Album Review - Relief by My Iron Lung

New York – My Iron Lung’s Relief, a follow-up to their 2012 record Grief, is an album that promises more of a maturity in sound, songwriting ability, and complexity than anything we’ve heard from the band before. Their new record comes across, as expected, as a relentless torrent of screaming vocals and rolling drums, but not in a way typical of post-hardcore or screamo bands. For twenty-five straight minutes,Relief barges forward without so much of a breath of rest, leaving the listener wondering how the vocalists could ever survive performing it live. In reality, Relief is far shorter than most releases in the genre- it is it’s intensity that lends the album a feeling of fit-to-burst fullness.

The album’s variation comes in the form of guitars: riffs hedge towards a more layered sound, which is less conventional than the majority of hardcore. For the track “June,” the rush slows slightly, making up for speed with a richer tones. Here, in the layering of guitars, is where the subtle expansion of sound can be heard. The middle track “Monument” is a perfect example of the sound that Relief aims to pin down. The opening drums of are downright catchy, but the bulk of the song resembles the rest of the album: heavy guitar accompanied by booming, almost overpowering vocals. The same can be said for “Conflict of Interest,” in which the guitars pound away for the entire track, while the lyrics wax poetic about the nature of change. On the album, lyrics can reach unexpected depths, which can sometimes be drowned out by the music. My Iron Lung’s single, “In Defense of Drowning,” although somewhat formulaic, has something haunting yet catchy about it. Lyrically, it’s smarter than it’s sound may suggest: with lines like “these problems keep me up late / to fear a future that stays the same”, the song has a relatable quality that may attract listeners otherwise deterred by the majority of hardcore. Anyone who wants to blow off steam and listen to some charged music will find it easy to shout along as the song closes with a repetition of “I tried my best to let go.” Perhaps a latent strength of Relief is it’s ability to appeal to a wider audience, something which may not have been the intention of the band when recording the album.

Despite the exploration in sound that resembled post-rock at times, the album does stay true to it’s roots;Relief does contain plenty of that je ne sais quoi that makes a good hardcore record. The album will satiate the palate of any inner pissed off teenager. Fans of their debut No Such Thing will be glad to hear that band members Matthew Fitzpatrick, Mike Valenzuela, Eric Boudreau and Josh Wittenberg can still write what your mother probably calls “angry music.” Their sound has simply evolved to include other elements that cause it to bleed into the best of other genres.

For more on My Iron Lung go HERE.

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Zoe Marquedant

Zoe Marquedant is a Marylander now living in Brooklyn. She recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where she majored in Journalism and English literature. She is a freelance journalist, who primarily writes on music and culture. Her work can be seen in Boston Magazine, Highlight Magazine as well as on rsvlts.com, mxdwn.com and Baeblemusic.com. When not writing, Zoe is probably working her way through a new series on Netflix, researching new pie recipes and collecting dumb jokes (e.g. Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "You man the guns. I’ll drive.") Follow her vain attempts at mastering social media at @zoenoumlaut