Staff Reviews

Loincloth - Iron Balls of Steel

Review by Noel Gardner

Iron Balls Of Steel is metal’s first great album of 2012. If you eff with Melvins, Relapse-era Mastodon, Botch, American Heritage or Don Caballero, this was precision-built for you.»

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legendary instru-metal act with a rabid cult following. features the rhythm section of metal masters confessor. riff-mangling instrumental / progressive act loincloth have inked a deal with southern lord recordings for the release of their debut full-length, aptly dubbed 'iron balls of steel'. formed following the demise of raleigh, north carolina-based death / doom act confessor at the turn of the century, drummer steve shelton and guitarist cary rowells were recruited by richmond, virginia-area guitarists tannon penland (kenmores, koszonom)and pen rollings (breadwinner, honor role, butterglove). the loincloth lineup was now fully realised, and the madness began to unfold. the idea behind the formation of loincloth was to create a band that focused only on the things that made the members' favourite form of music inspiring and powerful, steering clear of cliche formulas, and choosing instead to carve its name out sheer force of will. punishing riffs and a mean rhythm section were all they were interested in; no acoustic parts, no pointless leads, no repetition and no vocals! to them, metal was getting punched in the face by sinister riffs while a tight rhythm section kicked them with counter-beats to the gut! loincloth released their first four-song demo in 2003, which was met with immediate interest from southern lord recordings. the 'lord used two of the tracks from the demo, and with another track added, released the tracks as part of the 7" of doom series. another track from the demo was included on a swami records swamisound system vol 1 compilation that year as well. with the current band lineup now a simplified power trio comprised of penland, shelton and rowells, the first output from loincloth since 2003 will hit the streets in january, in the form of their first full-length, 'iron balls of steel'. representing years of sifting through ideas, constantly crafting and reshaping riffs into no-nonsense metal brutality, the album serves as an offering to all who feel that metal allows for more freedom of expression than other forms of music. metal accepts extremes. in fact, metal is nothing without extremes! to create pure metal you have to push yourself, and loincloth meant to do just that.iron balls of steelis about metal's promise to kick your ass, and loincloth is keeping that promise!
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