creating structures which, in their most basic form, get the listener up onto their feet and banging their heads furiously to the music. I find albums like this are only good for one thing - head banging and if there aren’t enough memorable riffs, which there most certainly isn’t, then that element of the album is lost and therefore the whole affair lacks drive and purpose. Albums like this aren’t emotionally stirring. They’re quick bursts of life which sit well alongside your feelings of anger and resentment. Personally, I find the whole approach rather juvenile and lacking in taste. This definitely isn’t an album I can come back to in any mood. I’ll need to be incredibly pissed off, so much so I don’t give a shit what I’m listening to as long as it’s violent, which this album most certainly is. In that case, the state of the material doesn’t necessarily have to be good, it just needs to be angry, which is a problem when my mood doesn’t pertain to any of the violent connotations or moods. Despite the occasional cool riff, this album is very mediocre and the vocals are a deterrent from the off.

Iskra was a Bolshevik paper which translates to "The Spark." Given the name, this band obviously has a bone to pick with society and all forms of authority. They are self-proclaimed anarchists and are angry as hell.

Iskra embodies the DIY approach and attitude of underground crust/punk scene and fuses it with blast beats and other aesthetics of black metal. Their overall sound is violent and explosive; but not without a sense of melody. The band does an excellent job of taking the aggression of crust/grindcore and is able to add in catchy riffs, melodies and attention grabbing structures that make each song very enjoyable. It's a great pleasure to notice that each song contains numerous riffs and does not recreate simple and boring structures over and over again.

The vocals are ridiculous on this album. They are high, raspy, shrieks that sound like they'll melt your speakers. The manner in which they are delivered also contributes to the doom of those speakers. The screams just jump out, layering over each other at times; almost like they're barking at each other. The capture your attention and add another layer upon the already solid music. They remind me of the high pitched vocals of Extreme Noise Terror.

As mentioned earlier, as the listener you are treated to riff, upon riff, upon riff. Never does a song let up and get boring. Iskra are fairly competent in their craft and are able to structure songs with new and interesting riffs in all the right places.

Overall the production is crusty as hell. The bass rumbles and chugs while the guitars wash over with a certain crack and churn out riff after riff. While the strings do their thing, the drums are mixed perfectly and do not over power any other instrument. This is a solid release, but for whatever reason I do not find myself playing it over and over as time goes on. It has a certain charm to it and allots that charm to a particular mood and time I suppose.

With the exception of the jazzy intro to "Threat Inflation" there is not much diversity amongst the songs; which is the album's only downfall. This album was a real find, black metal+crust=win. Highly recommended for fans of Skitsystem, Extreme Noise Terror, Marytrdod, and Gorgoroth.