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Category: Music
Iconocaust
By Jake Ryan
Published: December 9, 2008
Melodic brutality reinforced by originality.
This, in a nutshell, is the simplest way to describe the sounds coming from the Denver metal quartet Iconocaust.
This power-infused group, made up of Galen (vocals/guitar), Brian (guitar), Jason (bass) and Josh (drums), has one of the most recognizable names in the local true-metal scene. With two albums available, and one more on the way, Iconocaust (www.iconocaust.com) has found a solid lineup that will take them as far as they aim to go. And the drive and confidence they exhibit is the much-needed fuel that will carry them on their musical journey.
This technique-oriented, heavy as hell group was originally formed out of one of Galen's previous bands when he decided to make personnel and fundamental changes. He dropped the old band's name and reformulated the lineup to embark on what would become Iconocaust.
"Over the last couple of years I fired everyone else in the band," Galen says. "I'm the only actual original member. Jason was on the first album, so he's the closest you can get to being an original member."
Iconocaust has gone through several lineup changes, and the position of the second guitarist is no exception. However, the addition of Brian on guitar has made them a more unified, concrete group.
"We started as a four-piece," Galen says. "When getting rid of past members, we're not the kind of group that's going to stop because of it. We finally found somebody that fits and doesn't have an ego."
Galen says the idea to choose the name Iconocaust came when they started writing down names, during which they even started using a dictionary in the process. The finalized name means the destruction of trends.
"Iconocaust is a hybrid of icon and holocaust," Galen says. "I started to research it, and it turned out it was a real word... it refers to a point in history where Christians were killing Christians, and it fascinated me. I mean, we're not satanic, but we're not Christians either. Since the name had a real definition, it made it solid. It's derived from eikon klao, a Greek phrase meaning the breaking of icons."
With no other way to characterize their music, Jason simply says its, "Heavy f*cking metal."
"We're too heavy for mainstream, and too melodic and groovy to be death metal," Galen says. "We put every genre of heavy into it."
The band's musical influences come from all over the board, from Bay Area thrash to death metal. But it doesn't stop there. Inspiration is taken from some of the heaviest bands, like Cannibal Corpse and Deicide, as well as seemingly unrelated styles such as jazz. Brian goes further to also site guitar virtuosos, including Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.
Iconocaust logo ...Click to view larger image "It constantly changes," Josh says. "We listen to everything, even classical music."
This has formed a style of pure originality, yet it still maintains a level of appeal to any fan of both bone-shattering heavy metal and melodic, technical ability.
"We're not trying to be the next this or the next that," Galen says, to which Brian adds, "We make music for us, what we like listening to."
When Iconocaust hits the stage, those in attendance can't help but feel the raw power that the band possesses. Aside from their clear musical ability, they also bring forth a form of energy and showmanship that isn't easy to find on a local level. Josh explains that by being in a brutal band, the music wouldn't have the same effect if they put on a boring performance.
"When you go to a show, you see that the people in a lot of bands just stand there and play," Galen says. "I can't stand that. On stage, it's like we're channeling our music through us."
"We're entertainers as well as musicians," Jason adds. "We give a lot back to the crowd. That's why you're there, to give them what they paid for."
Iconocaust currently has two albums available, The Natural Evolution of Metal and The Reckoning of Man, which were released in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Now, the band is currently recording their third and most ambitious studio release. For this album, they have been working alongside Ahrue Luster of Ill Niño and Machine Head fame, who has been serving as the producer.
"We've done all of the pre-production and we're half-way done with the final tracking," Galen says. "We're making all of the arrangements tight and dissecting each song."
The most interesting part about the new album is that Iconocaust didn't bring Brian into the band until after the recording process has already begun.
"I came in late, and they were already working on the album," Brian says. "It was crazy coming in at that point."
"He came in a week after we started and jumped right in," Galen says. "I was stuck with the guitar part in one song, and after about ten minutes he had it filled in. It used to take longer to write, because I was writing everything myself. When Brian came in, it made it a lot easier to finalize the songs."
As with any local band who has had the privilege of working with Luster, the members of Iconocaust have praised his eye for detail, professionalism and personality. Josh also makes mention of how easy it is to work with a musician like Luster.
"His experience in music has given him a good attention to detail," Galen says. "He's very positive and knows what areas you can improve on. He's going to make the Colorado scene about ten times better. Bands are going to start putting out better CDs, and people are going to hear the quality of music in this state, which is going to make for a better scene."
"He's not doing this to make money," Brian says. "He works with a lot of passion."
Recorded in a studio at their house, with re-amping and drums to be recorded at Spiked Audio, the new album is set to have about six full-fledged songs, as well as the addition of a couple of instrumentals. The album will then go for mixing at Dave Otero's Flatline Audio, and then to California for mastering. The band is shooting for a late-winter or early-spring release, but they don't want to set anything in stone yet. This is to make sure they are not rushed with the final product, and they can also have the merchandising ready to put out along with a new CD.
The word proud wouldn't be a strong enough description of how the band feels about the new music they are creating.
"If the second album was a hundred times better than the first, the new one is going to blow it out of the water," Galen says. "It's going to be dirt on my shoe (compared to the new album). It's more brutal, more technical and more melodic all at the same time. It can bring a tear to your eye one minute, then make you want to beat the sh*t out of a guy the next."
"It's like a mix between the two CDs with more progression," Jason says. "It's all over the place with a wide range of metal in it."
To help with the promotion of the band's first album, Metal Evolution was formed. It is a promotional community that has the sole purpose of helping advance local bands and the local music scene as a whole. However, there is a catch. The bands involved must be willing to show a high level of effort in the promotion of not only their own shows, but those of other bands as well.
"It's all about bands promoting other bands, not competing," Galen says. "If bands help promote others, the whole scene will prosper. We had to take a break (from Metal Evolution) for a while; the scene became chaotic and fell apart. It's dog-eat-dog right now. Case in point: on December 19, there's a show at PT's (Club Inferno), the Gothic, the Cephalic Carnage show, and who knows what else. One-third of the big metal bands in Denver are playing all on one night. People have to decide who they're going to see, and who they're not. We all love the scene and want to see it shine. (Metal Evolution) will be back."
Speaking of the state of the local scene, the members of Iconocaust see it as something that has taken a bit of a dive, but could come back just as strong, if not stronger than before.
"The bands are getting better, but the shows are getting worse," Galen says. "It comes down to the promoters. You have the same bands playing the same venues, and others don't get a shot. We need a unified effort, not promoters playing favorites with the bands. And we need to tell bands, 'If you don't promote, you don't get booked.' People lost faith and promoters don't try, and the bands are suffering from it. We need to get people excited about the scene again."
"There are a lot of good bands in Colorado," Brian says. "You need one big band to headline, and change up the opening acts. Two years ago I was in another band, and when you developed a following, you spread it to the other bands. The opening bands were constantly changing."
The band also has several ideas on what could help boost the scene, and, in turn, bring the aforementioned excitement back to local metal music.
"There should be no more music showcases," Galen says. "Do you know what the difference between a concert and a show is? A show is people paying $5 to get drunk and see their friends play. A concert is where people pay money to see bands in an event worth playing, showing effort. Lighting, theatrics, everything is involved. Think about it, when is the last time you went to a concert and were really blown away?"
The members of Iconocaust are still optimistic about the future of both the scene and their music. Don't be surprised to see this band playing outside of the state of Colorado quite often. As a matter of fact, that is one of the band's immediate goals in the upcoming year.
"People have said that we're the most underrated band in Denver," Galen says. "A lot of people either don't know us, or have heard the name but have never seen us. That's all going to change. You're probably not going to see a lot of local shows from us over the next two years. We're going to be doing big shows, epic shows, with good bands."
"We'll be touring a lot," Jason adds. "We'll also do a lot of writing, because the writing never stops. We're already writing a new song for the next album."
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