Right out of the starting gate, this fierce Italian metal band easily proves their chops. "Mirzam" is a freight-train of gut-churning, bowel-scrambling speed-noise terror. It's a challenge to even get my brain around such a feral onslaught of math-metal madness.
"Sirius" follows, with the thud and wallop of doom/sludge meeting space rock somewhere akin to a Hawkwind/Down collaboration. "Kochab" is the sound of a rabies-infected wild animal fronting Voivod maybe. "Sirius B" is another stab of vicious space metal, laced with electronics effects, huge, monolithic guitar assaults, and throat-clearing shouts from vocalist Samuele Storai. "Polaris" also features massive SWANS/Neurosis riffage, along with Storai's black-metal shrieks. Closing it all out is "Rigel", which begins as an ominous instrumental piano-and-strings piece, before erupting into another scream-and-riff beast. Powerful and intense! I.C.O. are a new breed of metal, taking pieces from disparate heavy styles, and coalescing them into a familiar, yet foreign form. Bravo! (Supernatural Cat)
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