EP Review - IRON REAGAN

Iron Reagan – Worse Than Dead

A389, 2013

8/10

If you long for the glory days of crossover, when the fusing of metal and hardcore gave us bands like Excel, Wehrmacht, Gang Green, you might as well go purchase this debut EP from Iron Reagan right now. Fast thrash riffs combine with breakneck-speed drumming and shouted vocals to deliver non-nonsense songs that get right to the point. There’s no screwing around – nothing is over 2 minutes long, and a whopping 19 songs clocks in at just 25 minutes. Crossover was pretty well beat to death in the 80s so don’t except a brilliant new take on the style; enjoy Iron Reagan for what it is – fun, short blasts of thrash that delivers a punch to the gut. Iron Reagan is also notable for featuring members of Municipal Waste, Darkest Hour, and Cannabis Corpse. If you missed out on the original crossover craze, Worse Than Dead is also a great starting point for discovery.

Iron Reagan performs tonight, Saturday, October 5 at First Avenue in Minneapolis as support to Gwar with Whitechapel and A Band Of Orcs.

Weekly Concert Announcement Update

Two big concerts were announced this week for the Twin Cities area. First, the mighty Machine Head plays a long-overdue headline show here in St. Paul with Suicide Silence, Darkest Hour, and Rise To Remain supporting on Thursday, January 19 at Station 4 in St. Paul. Tickets go on sale today at 12:00 noon through Vital Tickets ($22 advance, $25 at the door). This is an early, all ages show that starts at 5:30. I'd be shocked if this didn't sell out, although I have seen Machine Head play venues this size to less than a full house. Nevertheless, Station 4 gets very uncomfortable with a large crowd, so it's disappointing that this isn't taking place at a larger venue such as First Avenue or The Cabooze.

The second big concert announcement is that Germany's industrial metal outfit Rammstein will play at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday, May 8. There's been no word on any support bands. General ticket sales begin on Monday, December 5 at 10:00 am through Ticketmaster, while presale opportunities start on Thursday, December 1 at 10:00 am. I'm still blown away that there's enough pent-up demand for Rammstein to tour arenas in the US. This is a band that has only had modest success in the US, and their only full tour here took place in 1998 as support on Korn's Family Values Tour. Shockingly, they sold out two nights at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2010 which they followed up with a short US run in 2011. Good for Rammstein for finding their audience, but this dramatic turnaround to arenas is quite stunning.


I'll be getting some recent concert reviews posted along with some other goodies, but right now you can keep your eye out for video footage of recent concerts by Cynic, 3, Iron Thrones, Mayhem, Keep Of Kalessin, Hate, Abigail Williams, and Blue Ox that's in the process of being uploaded to my YouTube channel.