Icon - Icon

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the self-titled Icon from the Arizona metal band of the same name. The group consisted of Stephen Clifford (vocals), Dan Wexler (guitar), Tracy Wallach (bass and vocals), John Aquillino (guitar) and Pat Dixon (drums). The album spent two weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 190.


Side one opens with "(Rock On) Through the Night", a thundering ode to the evening antics of big time partiers.

"Killer Machine" paints the picture of a knockout of a woman, on the hunt on a Friday night.

"On Your Feet" is up next. The song encourages the fans to get up and show their enthusiasm.

"World War" takes the 80’s Cold War fears and predicts another global conflict in 1994. Good thing these guys were wrong, eh?

"Hot Desert Night" closes the first side with a solid, steady beat.

Side two begins "Under My Gun".

“Iconclast" is a short but very cool instrumental movement.

"Rock n' Roll Maniac" celebrates the rock lifestyle, armed with a six string gun (i.e. guitar). This one brings all the elements together nicely; it would have made a decent single.

"I'm Alive" has a good, mid-tempo groove to it but the lyrics are a little too uninspired for me.

The album closes with the ballad "It's Up to You". Here, a guy puts the question to his girlfriend on where they go as their relationship stands at a crossroad.

I had to go over to YouTube to listen to this album from Icon; I certainly did not recall the band from back in the day. Given that, I liked this debut well enough. It looks like it is available up on iTunes for those who want to add it to their music library.