Music Review: Iceage prove their worth on sophomore CD

Iceage, "You're Nothing" (Matador Records)

The second album from the four Danish lads known as Iceage is an even more caustic slab of brooding punk than their blindsiding first record. "You're Nothing" rails against excess, manufactured pressure and the general decimation of morality.

Alternating between urgent calls to act ("Coalition") and a bruised motivation ("Wounded Hearts"), these songs devolve and instruments claw for space, fueling the unbridled frenzy. On the raging "Burning Hand," Elias Bender Ronnenfelt loses his throat asking pointed rhetorical questions with such aplomb. It's like he's in on a good joke. The chorus of "Rodfaestet" - sung in their native tongue - is as close as they get to sing-along territory.

A few moments jump out: The immediate pummel of the percussion that opens "It Might Hit First," the reflective intervals ("In Haze") reminiscent of debut standout "Remember" and the unhinged repeating of the title that closes out the album.

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