Wrought Iron Hex – III
Highlights: None
Every now and then a band contacts me asking me to give their stuff a listen. There are times where I can put on their music and it will blow me away and exceed all of my expectations. This was not one of those times. Boston, MA’s Wrought Iron Hex is a band that seems to have a sound of everything that I disliked about the post-metal grunge era. This isn’t to say that they’re not good. I’m sure that the songs and performances of Wrought Iron Hex will appeal to someone. Unfortunately that someone wasn’t me.
The album “III” is full of punk infused post metal grunge inspired music that reminds me of something like a cross between Mudhoney and Screaming Trees with a tiny bit of Tool at times. The opening track “Across The River” was nearly enough for me to stop listening but I wanted to be fair and give it a fair listen. The overall production of the album gave me a headache as it just seemed like an unbalanced, high end frequency garage recording. I know that a lot of bands like this sound as it makes them sound more “organic” but I feel like production like this makes it nearly impossible to really get past enough. Production aside, the music and lyrics just did nothing for me. Lead singer Jason Hurache Foste actually has a great voice and I really enjoy his deep, natural vocal tone. I love hearing a singer that you can understand.
The final song “Know The Truth” was without a doubt the best song on the album and by “best song” I mean the only song that didn’t make me want to press the skip button. In all honesty, Wrought Iron Hex is not a bad band by any means. I’m sure they are very good at what they do and they are good to the audiences that they appeal to. Unfortunately, this is the kind of music that I didn’t like as a young metal head and it’s not the kind of music that I like as an adult. Call me a curmudgeon but this just sounds like youthful noise and not in a good way.