Icarus Line songs are like the louts you'd least like to share a cramped restroom with. They're loud, sloppy and willing to take you out in order to high-tail it back to the bar to try more pickup lines. Not coolly detached or political like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Icarus Line could still tour with that group and audiences probably wouldn't mind. That's because this Los Angeles band believes that one ugly guitar part deserves another, and another, and maybe one more. Singer Joe Cardamone might also be the closest thing to a combination of Jason Pierce and Chris Cornell ("Kiss Like Lizards" shows the influence of Soundgarden's Superunknown) that rock has seen. Even when Cardamone comes out alone on Penance Soiree, leather jacket slung over his shoulder, you know those hissing axes are just around the corner, waiting to strike. He's the kind of guy whose apologies to one jilted lover aren't quite out of his mouth before he's slipping Rohypnol into another's beer. In other words, the perfect host for the bare-knuckled, lawless ride that this record undeniably is.
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