ALBUM REVIEW: Iron Jinn – Iron Jinn
Hailing from the historic capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam’s IRON JINN are masters of strange and ethereal psychedelia. The “Venice Of The North” has given the world a plethora of artists, musicians, performers, writers and more, yet nothing as strange or otherworldly as this collaboration of psychedelic experimentalists. The band is made up of members from across the heavy psych and doom genres, coming together from the likes of THE DEVIL’S BLOOD, DEATH ALLEY, SHAKING GODSPEED and BIRTH OF JOY. Their self-titled debut album is an enigmatic, eerie, mysterious and wonderfully atmospheric musical joinery. It straddles the lines between the edge of reality, fantasy and dreams yet is mostly inspired by real life events and countless observations through a human lens. Iron Jinn will be released to coincide with the band’s performance at Roadburn 2023.
What initially strikes you about this album that it seems to be a combination of haunting psychedelia and unnerving avant-garde. Iron Jinn is an unpredictable album with so many layers and elements that after your first listen through, your thoughts and emotions are left scrambled. There’s a CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX-esque darkness to the album that is, rather oxymoronically, uneasily comforting. With that in mind, the album’s conceptual themes revolve around the ever shifting paradigms of cultural influence. How the lack of meaningful social interactions while existing in social isolation can lead people to fall into cultic devotion to one polarising view, in a desperate attempt to find one big solution to the world’s problems. This nuanced social commentary is something that makes the album stand out, as musically it is all over the place, following dream logic to formulate strange sounds, melodies and harmonies.
The combined unhinged and chaotic minds of Oeds Beydals (guitar/vocals) and Wout Kemkens (guitar/vocals) are on full display throughout the album. With clever vocal interplay and harmonies alongside their enigmatic and ambiguous lyrics, the album takes on such a strange but intriguing vibe. IRON JINN fuse elements of prog, psych and avant-garde together like musical alchemists; it is probably one of the most unusual combinations of sounds but if you are to interpret the album in the wider scheme of things, it’s masterfully creative. The band are pushing the established boundaries of what these genres should be with a scientific experimentation whilst simultaneously going with the flow of their dream world.
Each track on the album is intricately unique on its own but is also beautifully intertwined with the track before and after it. It’s hard to fully describe what Iron Jinn actually is; it feels like ornate high art but also isn’t something that can be so simply labelled. This is down to the vastness of the album, with string ensembles, strange noises and more being carefully woven together to break down musical barriers. While it chronicles the inanity of an isolated world, it celebrates the strength of the human spirit. Despite going through hellish and frequently historically important moments in time, we have ultimately survived and been given an opportunity to create something better. Even though it is a strange listening experience, at its core is a sense of hope, a new star on the horizon to aim for.
Opening up with Winding World, you immediately get the impression that this isn’t your standard psychedelic album. A strange, jangly chord riff opens the song with Beydals and Kemkens‘ vocals setting the scene. As the song gradually evolves it lead into Soft Healers – a more structured track with dreamy arpeggiated chords that send you into a trance, giving way to luscious atmospheres punctuated by discordant chords and odd guitar melodies. Ego Loka follows a similar formula, but with a spookier, melancholic vibe. Here you can hear the magic of the vocal harmonies as they float ethereally around your head. Truth Is Your Dagger steps up the energy with swirling guitar passages alongside pounding drums provided by Bob Hogenelst and a driving bass line from Gerben Bielderman.
Lick It Or Kick It is one of the more avant-garde sounding songs; ominous melodies and chord stabs cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand on edge. Relic is a strangely flowery song in an album which is mostly ambiguous; hints of 1970s psychedelia shine through as a result. Bread And Games is mostly made up of shifting atmospheres and bizarre vocals, serving as an interlude before Blood Moon Horizon which is a fuzzy, video game sounding song that is lively and melodic. Cage Rage is a 15-minute epic that takes you on bizarre journey that consolidates everything that has gone before it, closing the album spectacularly.
IRON JINN have created a distinct and unique sound that leaves an indelible mark on you, seemingly as the worlds of psychedelia and avant-garde collide. The band’s observations are something we can all learn from, even though they are presented in the most bizarrely enjoyable way.
Rating: 8/10
Iron Jinn is set for release on April 21st via Stickman Records.
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