Iowaska - Vine of Souls
I hardly even know where to start with this excellent album, except to say that for some strange reason they put maybe the least-great track first… Okay, now let’s get to it: the singer/guitarist, Sam, used to be in the seminal Crust band Amebix! However, her vocals, along with the music, are drastically more far ranging than you might think. Musically Iowaska seems to be almost boundless, effortlessly moving from Punky Metal to seemingly Bad Brains inspired Reggae-Hardcore (“Woman”), to Crust (“Big Deal Get Real” - althought it is somewhat lightweight by today’s standards). And Sam has no problem matching her enchanting voice to the music, no matter should she need brutality or sensitivity. Okay, she also has a hot English accent, plus she could probably kick your ass. I like that.
(6) Comment(s)
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OnlyInDeath said:
You sure she used to be in Amebix? Must have played synth on one of the albums.
admin said:
I reviewed this 11 years ago (that was a quick decade…), so I had to check the band’s page on the Alternative Tentacles website:
http://www.alternativetentacles.com/bandinfo.php?band=iowaska
The bio lists her as having sung on Amebix‘s No Sanctuary EP, but I just listened to it again for the first time in untold years, and… either she’s buried somewhere in the background or that is another in a long list of bios and press releases that are totally full of shit.
OnlyInDeath said:
After posting that I did some googlin’ and saw that on the AT site too. I’m a huge fan of No Sanctuary and I have no fucking clue where she’s supposed to be either.
In the “Risen” documentary, Stig (guitar player) is hanging out with some crusty-type chick during his interview, maybe “lending vocals to” is AT-speak for “guitar player’s old lady”.
admin said:
OnlyInDeath: Thanks for pointing this out. I feel kind of stupid that I didn’t check into it a little more thoroughly at the time of the review. That’s what I get for ever taking a press release seriously!
el baroni said:
No.
Sam did not ‘play’ or ‘sing’ on No Sanctuary.she provided the pig like scream at the beginning of the track Battery Humans.Amebix has had a few colourful characters over the years,but she was not amongst them.
admin said:
Mystery solved!
Thank you, el baroni.
I have learned, over the years, to not believe anything in a press release, and this is a good example why.
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