Iron Monkey - 9-13 (Relapse Records) 2017
8
There’s no doubt that the decision to continue following the death of Johnny Morrow in 2002 will rub some people up the wrong way, but then again Iron Monkey have always been good at that sort of thing. With Jim Rushby taking up vocal duties now, the band are in suitably filthy hands, his belligerent air and drunken, bludgeoning riffs miring 9-13 in noisy, cacophonic bliss. The d-beat pound of “Crown of Electrodes” starts things off with a bang, a mass of incoherent howls and a riff that’s more infectious than ebola setting the tone well, but it’s “The Rope” that really sells the return of Rushby and co., its miasma of physical and mental sickness indicating only one thing – they’re back, and God help us all.