It is no small thing to begin a stoner metal song in this day and age with a sample of a motorcycle engine revving. If there is one thing that’s going to make your audience say, “Alright, this better be the best riff I’ve ever heard,” it’s that. Not only has it been so done to death throughout this genre, but so often the engine noise has been accompanied by road-ready barn-burner guitar lines, that to expect anything else is pointless. Yet, somehow, “Ape Parade,” the second song on Invisible Orange’s debut full-length, Iron Mountain (Gary the “Landlord” Records), begins with such a sample and goes into a mellow groove before kicking in.

I will say that despite this egregious error on the part of the band (the song ends with the same noise), opener “Run” left a completely different impression the first time I heard it. I don’t recall to what I was listening prior, but there was an out-loud declaration of, “Yes, that sounds about right,” that came with hearing the opening riff of Iron Mountain, so within the first two tracks of the record, we can already see it works both ways. The Denver, Colorado, four-piece run through an expected 10 tracks of ‘90s-inspired stoner metal, bearing heavy riffage from guitarist Adrian Moore and the from-the-stomach Garcia/Hetfield-isms of vocalist Donovan Breazeale with abundant energy and a self-sustained feel that’s definitely reliant on 21st Century production methods, but comes off as reasonably natural nonetheless.

There are a few different modes of operation Invisible Orange employ, from the short, up-tempo blast of “Bull Ride” to the more sinister groove of “Most Unclean” and the drafty atmosphere of “Season of Stone,” which sets up closer “Jsong” to combine for nine minutes that could just as easily have been one track in the first place. The double-Jason rhythm section — Jason O’James on bass and Jason Brown on drums — does an able job standing up to Moore’s riffing, and though the production holds them back in spots, by “Jsong,” they’ve given a more than respectable showing of themselves.

Apparently recorded over the course of more than two years, Iron Mountain feels studio-bound, but earnest, and though I’d be interested to hear what they could come up with for a fuller-sounding recording, in terms of getting their point across, Invisible Orange succeed without question. The wheel certainly isn’t getting any rounder, but by working a ‘90s noise rock influence in subtly — subtle, like, they might not even know it’s there subtle – they’re able to perpetrate a brand of heaviness not just relying on the obvious formula of riff, crash and shout. Iron Mountain is one of those albums that provides a reasonably satisfying listen, but more than that, makes me curious to see where the band goes from here. Wherever they end up, it might be a good idea to leave that motorcycle sample at home next time.

Invisible Orange on MySpace

Tags: Colorado, Denver, Gary the "Landlord", Invisible Orange

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.