The Sleeping Eye

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Although the Austin, Texas, quintet Iron Age recorded its second studio album in 2009, <i>The Sleeping Eye</i> sounds like an artifact from San Francisco's early-'80s thrash-metal scene. The opening title track is explosive speed metal in the spirit of Corrosion of Conformity, Cro-Mags, and early Metallica. Guitarists Matt Jackson and Wade Allison have certainly done their homework, blasting raw riffs against distorted fretboard shredding. In the following “Dispossessed,” they exude a chemistry and tension that recalls Dave Mustaine and Chris Poland on Megadeth’s 1985 debut album, <i>Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!</i>. Iron Age is propelled by the outstanding rhythm section of drummer Reed Thomas and bassist Matt Jackson, whose versatility and congruency is best exemplified in “Burden of Empire”; they start with juggernaut rhythms that lumber alongside walls of guitar sludge. As the song shifts gears and gains speed, Thomas and Jackson fire off like a well-tuned V-twin engine. Frontman Jason Tarpey eschews retro trappings with a feral scream that has more in common with Bison B.C.’s James Farwell.

via Apple Music