Ironiclast
Encyclopedia
Ironiclast is the debut album the American heavy metal
supergroup The Damned Things
. The album was released on December 14, 2010 internationally and a day later in North America. The supergroup includes Joe Trohman
and Andy Hurley
of Fall Out Boy
, Scott Ian
and Rob Caggiano
of Anthrax
and Keith Buckley
and Josh Newton
of Every Time I Die
. Newton, however, was only a touring member of The Damned Things initially, and did not write or record anything for Ironiclast. The album was self-produced by Caggiano and Trohman, and was released through Mercury Records
.
and Myspace
pages.
On October 25, 2010, the band released the first single from the album - "We've Got a Situation Here" on iTunes
. Previously a demo of the song, along with the demo of the title track "Ironiclast", were released on the band's Myspace
page on May 30, 2010.
On December 1, 2010 a music video for the song "We've Got A Situation Here" premiered and was directed by Brendon Small
.
On December 6, 2010, the song "Handbook for the Recently Deceased" premiered for free streaming on GuitarWorld.com
. On December 7, 2010, the song "Black Heart" premiered for free streaming on Spin.com.
/classic rock
, blues
-oriented, riff
-oriented sound, trying not to fall into what makes that sound generic and overplayed, and combining elements from their own bands, going for a classic hard rock
sound combined with the heavier aspects of Anthrax
and Every Time I Die
and the hook-laden choruses of Fall Out Boy
. Guitarist Joe Trohman
has mentioned such influences as Led Zeppelin
and Thin Lizzy
.
Additional musicians
Artwork and design
Recording and production
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
supergroup The Damned Things
The Damned Things
The Damned Things are a heavy metal supergroup consisting of Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy, Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano of Anthrax, Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die and Josh Newton formally of Every Time I Die The band's name is inspired by the lyrics in Ram Jam's '70s version of...
. The album was released on December 14, 2010 internationally and a day later in North America. The supergroup includes Joe Trohman
Joe Trohman
Joseph Mark Trohman is an American musician. He is best known as the guitarist of the Chicago-based pop punk band Fall Out Boy, as well as the lead and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things.-Early life:...
and Andy Hurley
Andy Hurley
Andrew John Hurley is an American musician and drummer. He is best known as a member of the Chicago-based rock band Fall Out Boy. Prior to Fall Out Boy, Hurley played in several different bands. He is currently the drummer in the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things with Fall Out Boy guitarist...
of Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, Scott Ian
Scott Ian
Scott Ian Rosenfeld , better known by the stage name Scott Ian, is an American musician, best known as the rhythm & lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax. Ian is also the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death...
and Rob Caggiano
Rob Caggiano
Robert Caggiano is an American guitarist and producer best known as the lead & rhythm guitarist of the Heavy Metal band Anthrax. His first professional band was Boiler Room that formed in 1996. The band caught the attention of Roadrunner Records after an opening slot for Orgy in 1999...
of Anthrax
Anthrax (band)
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
and Keith Buckley
Keith Buckley
Keith Buckley is the lyricist and vocalist for the metalcore band Every Time I Die and the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things.-Family:...
and Josh Newton
Josh Newton
Josh Newton was the bass player for Every Time I Die until the 12th October 2011. He is also the singer and guitarist of The Great Fire of Sixteen Sixty Six...
of Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die is a metalcore band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1998. Their musical style is rooted in technical hardcore with strong southern metal and mathcore elements, and is also characterised by their cryptic, bitingly sarcastic lyrics. The band announced on July 14, 2008 that they had...
. Newton, however, was only a touring member of The Damned Things initially, and did not write or record anything for Ironiclast. The album was self-produced by Caggiano and Trohman, and was released through Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
.
Promotion
On October 21, 2010, the band released the song "Friday Night (Going Down In Flames)" for free via their FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
pages.
On October 25, 2010, the band released the first single from the album - "We've Got a Situation Here" on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. Previously a demo of the song, along with the demo of the title track "Ironiclast", were released on the band's Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page on May 30, 2010.
On December 1, 2010 a music video for the song "We've Got A Situation Here" premiered and was directed by Brendon Small
Brendon Small
Brendon Small is an American sitcom writer/producer, actor, comedian, voice actor, composer, and musician...
.
On December 6, 2010, the song "Handbook for the Recently Deceased" premiered for free streaming on GuitarWorld.com
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
. On December 7, 2010, the song "Black Heart" premiered for free streaming on Spin.com.
Musical style
With this album, the band was aiming and going for a heavyHeavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
/classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-oriented, riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
-oriented sound, trying not to fall into what makes that sound generic and overplayed, and combining elements from their own bands, going for a classic hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
sound combined with the heavier aspects of Anthrax
Anthrax (band)
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
and Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die is a metalcore band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1998. Their musical style is rooted in technical hardcore with strong southern metal and mathcore elements, and is also characterised by their cryptic, bitingly sarcastic lyrics. The band announced on July 14, 2008 that they had...
and the hook-laden choruses of Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
. Guitarist Joe Trohman
Joe Trohman
Joseph Mark Trohman is an American musician. He is best known as the guitarist of the Chicago-based pop punk band Fall Out Boy, as well as the lead and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things.-Early life:...
has mentioned such influences as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
.
Reception
Drew Beringer of AbsolutePunk gave a very positive review of the album, saying that "it’s heavy, hook-laden, and stuffed with huge riffs. It’s basically a modern take on the classic rock record" and that "this is just a straight up rock and roll takeover" with an overall rating of 92%.Track listing
Personnel
The Damned Things- Keith BuckleyKeith BuckleyKeith Buckley is the lyricist and vocalist for the metalcore band Every Time I Die and the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things.-Family:...
– lead vocals - Rob CaggianoRob CaggianoRobert Caggiano is an American guitarist and producer best known as the lead & rhythm guitarist of the Heavy Metal band Anthrax. His first professional band was Boiler Room that formed in 1996. The band caught the attention of Roadrunner Records after an opening slot for Orgy in 1999...
– lead & rhythm guitars, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, lead & backing vocals, percussion - Andy HurleyAndy HurleyAndrew John Hurley is an American musician and drummer. He is best known as a member of the Chicago-based rock band Fall Out Boy. Prior to Fall Out Boy, Hurley played in several different bands. He is currently the drummer in the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things with Fall Out Boy guitarist...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Scott IanScott IanScott Ian Rosenfeld , better known by the stage name Scott Ian, is an American musician, best known as the rhythm & lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax. Ian is also the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death...
– rhythm guitar, backing vocals - Joe TrohmanJoe TrohmanJoseph Mark Trohman is an American musician. He is best known as the guitarist of the Chicago-based pop punk band Fall Out Boy, as well as the lead and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things.-Early life:...
– lead & rhythm guitars, lead & backing vocals, percussion
Additional musicians
- Stephanie Alexander – backing vocals
- Tabitha Fair – backing vocals
- Nick RaskulineczNick RaskulineczNick Raskulinecz is a Grammy-winning American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee.-Production career:Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxville on a 8-track recorder that his grandfather bought for him...
– percussion
Artwork and design
- The Damned Things – art direction, concept
- Patrick Hegarty – art coordinator
- Doug Joswick – package production
- Mike Mitchell – art direction, concept
- Kristen Yiengst – art coordinator
Recording and production
- Rob Caggiano – engineer, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Ben Terry – mixing assistant
- Tara Bryan – A&RA&RArtists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
- Evan Lipschutz – A&R
- Jon Martinez – assistant engineer
- Dave McNair – mastering
- Claudius Mittendorfer – drum engineering
- Nick Raskulinecz – mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Dante Renzi – drum technician
- Bryan Russell – editing, engineer
- Joe Trohman – producer
- Teruhisa Uchiyama – assistant engineer