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The IRON BOOTS Complete Discography LP is a 20 song collection containing every recording the band had released. For the uninitiated, IRON BOOTS hailed from in Virginia Beach, VA and were most active from 2004-2006 before playing their final show in Richmond in 2008. With their hi-impact, fuck-your-attitude delivery and NYHC influenced songwriting (open your eyes, they sounded exactly like WARZONE, and wore that label proudly), the Boots were one of few contemporary hardcore bands that were able to take influence from classic hardcore punk and successfully make it their own. In their short career, Iron Boots managed to churn out an impressive catalog - an eight song demo, two 7" EPs, and two tracks for a Revelation Records compilation - all of which are featured on this release, remastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory. The release also features brand new cover art by Spoiler and includes both a printed inner sleeve and giant 24x24 inch double sided lyric sheet / poster. Iron Boots took pride in maintaining a classic "If it ain't broke don't fix it" approach to hardcore in both songwriting and aesthetic. The end result being, as proven on this reissue, a timeless recorded and visual output that still maintains a fresh and vital feel more than a decade later.
Our take: Man, this discography release really takes me back! I don't know how many times I listened to that first Iron Boots 7", but it had to have been a lot because I still know these words and riffs how many years later? It's funny, when Iron Boots came out I was so deeply involved in the whole retro 80s hardcore scene centered around No Way Records and Direct Control / Government Warning that I almost felt a little bit embarrassed to like this band as much as I did. I mean, at that point everyone wanted to sound like Negative Approach, Pick Your King, and maybe Articles of Faith or Mecht Mensch, but Iron Boots' fascination with Warzone was obvious from moment #1. I think that was a turn-off for a lot of people who were living and breathing early US hardcore at that time, but I'm a little bit older and spent the mid-to-late 90s listening to straight edge hardcore like everyone else, so I definitely have more than a little soft spot for Don't Forget the Struggle, Don't Forget the Streets, and Iron Boots pretty much take everything that is great about that record and update it for the mid-00s hardcore scene. Further, if the singer didn't sound so much like Raybeez I think it would be just as valid to compare them to the Abused or the Mob as Warzone. Anyway, I should probably stop talking about Warzone so much, because Iron Boots are more than a tribute act... after all, they probably wouldn't warrant a discography LP if they weren't, right? Long story short, if you like the more metallic end of late 80s NYHC including the aforementioned bands as well as Sick of It All, Beyond, and the like you need to own this band's output, because they did it better than pretty much anyone else I've heard. This is as powerful, well-played, and memorable as this style gets and I have a feeling people will still be repping this band for a long time to come.