When is the new Solace coming? How are we going to cope with Alabama Thunderpussy's demise? Will Corrosion of Conformity ever regroup and put some shit out? While I cannot answer any of those probing yet understandably necessary questions, I can tell you one thing. This new Ironweed rekkid fucking kills and you all should get it.

Though not original as far as southern fried metal goes, Ironweed's Indian Ladder achieves exactly what it sets out to do. Wild, roaring and ass kicking heavy rocking metal with a kind of vocal performance that you expect Anselmo to pull off but hasn't done so in a long time. I mean, check out the slow chuggy chorus of Disconnect, those modern metal breakdowns and back to the chorus. Why is this not more popular? It's catchy, heavy and really really catchy.

Most of Indian Ladder sees the line-up settle down on an up-tempo groove and a vibe quite akin to the aforementioned. Which of course means you expect nothing but some mean, loud, dirty and heavy guitar riffs, energetic drumming, intelligent and hook-driven rockers, cool production and some ballsy wah-laden old school guitar solos.

The vocalist doesn't shy away from trying shit out either. Case in point, the monstrous growl of the beginning of Thorn before he goes back to something straight out of Kyle Thomas' bag of tricks. The rest of the band is no slouch either, as far as trying different things out. Thorn's second half sees them do a sludgy start-stop interplay with the drums, then go on a calmer arpeggiated passage before ending the song in an epic fashion.

For every song like Thorn, you have something like Rid the Earth, a more straight-up and nasty southern metal to sing-along to and more importantly play the air-cowbell to. A Penny for Your Prayers might begin gloriously like Sabbath going all southern, but just wait for things to calm down for a total Faith No More chorus. Totally unexpected and very well done, especially when you're just past all this and made it to the manic and intense ending. What greets you next is the most doom and sludge friendly song of the album. Lifeless Coil also features some of the most tortured vocals on the album.

I can go on and on about this, but let's abruptly cut to the bottom line – Indian Ladder fucking kills.



Label: Small Stone
Year of Release: 2008