EP Review: Frank Iero And The Future Violence - 'Heaven Is A Place, This Is A Place'
Heaven is a Place, This is a Place, serves as a companion piece to Frank Iero and the Future Violents’ 2019 record, Barriers. For those who somehow missed it, Barriers was a gloriously noisy punk record that Frank and co. cut with Steve Albini. Most of Heaven.. was tracked in those sessions with Albini but the mix was handled by a different Steve, Steve Evetts. Evetts imparts a little more sheen onto the tracks which polishes the raw production underneath nicely.
The opener Violence kicks straight away with a fierce bit of riffing. A fine opening track that works the loud/quiet dynamic well. Sewer Wolf follows, lurching and noticeably darker. Where Violence’s riff’s touch on sludgy, Sewer Wolf dives right into the sludge (quite apt considering it’s name). Iero delivers heaps of personality on the track's vocals as he always does. It’s one of the heavier songs we’ve had from Iero and co. in a while and they’re still doing heavy well.
The third track is a cover of REM’s Losing My Religion which has been long in the making, starting years ago as a voice memo with then future-Future Violents member Kayleigh Goldsworthy. The arrangement is simple because it can be, the mandolin and vocals from Iero and Goldsworthy are the true stars. It’s a truly hypnotic little cover that spins the song in it’s own little way.
We aptly end on Record Ender. I’m a great fan of 24K Lush which was the closing track of Barriers but this track gives it a run for its money. The squirmy, chiming intro lead, the big chords in the chorus, the quiet and reflective verses. It’s a long one but it earns that length with it’s ebb and flow, the huge sense of release at each chorus.
Heaven is a Place, This is a Place is certainly worth your time. It brings more material from a particularly creative time for Iero and co. as well as a little extra with it’s REM cover. If you enjoyed Barriers then this is a no brainer, check it out. If you somehow haven’t heard Iero’s post MCR output then this is as good a place as any to start.
Words by Nathan Blackstone