''Ironiclast'' is the debut album by American heavy metal supergroup

The Damned Things The Damned Things is an American rock supergroup consisting of Fall Out Boy's Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley, Anthrax's Scott Ian, Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley, and Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano. The band's name is inspired by the lyrics in Ra ...

. The album was released on December 14, 2010 internationally and a day later in North America. The supergroup includes

Joe Trohman Joseph Mark Trohman (born September 1, 1984) is an American musician, singer, and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the American rock band Fall Out Boy,Joe Bosso.The Fall Guy. ''Guitar World''. Janua ...

and

Andy Hurley Andrew John Hurley (born May 31, 1980) is an American musician. He is the drummer for the rock band Fall Out Boy. Prior to Fall Out Boy, Hurley played in several hardcore punk bands. He joined Fall Out Boy as the full-time drummer in 2003 and ...

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hur ...

, Scott Ian and

Rob Caggiano Robert Caggiano (born November 7, 1976) is an American guitarist and record producer. Since 2013, Caggiano has been the lead guitarist of the rock band Volbeat. He had formerly been guitarist of thrash metal band Anthrax and nu metal band Boile ...

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The s ...

and

Keith Buckley Keith Buckley (born November 19, 1979) is an American singer, best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the now defunct hardcore punk band Every Time I Die and the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things. He is also a published author. Earl ...

and

Josh Newton Josh Newton (born June 8, 1973) is an American musician, perhaps best known for his tenure as the bassist in Every Time I Die. He is also the singer and guitarist of The Great Fire of Sixteen Sixty Six. Newton was a member of the following rock ...

Every Time I Die Every Time I Die was an American metalcore band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1998. For most of the band's career, the line-up was centred on brothers Keith (vocals) and Jordan Buckley (guitar), as well as rhythm guitarist Andy Williams wit ...

. Newton, however, was only a touring member of The Damned Things initially, and did not write or record anything for ''Ironiclast''. The album was self-produced by Caggiano and Trohman, and was released through

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

Promotion

On October 21, 2010, the band released the song "Friday Night (Going Down in Flames)" for free via their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

and Myspace pages. On October 25, 2010, the band released the first single from the album, "We've Got a Situation Here", on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

. Previously a demo of the song, along with the demo of the title track "Ironiclast", were released on the band's Myspace page on May 30, 2010. On December 1, 2010, a music video for the song "We've Got a Situation Here" premiered and was directed by

Brendon Small Brendon Small (born February 15, 1975) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, animator, writer, director, producer, and musician known for co-creating the animated series ''Home Movies'' (1999–2004, with Loren Bouchard) and '' Metalocalypse'' ...

. On December 6, 2010, the song "Handbook for the Recently Deceased" premiered for free streaming on GuitarWorld.com. On December 7, 2010, the song "Black Heart" premiered for free streaming on

Spin.com ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps) is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. History ...

Musical style

With this album, the band was aiming for a

heavy Heavy may refer to: Measures * Heavy (aeronautics), a term used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft capable of 300,000 lbs or more takeoff weight * Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight * Heavy, ...

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

-oriented,

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

-oriented sound, while trying to avoid the cliches associated with those styles and combining elements from their own bands. The result is a classic

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

sound combined with the heavier aspects of

and

and the hook-laden choruses of

. Guitarist

cited

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...

and

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...

as influences on the record.

Reception

Drew Beringer of

AbsolutePunk ''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to fea ...

gave a positive review of the album, saying that "it’s heavy,

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

-laden, and stuffed with huge riffs. It’s basically a modern take on the classic rock record" and that "this is just a straight up rock and roll takeover" with an overall rating of 92%.

Charts

''Ironiclast'' sold 6,200 copies in its first week, placing it at No. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Heatseekers Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is ra ...

chart for "new and developing artists". It sold 31,000 copies as of February 2013.Fall Out Boy's Reunion: Looking Back at the Hiatus, Side Projects & Rumors
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Track listing

Personnel

The Damned Things *

– lead vocals *

– lead guitar, bass, backing vocals, percussion * Scott Ian – rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

– lead guitar, backing vocals, percussion *

– drums Additional musicians * Stephanie Alexander – backing vocals * Tabitha Fair – backing vocals *

Nick Raskulinecz Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxvil ...

– percussion Artwork and design * The Damned Things – art direction, concept * Patrick Hegarty – art coordinator * Doug Joswick – package production * Mike Mitchell – art direction, concept * Kristen Yiengst – art coordinator Recording and production * Rob Caggiano –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

, producer * Ben Terry – mixing assistant * Tara Bryan – A&R * Evan Lipschutz – A&R * Jon Martinez – assistant engineer * Dave McNair – mastering * Claudius Mittendorfer – drum engineering * Nick Raskulinecz – mixing * Dante Renzi – drum technician * Bryan Russell – editing, engineer * Joe Trohman – producer * Teruhisa Uchiyama – assistant engineer

References

{{Authority control 2010 debut albums The Damned Things albums Mercury Records albums