Reviews    Icepick Revival - Distress Signal (At A Loss Recordings)
by Chris Barnes

Holy hell, where do I begin? The first time I heard these guys was on the Berserker Records "South of Hell" disc and they absolutely floored me. Same with the 3 new tracks on this disc, they knocked me on my ass. Think old Today is the Day mixed with some phenomenal hardcore and topped off with some extremely innovative songwriting. When I think a song is headed in a certain direction they do the complete opposite of what I expect. In my opinion, Icepick Revival are the future of underground heavy music.


The three songs that make up "Distress Signal" cover a lot of musical ground, often times within the same song. From earth-shattering heaviness to ambient softness to groove-rock to sludgecore to shit that I can't think of a tag for. Some of the time changes these guys use are not only unorthodox but completely original. The sheer talent displayed on this disc makes me realize why I like doing reviews. I had to wade thru mediocre disc after mediocre disc and some completely shitty discs (i.e. Sindust, man that band sucks) to get to this one. But one listen
to this disc made me damn happy to have this "job".

I'm going to keep this review pretty short and sweet and just say, if you only buy one disc this year, it better be this one. If that doesn't
tell you how damn good this disc is I don't know what else to say.

Total Running Time: 19:56

Track List:
01. Dirtmask
02. The Perils of Self-Assertion
03. Mahalia

Read the Hellride Music interview with Icepick Revival

Purchase Icepick Revival's Distress Signal at the the Hellride Music Super Store

Listen to a Real Audio sample: Dirtmask

For more information on Icepick Revival go to www.atalossrecordings.com

Copyright 2002 HellrideMusic.com
Review by Chris Barnes 1/28/01