Penance Soiree

Somehow manages to be both headache inducing and boring

Ick. I’d say forgettable but I remembered feeling pleased when the album ended.

why in the world is this on this list? totally dated. i'm sure NME claimed this band was Here to Save Rock and Roll at some point. spare me.

Noise, a lot of very similar noise. I liked maybe the one song but the album is very repetitive and discordant.

The album is just kind of a lot of noise. It sounds like any other garage rock / 2000's White Stripes copy. Unfortunately, this album doesn't bring anything new or interesting to the table. It's weird that anyone would put this on a list of quintessential albums.

Not good; this is what you'd hear on a network tv show when they need some "edgy" rock music, like in CSI when they go to a seedy club to question someone, or when a main character spins out

You got good noise (Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead, Unwound, Jesus Lizard, mclusky, Royal Trux, Swans etc etc) and you got bad noise made by copycat bands that have no sound on their own, like this band. It is just noise with a bit of garage rock, or the other way around.. it does not matter.

I did not expect to enjoy this as much, a seamless intersection of garage rock, alternative rock and post-hardcore with a garnish of noise.

Very noisy, but solid tunes in there somewhere too. Clear influence on royal blood and the white stripes, hints of the strokes, queens of the stone age, and plenty of grunge. Not one of the best 1001 albums, but an interesting one I would never otherwise have heard

I reviewed music for Buddyhead just before they signed The Icarus Line. (None of my online write-ups survived over the past 20 years, I looked). Travis was an intense dude and poured everything he had into Buddyhead. He rejected substantial offers to maintain legitimacy and be able to write whatever the hell he wanted to. He carved out and occupied a special space in the LA / Hollywood music scene. I listened to this Penance Soiree back when it was new. On a fleeting superficial level, I thought there was something to like contained in the album. For example, the way that the first song starts (Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers) is great, the distortion and long pauses open to heavy bass-y basics against a subdued tempo and decent vocals. Spike Island retains a little bit of this but as the album progresses, it sounds kind of like a self-absorbed Soundgarden / Chris Cornell revival. I hated Soundgarden and the album was forgettable. Reading up on TIL, I found out that Mark Trombino, of Drive Live Jehu (and a bunch of other productions) was set to produce an album, but dropped out for some reason. DLJs Yank Crime still stands as one of my favorite albums of all time and I listened to it again with new ears. And today, some of makes me think of The Dirty Nil, who I really like. They've got great energy and power, but even still, there's just not enough that is interesting to continue listening. Great memories, meh music.

Post-hardcore elevator music. 6.6/10

Slightly embarrassing rock ... when it went "fuckk youuuuu" at the end of one song in that cringe american rock singing style I think I actually lolled quite a lot. I did not find this engaging, it all just passed me by really with little impact

When this popped up, I’d never heard of The Icarus Line, no idea of genre, there was a clue with the record label, V2, that it would be guitar led, that was all I had to go on, so I just stuck it on and hoped for the best. After probably less than 10 seconds I had a very big smile on my face. This album totally blew me away. It was released in the raising children period of my life, so they got missed. OK, I did discover At The Drive In in this period, but this is on another level. That deep rumbling bass, the mangled guitar. The changes of pace and styles, that very random ode to Suicide with ‘Meatmaker’ I didn’t see that coming. I could hear hints of Jesus and Mary Chain with ‘Getting Bright at Night’ and also ‘Sea Sick’ with a hint of Loop in there too, leaning into some classic grunge, not to mention the obvious Stooges influences, some surprising influences for a band from California. Ironically when I read up about this album, and the band in general, I found out I’d seen Joe Cardamone live back in 2017, supporting Mark Lanegan, but unfortunately, I didn’t do my homework, and didn’t concentrate too hard on what I was listening to at the time, if I had then I would have had this band in my life a lot earlier. Also this was engineered and recorded in London by the legend Alan Moulder, who is responsible for many of my favourite albums of all time, I could see how he must have shaped their sound, and make it appealing especially for my ears. This album is a beauty (the follow up sounded brilliant too), it is one of those reasons why I am doing this challenge. Amongst the shite, there is a gem like this. It’s probably going to be a future top 50 all time great for me. I’m going to buy it today.

Goddamn, I was completely blown away by this! At the beginning of my first listen, I had to get a bit into it, but when 'On The Lash' came on, it was like the combination of brutality and catchiness clicked with me. On 'Spike Island' Joe Cardamone's desperate but lazy vocals is easily compared to fellow rock-revivor Julian Casablancas. And what an insanely great sound on the bass and guitar! The brutality seeps through the record - on the vicious 'Kiss Like Lizards' or on 'Getting Bright at Night' where an intense cacophony explodes into energetic riffs. On top of that you have innovative changes in dynamics on the post-punky 'Big Sleep' as well as a jazz-inspired polyrhythmic sequence on 'White Devil'. The record truly keeps you on your toes. Industrial of course also makes a guest appearance on 'Meatmaker' (a 00's fad that I am not a fan of), and psychedelia is given a whirl as well on 'Sea Sick' (this I approve of). But then... For some inexplicable reason, they decided to end the album with 'Party the Baby Off'. What an insufferable, empty-headed tune sounding like it belongs on an Aerosmith album - and not one of the tolerable ones. So much fun. So disappointed. What a rollercoaster.

The band is so loud, yet they make no real noise. The singer is doing so much, yet saying so little. There are so many notes, yet no actual melodies. So much effort for such little payoff. Complete anonymity. Example #36 of “why *must* I hear this before I die?” 2/5

Vocals are reminiscent of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed with jangly guitars. Songs feel at once modern and from another time. 4/5 stars

The filthy bass sound had me right From the start. I listened on iphone speakers, so the tinny vocals and guitar fuzz got a bit old by the end. It was also quite repetitive by the end. A good album though and will definitely be listening again soon

A fun noisy racket but not much more. When you think this came out 35 years after The Stooges, you'd think more evolution would have occurred.

Before today, I'd never heard of The Icarus Line. After listening to "Penance Soiree", that makes total sense. I can't recall ever hearing electric guitars sound so unpleasant. These guys may be skilled musicians, but their overindulgence on effects pedals is awful. It sounds like white noise. It's torturous. If you don't believe me, listen to "Spit On It". The one decent song on here is called "Getting Bright at Night". However, they decide to drag this track out for over 9 minutes. Fucking hell, lads, ever hear the phrase, "Don't outstay your welcome"? You can hear their musical influences throughout the album. There's hints of Soundgarden, The Jesus and Mary Chain, NIN, Violent Femmes, and Iggy Pop. So these lads clearly have great taste in music. The problem is, they don't have the creativity to produce that same level of magic. There's nothing catchy or interesting or enjoyable on this album. Give it a miss. 👎👎

Scary album cover. I felt like I was so dialed in to music (maybe just to emo!) back in 2004, when this album came out, but I've never heard of this band as far as I can remember. And I hope to never remember them, either.

An actually good album with couple great songs, like "Getting Bright at Night" and "Big Sleep". Interesting style, a bit watered down hardcore with a pleasant sounding vocalist. I like their sound, there are few really good riffs hidden on the tracks. Pretty good atmosphere of the record as well. Ah, why not, 5 stars, it's been a long time since I was so positively surprised.

So this is my 1001st album. Although there was never really a time that I seriously considered quitting this list it’s still somewhat mind blowing to actually be at the 1001st album. There’s still about 80 albums left so I’ll save all the reminiscing and reflecting and highlighting for the real end but even now I’m starting to get that bittersweet, college graduation feeling about something that’s been a part of my life for years coming to an end. As for the actual album, the more I listened to it, the more I enjoyed it. Thought it was going to be annoying nu metal at first but it turned out to be a really fun mish mash of rock subgenres. Rage against the machine and the whole grunge movement were the biggest influences but I also got early 00s alternative vibes. Big sleep, virgin Velcro, and party the baby off were all standouts but none of the tracks really stood above the rest; was more of a full album experience type thing.

This felt like 3 different bands put into one I kind of liked it

OK, there is a lot of noise on this album, but flashes of brilliance too. If it was consistently brilliant I would have given it five stars, but although I was in no hurry for the music to come to an end, there were some tracks that just weren't melodic enough for my liking - so four stars it is.

Most of the reviews for this album have been quite negative. The masses are wrong this time. I enjoyed it. Quite solid. Not perfect but this one surprised me in a good way.

Usually I don't like the "noisy" type grunge, but this was a good balance, and I enjoyed it.

Good noise rock with some awesome guitar work, and solid vocals. I would probably prefer some more melody in places, but enjoyed nonetheless.

Caviar is probably my favorite song so far. Crusty garage mix infused with a grunge spirit and some proggy aspects. Really enjoying Getting Bright At Night -- will absolutely be going through this album again for a relisten. I have never heard of The Icarus Line before, and based on Spotify listens I am in the majority (most tracks sit somewhere in the low 10k). Sure the compositions here don't hold much mainstream radio appeal, but I am surprised their exposure is so low. I found this to be a highly enjoyable record. Definitely rough around the edges, but in that imperfectly perfect sort of way -- like an old stained and torn flannel. Understand that distorted as hell vocals and otherwise mixing might not be for everyone and some songs (such as Spit On It) might come across as audio assault, but I honestly enjoyed it -- very punk.

this was actually dope, I liked the energy and the tone of vocals. reminded me of a more melodic dfa 1979

4.5. Really blew me away. Wasn't expecting much but this album was great

Really enjoyed it, didn't expect some of trumpet and piano riffs

Thrashy but good, very heavy and angry bass in each song

I WANTED to like this a lot. It's some really groovy bottled napalm. But it's just a little too edgy for me. Several times I thought a track was going to be a big highlight, but by the time it reached its full crescendo it just wasn't enjoyable any more. I actually suspect this is a problem exacerbated on the first-impression. If I knew where each song was going I think I wouldn't find it as annoying..... but Oh well! on to the next day!

...

What a cool find. I really enjoyed this album from start to finish. The band is tight and the songs work really well together. “Getting Bright At Night” was the highlight for me.

Vokal som Manson, Chris coenell, og Elias Rønnefeld, og en stemning som Rock Hard Power Spray, måske noget QOTSA, og Resedents i slutningen af albummet. En samlet bolion terning af musik som jeg er vokset op med da jeg blev gammel nok til at få min egen musiksmag. Fedt at finde lidt guld på listen igen!

Jack White’s low-fi skramlede Garage lyd, spillet med en Hardcore Punk attitude.

LOVED

Love the pixies. classic punk and rock and from my home town. they have a roughness that's hard to emulate since any attempts at imitation become your own voice.

Excellent album

That was a refreshing experience. I never heard of this band but the record is really good. A little bit of Noise Rock and some Post Hardcore are exatctly what I need.

I am loving this album. It’s noisy but precise. It reminds me of a lot of early 2000s rock such as The Stroke and QOTSA, but it’s consistently better throughout than the albums I’ve heard from those bands. Crazy these guys only have 1,700 monthly listeners o ln Spotify at this point (many of them people from this project no doubt), but considering they don’t exist anymore there’s no reason for any promotion.

Never heard of them before but I loved this album!

Penance Soiree is an album that should have fell flat on it's face but somehow, it manages to be so amazing. I wasn't having high hopes about this album considering that it was listed as a noise rock album so i was expecting the most annoying thing ever but i did not get that. Instead, what i got was fast and frenetic album with some great melodies and some insane guitar work. The trumpets in some of the tracks did add quite a lot to them as well as they gave the album a pretty bluesy vibe. Granted, Meatmaker does do the annoying thing with it's instruments getting loud at certain intervals and the lyrics can be incredibly juvenile at points but none of these issues were enough to make me score this album any lower than 5 stars. Best Song: White Devil Worst Song: Meatmaker

Great

Ihana albumi aijaijai vitutti kiiressä pyörällä junaan mutta plääni cois totas lekurille 1v kroonista limaa sieltä heh keuhk 1v...

5/5 - fun album

Hell yeah, this is sick! It sucks so bad about the label issues because I never heard of this (presumably due to that) and I love it. I would've 100% been a huge fan of this album when it dropped. Regardless, I'm glad to have found it now at least. Noisy garage rock is my jam.

великолепно

When I saw this genre was "post-hardcore" I was pretty sure this wouldn't be for me. To my surprise I really love it! Edgy and cool in all the right ways, I didn't realize that I had room for a new post-hardcore band in my life. This is great rock and roll! The 1001 list disabuses me of yet another preconceived notion.

loved!

This is exactly why I’m doing this list. So happy to discover this kickass record.

First album in over 740 that I haven't been able to find any where. A pretty incredible feat all things considered. The fact that I've had immediate access to almost 750 albums spanning all the way back to the 1950s in my pocket is something we take way for granted. Undertaking a project like this even 15 years ago would have been a very different experience. For all it's short comings, Spotify is the one of the most important advancements in consumerism we've ever experienced

4.5/5. Right up my mf alley. Bruh it’s got NiN AND Ink + Dagger members. Post hardcore rules

Very cool noise rock. Worth a listen.

fun distortion. good energy.

Not sure how I’ve never heard of these guys until now. Awesome grimy rock.

Well, I definitely don’t think this album deserves to be on a top albums list, but aside from that, I thought it was a pretty decent early 2000s post-punk, and noise rock album. You can definitely hear influences from bands like Sonic Youth and maybe even The Jesus Lizard, but they also really reminded me a lot of Death From Above 1979, especially since they were part of the same era. One element this album had that stood out was a glam side, which I thought was pretty cool and actually even made me think of The Stooges at times.

This was cool, something I’ve never heard before and kind of the goal of this journey. Kind of a mix of audioslave and queens of the Stone Age and something else. The bass is real crunchy, distorted bass isn’t something you hear all the time. Pretty good stuff.

Pretty good stuff. I liked it

Unexpected hit for me, really enjoyed this more than I realized by the end of it.

it's not that there's no post-hardcore on this list, but what there is is a strange bunch. a lot of genre classics and staples ignored in favor of... this? either way it was a nice find. i like noisy, i like raw, i like punk. it is kind of bogged down by the garage rock revival qualities but there's enough noise to make it a more pleasant listen than anything The White Stripes ever did. not essential though deserves to be one of the 1001? it's not bad at all but no. not important enough. sorry :(

Fast loud and outtacontrol

I mean, I get it…I really like The Stooges, too.

This album is a little all over the place! Some garage rock, some Soundgarden-ish, some post-hardcore, some noise. I like them best doing post hardcore, as in tracks 6 and 7. The opening two tracks are also quite good. But all in all, it’s not an album I’ll be visiting frequently, if at all

Liked it a lot and went digging deeper. But not a classic.

This has aged very well for the 2004 Hot Topic scene.

Another band where I can't tell which is the album name and which is the artist. Doesn't really matter; this wasn't that interesting. They played some music and screamed for a while. I think they were upset about something.

Penance Soiree Never heard of this or The Icarus Line before. Resisted looking them up, and wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the cover or band name. Maybe something Metal or some generic American Alt Rock? Up Against The Wall Motherfucker - kind Alt Rock riffing with a garage punkishness and a bit of RHCP or RATM bass groove. It does sound quite early 2000s-ish and its fine I suppose. Spit on it is less successful and is thankfully pretty brief. On the Lash, has a bit of BRMC to it, but not as good and without the more ominous feel of their songs. Annnnd….I can’t be bothered to go through the rest of it. It’s fine for what it is as some noisy garage rock, but it’s also quite tedious, with very little of interest to differentiate it from anyone else. There were many more better bands with better melodies and better ideas at that time, so why would you choose to listen to this? Listening twice through is enough. Not wretched, just boring. 2 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Playlist submission: Up Against The Wall Motherfucker

This is adjacent to music I quite like - Hot Snakes and Bitch Magnet examples in mind - but remain ambivalent about as a concept. This kind of twisty, angular, declarative rock mostly eschews tunes while staying clear of pure timbre, freeform wanderings, so needs killer riffs and dynamics to work for me. My conception of the form is of records composed almost entirely of the instrumental, interstitial/linking bits of Led Zep records. Maybe some Black Sab intros and outros are in the mix too, or ZZ Top if you’re Shellac. Thé riffs and dynamics on this are just workmanlike, while the record is far too long and the singing starts sounding more yap-yap-yap than manifesto-making as it goes on: the creepiness of the final repeated lines feel like an inevitability. The songs containing Suicide-esque synth pulses pleased my ears, but are more like postures of allegiance than musical decisions.

Nr. 34/1001 Up Against The Wall Motherfucker 3/5 Spit On It 2/5 On The Lash 2/5 Caviar 2/5 Spike Island 2/5 Kiss Like Lizards 1/5 Getting Bright At Night 2/5 Big Sleep 2/5 White Devil 2/5 Meatmaker 1/5 Virgin Velcro 2/5 Sea Sick 2/5 Party The Baby Off 2/5 Average: 1,92 Plain, boring and repetitve

Probably takes the cake for the most obscure artist on this list. Never heard of em and looks like very few other people have as well. Music was too noisy for me. 4/10

Listening to it is - quote - "That's the last thing I want to do" I seriously don't need to hear it before I die. There're tons of bands like this.

Mediocre noise rock.The most obscure so far.I don’t understand why it’s on the list.

It just feels loud and brash for the sake of being loud and brash. It lacks spirit or soul, or an intelligent spark, behind the chaos. The internet tells me they are post-hardcore. Though it seems that genre is pretty broad. And filled with bands I like better. (And some I don't.) Naming themselves The Icarus Line feels like it wound up being ironic. Maybe they were worried about flying too close to the sun, but in truth they never really approached that line, stalling out on their journey to rock fame and the bright lights. (https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/the-icarus-line-must-die-shows-the-dark-purgatory-of-a-cult-rock-band-that-never-gave-up/)

Messy, sprawling, meandering. There's a good album in here somewhere but it's buried underneath a band that feels like it's not sure what it's trying to be.

Better than I expected but not as good as it could have been.

Felt really repetitive.

I absolutely hated this, can I do a negative number?

I also once dropped all the pots and pans in my kitchen and called it "music" Seriously, this was awful

Heavy metal vibe / bad lyrics. Not a fan

The best part was when it ended.

Feels like they had aspirations of Sonic Youth, The Jesus and the Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine without the compelling hooks or song arrangements. Just endless amounts of feedback noise masturbation with little to no differentiation between songs. Lyrics don't matter, as you can't possible discern what is said without reading them, so who cares? Perhaps one of the most pointless albums I have ever heard. Favorite "songs": none Definitely does not belong on this list. Just keeps proving my hunch that the Naughties were the worst decade of popular music ever.

I always felt that this was the music the 2 kids from High Fidelity created. I like it, but it’s incredibly niche.

Enjoyed this quite a lot, never heard of them before

A bit typical of the time and more screechy than I tend to prefer.

Bloody good noise rock with some absolute belters!

I liked this album, so much. It is fresh and has many good songs. I didn't expect to find things like that on this list, but I'm glad there are. It was hard to find the album, though.

4/5

Listened Before? N Well, this is telling something about my musical tastes but I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this album. Raw and brutal. Reminds me of early Nirvana. Absolutely killer. Added to Library? Y Songs added to playlist: Kiss Like Lizards

Pretty good, a but samey but overall great sound

Black Rebel Motorcycle Drive-In? Tempted to say a low 4. Could have been shorter.

Solid sound, if a bit disjointed. It did feel overall cohesive. Not a bad listen!

super fun and heavy, diverse too!

This is a weird one. Maybe I just need to buy the book to see if the editors announce their motivations adding an album to the list. But this album, while acclaimed at the time, doesn't appear to have been wildly influential. The band, who sound like they were mostly a regional act with stints opening for bigger bands on tour, has largely been forgotten (1,995 monthly listeners on Spotify). Not saying there shouldn't be some underground stuff on the list but I'm always left wondering "why *this* one?" Anyway, all that said, I enjoyed the album. 3.5 rounding up.

2004 Never heard of this, but it's a banger... Full of filthy bass and definitely purchase material. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ twice Revisit ✅️ Very, very good ★★★★☆ (8/10)

Fist listen. No problem with this, none at all.

I don' understand the hate.

I wasn't feeling this at first, but by minute 35 I began to understand the vibe of this album. Still not my thing, but not bad.

Gefällt mir. Ao in die Richtung White Stripes/Black Keys