Iceburn
Encyclopedia
Iceburn, known later as the Iceburn Collective, was a musical group formed in 1991 in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

, U.S.A., by guitarist/vocalist/composer Gentry Densley
Gentry Densley
Gentry Densely is an American singer, guitarist and composer. A longtime fixture on Salt Lake City, Utah's punk, metal and experimental music scenes, Densely has been involved in numerous bands but is best-known for leading the groups Iceburn, Ascend and Eagle Twin...

, the sole constant member through multiple personnel changes. They were known for their unique style that combined elements of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, and classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

. Releasing albums on Revelation Records
Revelation Records
Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for its role in the evolution of hardcore and metallic post-hardcore with important releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side,...

 and Victory Records
Victory Records
Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....

, Iceburn achieved little mainstream attention, but earned critical praise for their unusual music.

Band history

Their early output could be classified as jazzcore, blending the speed and energy of hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 and metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 with the intricacy of jazz and progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

. For their first few years and albums, Iceburn were, for the most part, a classic "power trio
Power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...

" of guitar, bass guitar and drums.

Around 1996, with the release of Meditavolutions, a 70-minute continuous piece in the form of a musical palindrome
Palindrome
A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction, with general allowances for adjustments to punctuation and word dividers....

, the band began to go by the name the Iceburn Collective, to reflect the dynamic nature of the group's membership. Critic Piero Scaruffi described the pieces on Meditavolutions as "their most [...] accomplished works," while critic Bret Love writes of the album, "the eclectic sound of this Utah-based septet flows so seamlessly that it may take a few songs before you realize you've never heard anything quite like it."

The band gradually introduced more and more improvisation. By the time they disbanded in about 2000, Iceburn was a completely improvised avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...

 unit, featuring saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 and other woodwind instrument
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...

s.

Densley went on to participate in Ascend
Ascend (band)
Ascend is an American experimental doom metal collaboration between singer/guitarist Gentry Densley and Greg Anderson . Their album Ample Fire Within was released by Southern Lord Records and featured a guest appearance by Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil...

, a collaboration with Greg Anderson
Greg Anderson (musician)
Greg Anderson is an American musician and co-founder of Southern Lord Records.Anderson is the guitarist in the doom/stoner metal outfit Goatsnake, but is also well known for his collaborations with Stephen O'Malley....

.

Albums

  • Firon (1992), Victory Records
    Victory Records
    Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....

  • Hephaestus (1993), Revelation Records
    Revelation Records
    Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for its role in the evolution of hardcore and metallic post-hardcore with important releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side,...

  • Iceburn/Engine Kid split cd/12" (1994), Revelation Records
  • Poetry of Fire (1994), Revelation Records
  • Meditavolutions (1996), Revelation Records
  • Polar Bear Suite (1997), Iceburn Records/Revelation Records
  • Power of the Lion (1998), Iceburn Records/Revelation Records (Reissued on vinyl by Southern Lord in 2009)
  • Speed of Light Voice of Thunder (1999), Iceburn Records
  • Land of Wind and Ghosts (2000), Mountain Collective Records MTN-CIA

Singles

  • Burn b/w Fall, Victory Records
    Victory Records
    Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....

  • Moon b/w Brew #9, Art Monk Construction
    Art Monk Construction
    Art Monk Construction was founded by Eric Astor and Garrett Rothman in State College, Pennsylvania in 1993. When Rothman left State College to study abroad, Astor was joined in managing the label by Rich Kraemer, a childhood friend from Tempe, Arizona, and the two additionally formed Lumberjack...

  • Leos 12", Lion Head
  • Odin's Beard 10" split with Zu
    Zu (band)
    - Biography :Hailing from Ostia, a town near Rome, Zu are an atypical trio made of drums, electric bass, baritone saxophone and electronics. Formed in Rome in 1997, they began as composers and players for theatre performances. The band is composed of three members: Luca Mai on baritone saxophone,...

    (2006), Wallace Records (Italy)
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