Review Summary: Danish punk outfit, Iceage, mature tenfold on their new record. Although sacrificing their noisy onslaughts and aggression for accessibility, Beyondless at least sees the band’s songwriting reaching new sophisticated heights
2014’s 'Plowing into the Field of Love' was an art punk wet dream. Their previous two records to that had a tasty hardcore punk and noise rock influence that then got transformed seamlessly into an album that accompanied grander production, more interesting structures and textures, and frontman, Elias Rønnenfelt’s, moody crooning taking a larger stance in the mix. It was a necessarily wise move for the band to stay afloat and preoccupy themselves in reaching that ambition. That being said, I wasn’t surprised much by the sound 'Beyondless' was undertaking in their progression.
If you’ve heard anything from Rønnenfelt’s side project, Marching Church, you’re then aware that he’s been venturing into a softer sound - stuff more experimental and melodic than Iceage. I believe a lot of that ethos and production they contain is rubbing off on Iceage. Now I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing at all, Marching Church is actually a nicely fleshed out project with a lot to offer, but old fans of Iceage may feel there isn’t a whole lot of separation from Beyondless compared to Marching Church’s two outputs as far as accessibility and lack of ferociousness; these bands are bleeding into one another. Yes, there isn’t a profound amount of grit to be found on 'Beyondless.' On the contrary though, the guitar tones and precise craftsmanship of each member of the band’s playing style is what sets Iceage standing tall and defiant compared to their counterparts in the scene, and that’s what keeps them memorable.
‘The Day the Music Dies’ captures my attention for its atonal buildups and galloping horns in the choruses, which is something you will find a lot on this album. It’s a fantastic single for that and probably my favorite so far. It encapsulates all the material very well.. If you enjoyed 'Plowing into the Field of Love’s' little kink for strings and brass, then 'Beyondless' is sure to fill that appetite. It fills up their minimalist approach they perfect and helps carry the same grand and drunken nihilism Iceage is known for in original ways. I think the biggest influence to be heard in this album is The Velvet Underground’s loose sort of playing style, and once I heard that a lot of things starting clicking for me, when I was becoming worried about how tame parts of the album were playing out. Previous efforts very much had sharper onslaughts of vicious chords and syncopation. 'Beyondless' succeeds in ditching some of those traits for its intelligent songwriting and the attitude and swagger of an armadillo weaving in and out of roadkill country backroads.
Disappointments occur when I’m asking for some more hooks in the mix, like what I’m getting on ‘Painkiller’ (feat. Sky Ferreira), which might be their ‘poppiest’ track so far - and they played it off quite nicely! Like, if they’re going to dip their feet in that pool, I’d rather them cannonball on a few other tracks as well. Also what’s already been said, I would of loved to hear some of that agony that Iceage has maniacally kicked into gear when they wanna get dirtier. 'Beyondless' however, indeed communicates and flows better than anything Iceage has done thus far with the confidence to boot, and they’ve created a post-punk record once again that is very much their own.
