Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

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My Face, Her Knee Pads
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Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

Post by My Face, Her Knee Pads »

Iron Fist of the Sun's best (and final) album knows both precisely what it wants and the perilous, improbable journey toward that. Family Survival Strategy is absolutely submerged in an atmosphere of unbearable Gothic obligations and futile nobility. There are worried high frequencies here, and low frequencies which shiver with a sickening enlightenment. My favourite tracks are the two middle ones, "Herself as Empty" and "Copper Colour Thyself." The former is a concise spasm of desperation, consisting of bizarre, buzzing, guitar- and flute-like synths, which scrape antagonistically against the quietly panicked vocals. The latter track is even better, gorgeous and doomed, with its astonishing restraint, victoriously defeated melody, and fittingly unintelligible vocals. The electronics throb with instability and exhaustion, seeming to say to the listener, "I failed, but no one else could've fought harder than I did." The track evokes, also, the feeling of finally attaining a kind of freedom, but finding that you have nothing to do with it. That restraint I mentioned is actually present in all six tracks, to the point where I'd go so far as to argue that Iron Fist of the Sun is perhaps the most subtle power electronics project I've ever heard. This album is why.
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Re: Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

Post by _TS_ »

IFOTS was so fucking good. In my opinion, the "Embers" 7 inch was probably his finest work, but it's hard to say for sure.
To og to, det ene mot det andre: inn i denne strid fødes vi, med spiren til død i oss...

Forflatning - https://cloisterrecordingsus.bandcamp.c ... orflatning
Kropper Uten Mellomrom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Z39KUtxC0
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Re: Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

Post by My Face, Her Knee Pads »

Interesting, I haven't heard that one. I'm an audio quality obsessive and have only listened to material I can find at 320kbps. But yes, for sure, there's no one quite like that dude.
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Re: Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

Post by _TS_ »

Am I understanding you correctly, that you think vinyl is too lo-fi? Never heard that before! It's still available on discogs for a fairly low price.
To og to, det ene mot det andre: inn i denne strid fødes vi, med spiren til død i oss...

Forflatning - https://cloisterrecordingsus.bandcamp.c ... orflatning
Kropper Uten Mellomrom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Z39KUtxC0
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Re: Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

Post by My Face, Her Knee Pads »

No, no, sorry about the confusion. I just mean that I don't have whatever it is that vinyl is played on, so everything I listen to is downloaded off the internet or ripped from a CD.
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Re: Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

Post by _TS_ »

Ah, I understand. Well, if you want to hear it, maybe we can.. arrange something, once I get a bit of free time. Nice review, anyway.
To og to, det ene mot det andre: inn i denne strid fødes vi, med spiren til død i oss...

Forflatning - https://cloisterrecordingsus.bandcamp.c ... orflatning
Kropper Uten Mellomrom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Z39KUtxC0
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Re: Iron Fist of the Sun's 'FAMILY SURVIVAL STRATEGY'

Post by My Face, Her Knee Pads »

Thanks for reading.
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