Some albums have an instantaneous appeal, you slap them on, in whatever format you are loyal to, and quite magically, you’re transported to that musical nirvana that exists somewhere between dream and reality. Other times, an album can feel unengaging or just plain hard work, only beginning to reveal its true essence after repeated listens over time. Some of my favourite albums today were ones that I dismissed too hastily upon initial exposure, only for them to fester on my shelves until a chance meeting gave their merits an opportunity to shine. I only mention all of this, as CoH’s new album, IIRON has taken quite a few listens to begin reveal the true colours of Ivan Pavlov’s “metal” album, which does quite a deal more than what it says on the tin, so to speak.
To summarise IIRON; imagine Coil and Nine Inch Nails getting together in the studio with Sunn 0))), for the Rune Grammofon label. There’s no mention of Trent Reznor, but both Peter Christopherson and Stephen O’Malley get a look in. IIRON was created in memoriam of Sleazy and Manga director Satoshi Kon, whilst O’Malley removed the doom cape in order to produce the artwork. There may be similarities to other artists, but CoH has a most unique voice in the modern musical diaspora. IIRON follows on from Pavlov’s album on the Swedish Wavetrap label from 2000, IRON where he managed to produce “minimal music that makes no difference to your ability to headbang”, to paraphrase one reviewer at the time.
And there’s plenty of headbanging available on IIRON. “War End War” slowly builds distorted guitar lines into Black Sabbath-like sludge of heavy riffage and electronic squiggles. An acoustic interlude (recorded in the USSR circa 1988-90) leads into some Slayer-style guitar with an increasingly frenetic tempo. “Slowup (Quadrate für Jah) layers harmonics and power chords into a dub-inflected Pavlovian stomper, whilst “Soii Noir” creates an intense and hypnotic world with minimal gestures, like Ryoji Ikeda gone metal. “Soii Noir” is a true master class in juxtaposition of melody, rhythm and dissonance. It’s not all po-faced riffery though I challenge you to keep a straight face through the Steve Vai meets Mouse on Mars technoid metallic funny business of “Satsugaii.” HAIL TO WORLD PEACE AND DEATH TO FALSE METAL proclaims CoH on IIRON. Ivan Pavlov disturbs the equilibrium of metal and electronica whilst paying homage to both.
Oliver Laing
