Worship Metal Album Of The Week – Ironed Out – We Move As One

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London’s IRONED OUT formed in 2014 with one aim; to bring something a little bit different to the London hardcore scene. With grime influenced vocals and melodic themes sitting alongside hard riffs and angry lyrics, it’s safe to say that with We Move As One, that aim has been well and truly achieved!

The kind of fuckin’ ferocious urban noise that can only come from the dirt streets of the UK circa 2020, Ironed Out are a raging hardcore roundhouse to the face of UK squalor, poverty and working-class life. This is not a new adage, far from it in fact, but Ironed Out’s mix of Grime and Hardcore is new…..and inherently British in construct and execution too.

That there London’s version of Biohazard, Body Count and Downset they may be but Ironed Out are defiantly British, making themselves heard via anger, action and attitude. The result is damn addictive and refreshingly apt given the state of the country right now. Socially aware and sonically abrasive, Ironed Out have scraped their collective nails through the filth and grime and unearthed something raw, passionate and belligerently street-level in the process.

Opener “Pavement Strong” is Ironed Out’s calling card – their modus operandi if you will – delivered with the kind of conviction mustered by early Machine Head, Madball and Knuckledust. The 41 seconds of “Setting In” may sound like the intro to an 80’s Dire Straits song but Ironed Out certainly ain’t getting no money for nothing as “All Hope Is Lost” quickly reminds us of the daily challenges many of us face just to stay afloat. Nihilistic stuff but strangely positive in its chest-beating ability to incite responsive rage.

Ironed Out have perfectly blended Grime’s aggressive, jagged sound and gritty depiction of urban life with hardcore punk’s masculinity and strength in numbers mindset. Their heady brew of down-tuned riffs, punky chord progressions and hardcore rapping may not be ‘fresh’ to old ears but they are bringing  something fresh to the masses who didn’t grow up with Biohazard’s Urban Discipline etc. With heavy amounts of rumbling bass and group chanting, the likes of “Ain’t Raw” even throws fiendish melody into the mix before a meaty breakdown pummels you into the concrete.

We’ll summarise. Remember rap metal before Limp Bizkit etc diluted its potency? Then Ironed Out are the band for you. Riffs? Ironed Out have a fuck-ton of ’em and they’re the kind that command you to move your entire body while simultaneously sucker-punching you to the floor; full on crunch and abject, pit-inciting aggression in its bloodiest form.

Ironed Out are the real deal. Confrontational and bullish, you’d be a fool to fuck with ‘em. 8/10

Ironed Out
We Move As One
GSR Entertainment
16th October 2020