IRON CLAW - DISMORPHOPHOBIA (1971)

Lots of people toss around the term "proto-metal" these days, with varying degrees of accuracy. But the Scottish teenagers in Iron Claw were just that, a bunch of rowdy, nasty proto-Hessians as vital to the evolution of their species as the ape that graces the cover of their album. Their bell-bottoms were primordial sweatpants, their corduroy jackets the sleeveless Morbid Angel T-shirts of their time. One exposure to the buzzsaw guitar tone, dirtbag swagger, and hedonistic imagery on Dismorphophobia will confirm it.
These punters definitely had their hearts in the right place, and their unbridled enthusiasm and love for all things Sabbath are readily apparent, even through a thick layer of shoddy production. Long story short, Iron Claw represents everything good and ass-kicking in music, and their youthful aggression is a testament to the unifying powers thereof. Hell, they put it best on their own Myspace page:

"They Say We're a Hard Band, och, it makes you sick, UP YOURS SLAPHEADS, thats wah I say.
Just coz we're a heavy duty outfit from north-o-the-border they reckon we're a bunch of lousy mushers or something. OK, so we've wrecked a few places and our pisspot record company dropped us after our drummer shat on their nice wee marble table but och, c'mon, he'd bin strung oot, puking his brains up on Jack Daniels all week,
anyhoo the bastards only fourteen so wah d'ye expect?"

Amen.

To my understanding, the first 9 tracks on Dismorphophobia were recorded in 1970 and '71, with the final track, "Winter", going to tape in '73. These recordings saw VERY limited release, but were re-issued sometime in the last decade or so. The re-issue itself is now out of print and impossible to find as well. Lucky you.

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Iron Claw on Last.FM