One of Colorado’s premiere heavy metal acts has had fans salivating at the prospect of hearing a new album release from them for some time now. With the promise of a collection of songs that would far surpass anything they had previously done to date, Iconocaust is ready to unleash the beast of an album known as Judas Complex upon metal fans with a co-CD release party with Cryogen at the Gothic Theatre on Thursday, February 18.

About Iconocaust
Veterans of the music scene, Iconocaust (www.iconocaust.com) has been tearing unsuspecting music fans’ faces off with their immensely brutal, yet masterfully orchestrated, brand of melodic metal for many years. Though they have seen their fair share of lineup changes, they have found stability in the current formulation of the band.

Iconocaust, made up of Galen Stevenson (guitar/vocals), Brian Davis (lead guitar), Jason White (bass/backing vocals) and Josh Bowen (drums), originally began as a revamping of Galen’s old band. He decided to make personnel changes, dropped the previous band’s name, and set out to create what music fans now know to be Iconocaust. And, though they have witnessed the aforementioned lineup changes over the years, they have very obviously struck gold with the current group of musicians they have assembled.

Nailing down a specific sub-genre for Iconocaust is quite honestly a futile effort. At first, a lesser trained ear would be quick to stamp them with the far too general label of death metal. This is something the band has rebutted in the past by noting that they are also too melodic to be tossed into this grouping, but at the same time stating that they are too heavy to be mainstream metal. With the technical prowess they exhibit in their music, it wouldn’t be out of the question to simply say that Iconocaust has created a sub-genre all of their own.

Fans to date have been treated to two albums from the power-quartet, seeing the band musically mature and evolve in the process. In 2005, Iconocaust released their debut album The Natural Evolution of Metal, and followed it up with the 2007 release The Reckoning of Man. However, 2010 marks the next step in the evolution of Iconocaust and metal music as a whole.

Judas Complex
The new Iconocaust release, Judas Complex, is a nine-song explosion of true metal at its best. From beginning to end, you’re sucked in and taken on a musical journey, complete with every emotion imaginable. The album was produced by Ahrue Luster and Illustrious Productions, and was mixed and mastered by Dave Otero at Flatline Audio. Not only does the album feature cameos by several local musicians, but also one by Luster himself.

One major way to showcase pure musical talent is by including an instrumental on a band’s album. Iconocaust took it a couple steps further by raising the bar and including three instrumentals on this release, the first of which, "The Inevitable Onslaught," opens up the album.

This instrumental serves more as an intro, with progressively advancing guitars leading into the skull crushing, "Beaten, Bloodied, Broken." Throughout the song, the band hits you with a musical assault and a merciless double-bass backbone. And keeping you on your toes, the vocal growls are offset and complimented by cleans. Then, to rip you into another direction, the song seamlessly transitions into the next and title track, "Judas Complex."

Though it has a different rhythm and feel to it altogether, this track shows that complexity doesn’t necessarily have to move at 150 miles per hour. However, the most impressive part to, "Judas Complex," is in the nuances, such as some of the quickest sweeps in recent memory sprinkled across the song.

Bridging the tracks is the album’s second instrumental, "Eve of Deceit." Beginning with an eerie, yet beautifully melodic movement, it soon crescendos with a hair-raising solo over the top, leading into, "Lies of the Betrayer."

For the majority of this song, you see a little bit of a mellower side to Iconocaust, and shows the band is more than capable of tackling a multitude of styles with ease. But before the song is over, like a rope tied around your waist, you’re yanked forward both in tempo and by way of some lightning fast fretboard fingerwork.

Following this up is, "Nazi’s Torch," an astute social commentary on the persisting existence of racism. This is a song that has become a fan favorite when performed live, and it doesn’t disappoint as a studio recording.

"The Road To Ruin," is a winding trail of countless, contrasting styles, featuring some of the fastest guitar work on the album, and houses some of the previously mentioned cameos. As the song fades out, the ear-rumbling dive bomb transitions into a powerful speed metal monster, "Final Doom." Laced with some of the most adrenaline-pumping riffs, beats and solos on the album, this track has one of the most chillingly deep vocal growls imaginable. And, as if the sound alone isn’t enough to get your hair to stand on end, the words that are growled should finish the job: "United in blood, we are the one that shall bring the final doom."

Closing out the album is one of the most contrasting songs to appear on any Iconocaust album, yet the most beautiful song at the same time: "Pro A Pera Argentum."

Over a year ago, Galen stated that this album, "…can bring a tear to your eye one minute, then make you want to beat the sh*t out of a guy the next." While the majority of the album covers the brutality, this track is definite evidence of the tear mentioned. The soft, soothing female vocals floating over the piano brings not only closure to an emotionally provoking album, but also brings the album as a whole full circle, as the song fades out in a similar way to how the beginning faded in.

Clearly, Judas Complex is Iconocaust’s most ambitious, creative and musically advanced album up to this point. Not once do you find yourself thinking of skipping ahead to the next track or unsatisfied with a single second of any song. And with no disrespect to the previous two albums, this is, without a doubt, Iconocaust’s best work yet.

The Release
On Thursday, February 18, 2010, Iconocaust will be holding their long-awaited and well-deserved CD release party for Judas Complex at the Gothic Theatre in Englewood. To further compound the importance of this event, it will actually be a co-CD release party with Cryogen. Playing along side these two bands at the 16-and-up show, presented by Fat Chicken, is Calculating Genocide and Cattleist, which promises to round out a beginning-to-end evening of all-out metal.

Show Info:
What:	Iconocaust/Cryogen co-CD Release Party
When:	Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Where:	The Gothic Theatre 3263 S. Broadway Englewood, CO 80113
Other Bands Performing:
	Calculating Genocide, Cattleist