A time for men to step up to the plate and kill shit. On the day i purchased my first laptop, my father took me aside and looked me square in the eye, "What do you see, son?" he asked. I told him i saw eyes. "Good", he said, "Nothing... gay?". "No", I told him.
So, Shutdown - Icarus.
Hearing Shutdown's sound gradually transform from earnest early-Samiam to earnest early Samiam meets early 90's DC post-hardcore is fascinating. The signs were always there. The first two records hinted at expansion and on Icarus it all came together. The earnest three chords are still there but now they're mixing it with post-hardcore breakdowns and streams of calculated noise. Vocally, the two guys still play to their strengths; singing and half growling in equal measure. On the track 'Mr. Key', my favourite, the vocalist employs some hyper-megaphone shit and then he screams, for pretty much the whole song. It sounds awesome. I'd have liked some more of that but i'm not gonna complain. There are a couple bits on this record that plod along at robot-tempo. Incredibly, these moments don't suck. In the way that Shotmaker could plod along at stadium-speed shaking with a drunken intensity and nervousness, Shutdown roll on, wearied, almost like they're trying to remember how to run. At times; it's the old songs slowed down, dismantled and rebuilt. These are good things.
To me, this record is still a 'what if' kinda deal. What if they'd stayed together, what if they'd put out another record. I mean, this is a wicked document of some of the influences that were doing the rounds in the UK in the mid 90's but, selfishly perhaps, it still feels as if there was more to come from these guys as they slowly broke away from the old sound.
Not that it matters in the long run - this record is still beautiful. And the jump in sound can't be stressed enough. There's a track called Beacon. Soft harmonics, a circular bassline, bone-inducing choruses; a recipe for success. Or unmitigated failure. Is this really Shutdown? Unless you're listening to something else (like Vagrant Records' Shutdown, which i guess would count); yes, yes it is. If you don't like Beacon, by the way, you're a piece of shit. An actual piece of shit. I don't know the details of how you became one, but you did. You just did.
It's that kind of thoughtful insight that keeps this blog alive.
I imagine this must've caused quite a stir among their followers/dissenters when it came out. Maybe there was division. Maybe someone got stabbed in the throat and mis-carried. It's quite a jump in sound (think Samiam to Tribute) and such things usually precipitate a flood of opinion; most of it outraged and nostalgic.
As far as getting a copy on vinyl or CD goes, i wasn't able to find any kicking around in distros. I picked up my copy, bizarrely, at a car-boot when visiting a friend in Nottingham (there was also the Solanki 7'' wedged in between a tonne of Thin Lizzy - go figure), but there's usually always a few second-hand copies changing hands on Amazon and Ebay.
If you're a student of UK post-hardcore (I refuse to engage in the e word - and why should I?) this is a neccesary part of your research. A great example of a band opening up their sound and developing, always developing.
Like Guns and Roses.
And Metallica.
And Staind.
Remember Staind?
That duet between their lead singer and Fred Durst?
Man, wasn't that terrific?
Think of that when you listen to this.
"It's a long, long drop from Cloud-9, I've got my parachute this time."
Good one.
