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Album review: Iron Lung – ‘Adapting // Crawling’

By Alex Goose

This is the sound of unbridled hardcore with nothing to lose.

None more bleak. Perhaps Iron Lung should have chosen to release ‘Adapting // Crawling’ in the depths of winter, rather than in the springtime, because this is a seriously dark record – both sonically and lyrically. Occupying a space somewhere between hardcore and noise rock, it’s the American duo’s first release since 2013’s ‘White Glove Test’, and their fourth overall.

A concept record of sorts, it sees the band “take head shots at mental health with specific emphasis on the exacting tolls the past five years have taken on humanity. The album acts as a sliced cadaver with each song a newly peeled layer exposing the corrosive effects of deep depression, a failed healthcare system, heavy grief from multiple friends/family deaths, paranoia and distrust of government, meaningless existence and loss. So much loss.” My goodness.

Easy listening it isn’t, then, but it is seriously compelling. On the likes of ‘Internal Monologue’ and ‘Shift Work’ they switch from breakneck-speed blasts of hardcore fury to punishingly heavy breakdowns in the blink of an eye, with barely the tiniest slivers of melody managing to squeeze their way through the raw, unfiltered production. In case you were wondering, that’s not a criticism; this is brutally uncompromising stuff from a band whose mission has always been to do everything themselves, with precious little regard for any kind of rules – musical or otherwise.

Consisting of 18 tracks in only 21 minutes, ‘Adapting // Crawling’ was seemingly intended as a short, sharp burst of discordant, misanthropic rage, and in that respect, Iron Lung have certainly succeeded. Dare we call this hardcore’s answer to Nine Inch Nails’ ‘The Downward Spiral’? Last year they celebrated (albeit probably not with party hats and a cake) their 25th anniversary as a band; it’s clearly not been an easy ride for them, and this record sounds like the result of plenty of soul-searching. Guys, we nervously salute you.

‘Adapting // Crawling’ is out now – order it HERE.

Main Photo Credit: CHRISTINA HAMILTON

  1. Adapting
  2. Internal Monologue
  3. Lifeless Life
  4. Shift Work
  5. Poisoned Sand
  6. Everything Is A Void
  7. A Veiled Eye
  8. Perfect Ending
  9. A Loving Act
  10. Purgatory Dust
  11. Virus
  12. Purgatory Dust (Finale)
  13. Acres Of Skin
  14. Hospital Tile
  15. Cog II
  16. HeLa Cells
  17. Failure
  18. Survived By…
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