HARDWARES

Within an underdog subgenre (doom and we're talking the old-school rockin' doom, the Wino brand of doom, the lo-fi stuff churned out by creepy old dudes who have done a lot of bad things in their lives), Maryland's Iron Man are themselves underdogs. But you know what? This disc totally smokes. This is no longer Sab worship; this is goddamn Pentagram worship. Opener 'Burn The Sky' starts thing off more or less just right, rocking fast, fuzzy and simple, atmosphere bleak but attitude upbeat. 'Curse The Ages (Curse Me)' has the greatest song title of the year and is also toe-tappingly awesome, with a big simple groove. 'Fallen Angel' and 'Blind-Sighted Forward Spiral' (shit, smoke some more dope, guys) pull back the tempo a bit to let things breathe. 'Among The Filth And Slime', well, that's another awesome song name, no? One full point taken off this awesome CD for it being too long; even at 45 minutes it drags on. But, man, gotta love 'em just for the haplessness of it all: hop on the interweb and take a look at this bandís album covers; one gets the feeling theyíll never quite get some things right. Which, as long as the tunes stay this good, is precisely how it should be.