The Damned Things - Ironiclast

I glance over and this kid is taking huge strides while oddly holding his hands in the air. He is moshing in slow motion. Really slow motion, even making a slow motion-y type deep voice sound. "Who is this kid?" I ask to my friend who dragged me along to this hardcore show freshman year of college. "That's keith buckley" he responded.
Keith buckley, the frontman of The Dammed Things, started as a member of buffalo's madmen, Every Time I Die. After years of touring, he slow moshed his way into the attention of Joe Troghman from falloutboy and Scott Ian from Anthrax. With the addition of a few additional members, The Dammed Things have created an album far beyond my expectations.
With equal parts falloutboy bubble gum melody, Anthrax's power, and Every Time I Die's irony, they have created one of the best hard rock records of 2010.
After a year of let downs in the music industry, Ironiclast was a suprising finale to an otherwise weak music year.
On this record, if you are looking for a standout track, just hit random or shuffle and you'll find one.
Keith has come a long way from that hardcore show, and has slow moshed his way into a permanent spot in my cd player.

grade: A

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Many concerts and shows later, we're still friends.

Want proof of our music-induced-friendship? Here are some pics from over the years:

The good old days of Achilles park lodge shows. Rob playing guitar on the left, Todd singing along with Rory in the front.


At Darien Lake, in preparation for KISS. I honestly wish that this was a forum to show you all hilarious pictures from over the years, because there are so many more great ones.


Pearl Jam show 1. First row, directly in front of Mike McCready. We're kinda excited.


Pearl Jam show 2. The 2nd to last show ever at the Philadelphia Spectrum. Second row this time... Maybe we snuck into the front row.
The lady we asked to take our picture failed to get the HUGE sign on the arena advertising the show.

Two friends, first brought together by music.

We first met at a Standfast show in Geneseo. Soon after, we were unknowingly both thrusting ourselves into the insanity of the one year masters of Art Education program at RIT. We quickly bonded over our passion for music.

Rob: hardcore, metal, and KISS. Todd was always a bit more mellow... and Pearl Jam. We've both shared our passions and continue to widen each others musical pallets over the years.

We've talked about making a music review zine for a long time... We always discuss new releases and share our opinions with each other. And we both love making things... whether paintings, tshirts, mix CDs, stickers, or our own musical projects. Finally, we're making the zine happen... in digital form.

We hope that you enjoy reading what we have to say... and please add your opinions of our reviews and of the music that we choose.