Review: POLAR. - Iron Lungs

 Making a name for themselves with their scorching brand of aggressive hardcore, Guildford hellraisers POLAR., who already show the sign of an angry band with their usage of all capitals and full stops to really finalise their rage I guess, have finally made their mark on the hardcore scene with their debut release Iron Lungs, which is destined to impress the fan of Gallows, Converge and Comeback Kid that you may have in your life. It hits all the right spots of hardcore perfection while also maintaining a wisecracking spirit of punk. We may be onto a winner here.

 From the tingles of anticipation felt during the buildup if dripping feedback and wiry noise at the beginning of opener K.C.M. listeners can tell that they're about to be treated to an exhilarating rush of hardcore fury at it's most uncontrollable and beautifully wild. This kind of of nature is the general consensus throughout the album as the frantic punk riffs of Sick Old Buzzard and Eighteen are played out with the kind of relentless and encircling heaviness that one can do nothing but lose themselves within.

 But within getting lost in the range of delirious buzzsaw riffs and jaw smashing chugging, there's lots to make your journey into distortion abyss a lasting and worthwhile experience. While boasting a very real display of chaotic hardcore, there's a fun sense of swing to be found in Lifeboats and pulsing sing-along gang vocals spread across In Country, so it's not filled with the kind of blacked doom that Jacob Bannon dwells upon so frequently.

 But even then despair does exist. The rich guitar tones on the post rock inspired instrumental Iron Lungs bleed with a feeling of loss, and desperate sorrow as do the miserable calls of frontman Adam Woodford on Broken Bones. Performing with a shrieking roar throughout the album Woodford's vocals convey a wide range of emotions, but when in a melancholic state they are by far at their most convincing.

 So from the roughened charge of Converge to the breakdown filled assaults of Your Demise serving as warriors of modern hardcore before them, POLAR. have a lot of influences to take for their debut outing. And on Iron Lung, I'd say they make use of all of them to a certain extent as well as adding their own flare of devastating brutality. They've certainly been gaining a name for themselves in the hardcore scene and now, we can get up, get smashed in the moshpits and understand why. Hardcore remains immortal.

 POLAR.'s Iron Lungs is out now via A Wolf at Your Door. The band will play at the Crash Doubt Festival at The Showroom in Lincoln in June, Ghostfest 2012 on 1st July and at Guilfest 2012 on 23rd July