Iron Giants ... But I Wouldn't Call Them Maidens ...
The album I'll be reviewing today is "Unification". This is the first album I bought of Iron Savior's and I think it's safe to say it's my favourite. This is their second release and is a concept album. I believe "Iron Savior" itself is the concept and has been carried through a number of albums. Think of Voivod's "Lost Machine" concept and stretch it out over a few albums and that's the story behind Iron Savior. As I said these guys are power/speed metal and serve up a fine album of hooky anthemic songs, blistering solo work and sing a long chorus's. The songs feature melodic guitar leads throughout most songs (ala Blind Guardian style) and the drums have a powerful space age heaviness to them (think Metalium). Piet Sielck's vocals are gruff at times and wailing at others. A fine mix.
Though this album should be taken as a whole package, I found stand out songs like "Starborn" and "Forces Of Rage" with their darker edge by means of keyboards and such and "Captain's Log" is creepy in its mechanical orchestralness. And I love the flat out rockers like "Eye To Eye" and "Unchained". "Unchained" I say is the most sing a long song and is rebellious in its anthemic style. "Forevermore" is the power ballad track and it is majestic with a touch of Pink Floyd.
My favourite Iron Savior track on "Unification" has to be the album opener "Coming Home". It's a blistering assault, with head pounding drum work (almost industrial at times) and ends with a fist pounding outro and chant like vocals. It really sets the mood for the album. They also do a couple covers, an energetic hard hitting version of Black Sabbath's "Neon Knights" and an updated version of Helloween's "Gorgar" called "Gorgar '98" which is wickedly dark and heavy and features a badass snipit of Edvard Grieg's "Hall of The Mountain King". Makes me want to check out Helloween. I haven't yet, but I really want to. Iron Savior later albums are good, but they lack a little something, different from "Unification". I'll try and pin point it on future reviews of their follow up albums.
Now you may think it odd that I would be so specific with my favourite track mention. Well that's because my favourite track is actually by a band called Excelsis and is featured as a bonus track for winning a battle of the bands contest. The song is "Dragonslayer" off their "Kurt of Koppigen" album. That's coming up next ....
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hope you had a wonderful long wknd...
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