Iress release their new album, Flaw, a dark, heavy rock album which sees doom-gaze guitars layered over ethereal vocals that distort into anguished screams, accented by cinematic drums and dancing bass lines...

Rock fans, who like their music closer to metal than rock, will find much to enjoy in Iress's Flaw. The 8 tracks (34 min, 11 sec) touch on subjects including heartache, addiction and loss of faith.

There's heavy hitting drums and strong guitar riffs in tracks like 'Underneath', whilst there's a more mellow sound on songs including 'Nest' and 'Dark Love'. The album, on occasion, reminded me of Lacuna Coil.

What's interesting here, is that the album has been methodically put together so that we are slowly taken down to the band's depths of darkness, before reemerging into the light. The closing 'Hand Tremor' is certainly more angled towards indie folk rock than it is metal.

Overall, a wonderfully balanced LP that tries its hand at a little of everything with impressive results.

8

Nick Smithson