Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Iron Reagan - Crossover Ministry (2017)


Crossover Ministry is the name of Iron Reagan's newest album and they are the pope, bishop, high-priest, monk, deacon, low-ranked cleric, the father, the son, and the unholy spirit genuflecting at the altar of Thrash.

In the Church of Crossover we pray to the god of riffdom and high fructose, beer soaked energy and the uniform is cutoff denim everything. If you are looking for a band reinventing the wheel look elsewhere bud, this isn't the nature of the beast and thats okay because what we have here is a high form of emulation that can only come with an astute appreciation for the founding ground of Crossover,  a careful amalgamation of early hardcore and thrash.

I don't care if riffs come in the phantom form of recycled riffs from Nuclear Assault, Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I. or only a couple notes off from a Neil Young played three times as fast. I don't care if I can't even tell I'm not listening to Municipal Waste. Crossover Ministry has done just about everything right; The riffs are tight and do have a sound of their own, the drums have that snare pop that is tuned in that sweet spot you have to like even if the bass drum is maybe a couple decibels too punchy I like it, it works and in the words of Accept the energy is "Balls to the Wall".

It would be unfair to leave out the straight facts that Iron Reagan have meddled with some experimentation to break apart tracks so they don't fall prey to bleeding into each other too much, which can happen… Dead With My Friends opens with a gangly and lurching piano, Fuck The Neighbors is an ode to partying and hating everyone else who gets in your way rife with gang-vocals and pro-boner soundbites of pansy neighbors, Parents of Tomorrow is only 00:05 seconds in length a la Napalm Death and how about Megachurch? Big tune of throwback worship with a hook that is guilty of being tight.

I've said enough, this album holds up and I'm going to spin too much. Bang on!

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