“…In an upcoming feature, I’ll dive deep into my latest encounter with Iress at Resident LA. But for now, let’s keep the suspense alive. A sneak peek into my thoughts? Michelle Malley of Iress is, without a doubt, dominating my list of top female rock vocalists at the moment. If you haven’t given them a listen, now’s the time.

And, for a visual treat, tap on the accompanying photo above for a curated photo gallery and some gripping video snippets…”

It’s taken me a few days to truly process what I witnessed last Thursday night at The Resident in Los Angeles and I’m still a bit at a loss of words to properly describe it. The other night, I ventured out to finally go see Iress live and it was everything I’d hoped for and more. As the lights dimmed, the sold out crowd roared as Iress took the stage. From the first note till the last of their set, I was completely hypnotized. Musically, the band moves from shoegaze, doom, slowcore and rock in such a seamless way that it all feels cinematic in how it plays out. Bassist Michael Maldonado has a menacing tone that as the songs play, you become connected to them even more as each note hits your heartbeat. Drummer Glenn Chu propels the beat even more with his precision drumming and guitarist Graham Walker adds a delicate/brightness to the songs. Then you add in the vocals of Michelle Malley, which are quite powerful and absolutely beautiful. When you put all of these elements together you truly get one hell of a tour de force. Iress’s set covered songs from their debut Prey, to their latest EP, Solace. Songs like “Blush,” “Ricochet,” “Shamed” and “Wolves” were beyond stunning live. I’m not kidding when I say that I was hypnotized watching and listening. The raw and gut wrenching power being delivered song after song was seductive and astounding. The chills I got from listening and watching, I haven’t felt that at a show in quite some time. When you listen to and or see Iress, not only do you get a band that is truly passionate about what they do but, you can truly believe it all through the journey of love, loss, pain, anguish and more. Being able to weave intricate webs of heaviness with ambience is no easy feat but, when you see Iress live it all comes to life in a hypnotic way that will leave you breathless. I can’t wait for the next time I can see Iress live. They are without a doubt one of the top 5 bands in all of the greater Los Angeles area. Do yourself a favor, go listen to Iress and see them live!

Iress’ music falls into the space where slowcore bleeds into doom metal. On their latest EP, SOLACE, they pull from both extremes like never before. The cumulative effect is a sound not terribly far off from Midwife’s recent work, a blanket of riffs that manage to sound both sludgy and wispy at once. “Blush” opens the EP on a heavy note, never once letting up despite the way Michelle Malley’s croons cut through and allow the song to retain a strong sense of melody; ender “Soft” pulls in the other direction, leaning into smoky dream pop, the only song on SOLACE that never erupts. For five minutes Malley’s impressionistic lyrics waft over twilit riffs, languorous and droning.

It’s the middle two cuts on the EP that best show off the band’s range—as a result, they’re the most immediate standouts. At less than two and a half full minutes, “Vanish” is the shortest non-intro track Iress has ever put out, but that’s all it needs to demonstrate the full range of the LA quartet’s capabilities. The track unspools over its runtime from a slowcore crawl to a bleak, almost suffocating climax, pounding drums and overdriven guitars bouncing ear to ear before it all cuts out suddenly. It’s a jarring moment—Iress at their best. Single “Ricochet” stitches soft dream pop verses against metallic, squealing choruses, building and building until even those feel like floors against the heights of the song’s punishing coda. These are the moments where SOLACE feels the most expansive. It’s that balance of light and dark, and it’s not unique to Iress, but few of their peers pull it off with the same weight. Grab SOLACE on Bandcamp and let it soundtrack your stormy summer nights. [Zac Djamoos]

I remain a big fan of the EP. As a concept, it offers so many options to artists of all stripes. It can help a young band hone its sound to its sharpest as they gain experience in the studio and as songwriters. More established acts can release an EP as a way to experiment with their aesthetic with reduced stakes. And it’s simply a way to release a few strong songs on their own without needing to develop a full-length.

IRESS embraces the power of the EP with SOLACE. Across four strong songs, the band serves up immaculate slow core packed to the gills with heavy dirges and big crescendos. Each one starts with soft, dreamy tones that gradually ramp up for crushing conclusions. Elegiac and resolute in presentation, it’s excellent hard rock with pop-rock chord progressions and doom metal atmospherics.

Throughout this debut release, the gorgeous alto vocals of Michelle Malley enchant the ears even as the guitars, bass, and drums work their own magic. “Soft” and “Ricochet” are my favorite tunes, as they conjure up appropriate goth-rock comparisons to Evanescence, Chelsea Wolfe, and Zola Jesus.

Review Summary: if you have the time to read this you also have the time to listen to this record

In the three years that have passed since Flaw, Iress’ excellent sophomore album, not much has changed for the band. The L.A. outfit remain highly sludgy, grungy and engulfing, with the brand new EP Solace presenting a snapshot of this unwavering quality. Michelle Malley’s gravelly voice continues being the star of the show as she guides the four new tracks through ethereal ponderings and crushingly intense sections with ease. The massive “Ricochet” ebbs and flows before swaying its soundscape into an uncompromising yet deceptively vulnerable climax, exemplifying everything Iress do best in just a few minutes. However, as wonderful as this record may be, its main problem can be summarised in a sentence that many Sputnikmusic dot com users will be highly familiar with: it’s too damn short.

I’m sure we’ve all heard albums that have left a last impression on ones self. Sometimes these albums take us to different places be it in our minds, imaginations, etc. Then there are times when an album comes out that hits you at the right moment in all the right ways and it makes it feel like everything will be ok because of that album. A couple months back the band Iress, released the song “Ricochet” off their now released and utterly spellbinding and superb EP, Solace. The moment I heard that song, I knew there was something more to it than just a “dark/moody vibe.” What I found was a band that sonically devastates while at the same time draws you in seductively. Iress’s new EP, Solace is a piece of art and music that hypnotizes you while the words and vocals crawl under your skin and gives you the type of chills that you might find when you reach that moment of clarity. The life that these songs breathe is astounding. One of the most intriguing factors about Iress is their ability to utilize atmosphere and space to balance out the heavy nature of the songs. It’s a feeling you will notice as you listen. Through all the darkness on these songs, the hope and light found throughout is breathtaking. The depths these songs take you and the place it leaves you in the end is the light at the end of the tunnel. Fronted by Michelle Malley (aka The Adele Of Doom) her vocals and guitar take you on quite a journey of love, loss, pain, and anguish all while the band Graham Walker (guitar), Michael Maldonado (bass) and Glenn Chu (drums) create the soundtrack to all this and add the right sonic elements the leaves you breathless. Another aspect that makes this release so damn good is the production. Producer/Engineer/Mixer Alex Estrada (Touche Amore, Joyce Manor, etc) makes this all come to life by capturing the raw and emotional charged performances of each member. There is no mistaking the magnitude that Iress puts out and with this EP it’s not even close to where their potential lays. I personally can’t wait to hear what else this band does and goes musically. Solace is not just a superb release, it’s my favorite release of 2023. Congratulations to all involved in the creation and release of this masterful EP. Iress is here and they are coming for you! You can pick up your copy of the EP now via the one and only Dune Altar Records (one of the best indie labels around)!

Overall Rating: A

A lot of bands just kind of do their thing—no label, no PR push, no pay-to-play on websites of dubious ethical character for a single goddamn song premiere. It’s often unclear if these bands want more for themselves or their only option is DIY or and die. We try our best to document the underground via columns in the magazine like Through a Speaker Rumbly, Throw Me a Frickin’ Bone and Vicious Circles, but no one’s sieve is big enough to save all the hidden gems from tumbling into the abyss.

For the first 13 years of their existence, L.A.-based four-piece Iress have been among the unjustly anonymous. Momentum-disrupting personnel turnover, two self-released full-lengths and limited touring have added up to not much, despite the presence of one of the most mesmerizing vocalists in heavy music, Michelle Malley. Her raw, yearning howl is prone to foundational cracks that only underscore its authenticity; see “Wolves,” a lung-ripping showcase that totally warranted inclusion on both 2015’s Prey and 2020’s Flaw.

As for Solace (out May 12), it’s an excellent four-song appetite-whetter for the third album they’re still writing. “Doomgaze” is a passable enough descriptor (we’re kinda-sorta in Cloakroom/Nothing/King Woman territory here), but by no means should that be interpreted as the band aimlessly meandering. “Vanish” and “Soft” almost entirely eschew drummer Glenn Chu for relatably bleak introspection, whereas the heavier but still mid-tempo “Blush” and “Ricochet” (this is not a “fire on all cylinders” band) lure you in with new guitarist’s Graham Walker’s tasteful, deceptively simple flourishes.

The Pains of Existence, a new digital compilation from Destroy//Exist, arrives to herald the start of the website's ten-year celebrations. Both before and after the site's anniversary which falls on January 1st, 2024, we plan on making these two years a little bit more special.

Nothing lasts forever, though many of us lie to ourselves and bargain with whatever forces we can to try to maintain status quo as long as we can. But that’s not reality. The world changes, people move on to other things, and even worse, those who we love and hold dear sometimes leave for whatever plane of existence is next. Or sometimes people’s hearts change, leading to life upheaval.

For dreamy LA-based doom quartet Iress, they have faced a lot of the tumult we have, including a global pandemic you may have heard about. Undeterred, the band has returned with a new four-track EP “Solace” that starts the bridge a gap from excellent last full-length album “Flaw” to whatever comes next. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves, and we shouldn’t do that because this is a mesmerizing, emotionally arresting piece that contains some of Iress’ finest work. The band—vocalist Michelle Malley, guitarist Graham Walker, bassist Michael Maldonado, drummer Glenn Chu—examine that phenomenon of change and the hurt and beauty often threaded into that. It’s not always easy to approach life taking a twist or turn we don’t anticipate, but what matters is how we react and go on with our lives.

“Blush” starts in a numbing buzz before the doom clouds begin to gather, giving off a vibe reminiscent of King Woman. Malley’s breathy vocals wash over you as the emotions collect, and the music builds off that, gushing and vibrating. “I don’t mind, take your time leaving,” Malley calls as the power fades into the distance. “Vanish” is murky and foggy, Malley asking, “Where do you run to?” The playing moves quietly as it slowly drips, the guitars eventually bursting, the drums more aggressively joining the fray, jarring before ending abruptly. “Ricochet” has heaviness pulsing and Malley again leading with her dominant singing, flexing her skills. The verses bleed while the choruses crush, delivering a massive wave with Malley jabbing, “Thought that I knew you,” as the guitars gain heat and melt away the tension. Closer “Soft” begins ominously, moving through the shadows, Malley admitting, “You and I, we’re not made to last.” Guitars create a greater fog, moving through the mist, Malley calling, “I’m not ready,” as the pieces crumble away into dust.

These four songs are some of Iress’ most haunting work, and “Solace” might be a shorter release, but it comes with no shortage of power and vulnerability. These songs work into your emotional DNA and identify with all of the darkest elements of your experiences, acting as something of a comfort when weary. It’s an exciting glimpse of perhaps where the band is headed, and we wait with bated breath for another full-length from this evocative band.

IRESS is a Heavy Alt quartet out of Los Angeles. I’m hesitant to call them Metal, though their latest release moves them to an adjacent space of maybe Doomglaze or Post-Metal. They formed in the way back of 2010 and have two LPs to their credit. On May 12, 2023 they’ll add an EP, “Solace,” to their discography. This will be their first recording with their new guitarist, Graham Walker, who joined the group in 2022. It also marks a notable shift in their sound away from the lighter Alt vibes and veering into the darker terrain of Doom while leaning more on Michelle Malley haunting, emotive vocals.

In the band’s words, the four-track EP “tells the story of the brutal reality of change: inevitable, painful and beautiful.” Lyrically, the tracks are as poetic as they are introspective, kneading the bruised muscles and tissues that still ache from the strain of wrestling with a doomed relationship. Musically, while there are a few moments of crushing distortion, this is in no way a down-tuned slog through the swamps of Heavy Doom. As Atmospheric Black Metal is to FWBM and SWBM, so this style of Ambient Doom is to its more visceral forerunners.

The EP opens with “Blush,” where Michelle lays out the crux of the matter: The slow dissolve of a love once and still dear. Like the wisps of fog that adorn the cover and like the love they celebrate and mourn, the four tracks are heavily ambient and atmospheric—articulating something that can be felt heavy on your skin, that leaves a residue of its fleeting presence, but in the end is insubstantial and gone. Though the four tracks clock out at a scant 16 minutes, their presence sticks with you significantly longer. If you tend to immerse yourself in your listening experiences, the album will leave you emotionally exhausted.

With only four tracks, it would be unfair to pick standout tracks, but I’ll do it anyway. I’ll go with “Ricochet” which begins with an ethereal acoustic intro before ratcheting up to some fairly serious riffs. In my estimation, it’s the heaviest track on the album though some may argue for “Blush.” In complete contrast with my first choice, I’ll go with “Soft” as my other favorite track. I guess the title gives it all away. Here the more visceral contusions of pain are subsiding, and we’re left to begin the healing process—though the echoes of the past never completely fade.

Altogether, “Solace” is an impressive album. The fact that the band opted for an EP as their third release is interesting. It could be a demon that needed to be exorcized, it could be an introduction to their new lineup, it could be an inflection point in their creative journey. Either way, I’ll be curious to see if they maintain their exploration of Doom. With their second LP, “Flaw,” there was a pivot to the heavier. With “Solace” we get more rooted there, though perhaps more in spirit than in sonic temperament. Whether they opt to venture deeper into the dark landscape of Metal or not, “Solace” is at least a fair offering at our saturnine temple.