Back in November, when I reviewed Chicago-based Icos’s debut
\nrelease
\nIncurable Contact<\/i>, I predicted that they were destined for
\ngreatness if the right powers only gave them a chance.<\/p>\n
With their second release
\nAt The Speed Of Life<\/i>, Danny McGuinness and crew come that
\nmuch closer to making my prophesy for them a reality – but in a
\nsense, I wish they hadn’t tried to create their own
\nSargeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/i> this early in
\ntheir career.<\/p>\n
Their first disc with bassist Gordon Patriarca, Icos shows how
\nmuch they need his style and technique in the band. (No slam meant
\nagainst former bassist Jon Adler.) Gone are the few remnants of
\nfunk that could be found on
\nIncurable Contact<\/i>, and in their place are songs with solid
\ndevelopment, both in rhythm and in riff. The title track lays out a
\ngroove that will give you a solid kick in the ass. Lead guitarist
\nScott Bond and drummer Kyle Woodring play a major role in creating
\nthis, as do McGuinness and Patriarca. McGuinness’s vocals sound
\nmore relaxed than they did on the first album; he seems to have
\nsettled into his role as Icos’s front man comfortably.<\/p>\n
The whole first half of
\nAt The Speed Of Life<\/i> could be seen as one album in and of
\nitself. From the all-out rock of “Machine” to the groove-based
\n“Down,” Icos shows in these six songs they learned their lessons on<\/p>\n
Incurable Contact<\/i>, and know what pitfalls to avoid. (I was
\nfortunate enough to be sent a rough mix of two of the songs; I
\ncalled Dave Trandell, who sent me the disc, and said, “Tell me that
\n‘Down’ is the leadoff single!” Well, Dave, I don’t know if I could
\nmake up my mind as to which one it should be; these six songs are
\nall<\/i> so good!)<\/p>\n
The second half of
\nAt The Speed Of Life<\/i> is where many more chances are taken.
\nSome work, some don’t. Maybe it was the spirit of being in the
\nlegendary Abbey Road Studios that inspired them, maybe Icos wanted
\nto knock down barriers between rock and pop that people had set up.
\nWhatever the case, this is the most challenging part of the album
\nto listen to, and is, all in all, rewarding.<\/p>\n
The rich instrumentation, complete with orchestral strings on
\n“On The Way” adds a special texture that Icos itself could not have
\ncreated, and it does make the song special. However, following it
\nup with another slower number like “Backwards” doesn’t carry the
\none-two punch like the band would have hoped. Likewise, “Rhythm
\nSong” is ambitious and should be commended for being so, but the
\nballoon just doesn’t get off the ground.<\/p>\n
However, keeping in the slower, more powerful song vein like
\n“Cities” off
\nIncurable Contact<\/i>, Icos uses slower, richer numbers to their
\nbenefit on cuts like “Jealous Prayer” and “Enough Words”. While
\nthey might be hard-pressed to find a home on the radio, fans of the
\nband should enjoy this musical growth that Icos has experienced in
\nless than one year.<\/p>\n
The album’s closer, “I Am,” is akin to the Beatles working sitar
\ninto their songs, only this time it’s Patriarca playing a
\nmandocello as the main instrumentation. It’s a definite experiment
\nthat’s meant to be taken at face value, and is intriguing to listen
\nto.<\/p>\n
Some people may see some of the richer instrumentation as
\npompous; I prefer to look at it as serious musical growth for Icos.
\nIt takes guts to move away from a standard formula that you know
\nworks and try to better yourself as a musician and a songwriter. In
\nthis case, it was a gamble worth taking.<\/p>\n
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Icos is a band that,
\ngiven the right breaks, will be a huge name in the field of rock
\nand roll. On
\nAt The Speed Of Life<\/i>, Icos demonstrates that the rock world
\nmight not be big enough for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5881],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39199","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-icos","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39199"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39199"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}