This new 7” from San Diego 3 piece My Iron Lung features the perfect ingredients for a screamo/post hardcore record; ambient glory, raw desperate vocals, and real human words and storytelling.

The overall layout of each track features strained throaty vocals which beautifully contrast with the soothing ambiance and paper thin guitars carried with thudding drum beats. This is the surname they all share but they each carry a unique trait of personality about them. Whether it’s the clickety clack percussion of ‘Here to the Collaborative Effort Made by All Things Under the Sun’ or the short croons found towards the end of ‘Broken Homes’, the band have a real knack for being creative and interesting within the dynamics of their own sound. The delivery and structure of the music gets progressively better, track by track, piece by piece, eventually leaving you to stand and admire the picture that is being displayed once the puzzle has been completed.

The strongest element of this record is the oxymoronic relationship that is shared between the lyrics and the music itself. Whilst the lyrics speak of deteriorating and problematic personal relationships with oneself or the loved ones cryptically mentioned, the music just gives a contrasting atmosphere that is both soothing and calming to the nerves despite such dark content being unfurled from an emotional poetic ramble as if from a man in a lonesome eerie room with only four walls to reconcile with.

All in all, ‘Grief’ by My Iron Lung is a wonderful listen from tracks 1 to 5; it shows massive potential from a band who are still in their infancy trying to the use of their two feet and without a doubt have the capacity to create records that will take a new spin on the classic screamo sound which they have adopted. I look forward to hearing more from them.

3.5/5

‘Grief’ 7" by My Iron Lung is available now on Pure Noise Records.

My Iron Lung links: Facebook|Twitter

Words by Aaron Lohan