| Reviews for Iron Fire's To the Grave |
| The effort shines through - 70% |
| Written by autothrall
on November 5th, 2009
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| I've always had mixed feelings for Danish power metal band Iron Fire. They've generally been good at composing some catchy tunes, but Martin Steene's very nasal tone has unsettled me in the past. For the past few albums, they've issued some average Germanic 'epic' power metal, with an obvious appeal to fans of bands like Gamma Ray or Metalium. To the Grave is their 5th album and they handle the reins fairly well. It's a solid enough effort with some memorable melodies, and Steene seems to have improved vocally, or rather they are just placed well in the center of the mix and never too distracting. The guy DOES have a great range, after all. "The Beast from the Blackness" is your epic fantasy fueled German power metal anthem, with hyper melodic picking and keyboards. It works to set up the tone for most of the album. "Kill for Metal" (haha) begins with some sappy, almost grunted narration proclaiming 'new gods of metal'. Granted this is done with tongue in cheek attitude, but still unnecessary. There are a few pretty catchy bits later on the album. "Frozen in Time" and "Doom Riders" are damn fine, epic and melodic tracks. Also, there are no shitty power ballad songs on this album, which is also a nice touch. The mix is superb and professional like many of their German peers, the band is highly melodic and the lyrics are absolute shit, but this has become the norm for the majority of European power metal, it's just grades of 'cheesiness' now, some work well (U.D.O., Powerwolf, etc) and others just don't deliver. The concept here seems to focus on a kindergarten, bubblegum portrait of Norse mythology. In the end, I will commend this Danish band, this is clearly their best album since the debut Thunderstorm and it manages to avoid many of the pitfalls which turned me off a few of their other works. Lyrically this is tripe, but the musical effort shines through. -autothrall http://www.fromthedustreturned.com |
| Iron Fire - To the Grave - 20% |
| Written by ThrashManiacAYD
on September 3rd, 2009
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| Sometimes an album deserves a review matching the quality contained within it, as noone would disagree a 10/10 classic is deserving of some explanation why. But what about an album that is so dull, so unoriginal, so painful in it's metal pretences that I as a weather-hardened metalhead feel physically sick listening to a song called "Kill For Metal" (as if I need to be told that)? Must I say anymore than "STAY CLEAR - HEALTH HAZARD"? Fuck, well here we go then. "To The Grave" by Copenhagen's Iron Fire is a power/heavy metal album, presenting the same ideas established by the likes of Helloween and Dragonforce in the distant, and recent, past. There is nothing, I repeat nothing, interesting about how Iron Fire have utilised their influences to create their 5th album in a 14-year career that I simply cannot understand why they carry on nor why Napalm Records persist with the band. Being someone who can see past sugar-coated chorusses I realise this attempt at classic metal structuring is completely soulless and not built on foundations of pure heavy metal as they would have you believe, but smelly, soggy polystyrene. The band's line-up has been ever-changing around frontman and sole original member Martin Steene whose voice, whilst being hysterically non-descript, also doesn't hold a candle to the likes of Matt Barlow or Eric Adams. The same can be said of his band's musicians, producing riffs of indeterminable mediocrity that only serve to enhance the reputation in my mind of bands who can actually pull this style off. Hero-worship can be good when done with conviction but if was the route Iron Fire chose, I'm sorry but there is none of that I can detect. Any reviewer who describes this as an exciting album doesn't know what he's talking about. For perfect illustration, listen to Usurper's own "Kill For Metal" from 2005's "Cryptobeast" and try telling me Iron Fire's music possesses any metal conviction. With only the album cover and the opening 30 seconds of "The Kingdom" to take note of, this album is for those whose hobbies include watching paint dry and doing the washing up. Originally written for Rockfreaks.net |
| Their best one so far! - 75% |
| Written by Nightrunner
on June 19th, 2009
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| Iron Fire has to me always been a band that has performed and done OK albums, and always been ver inconsistent with their songwriting. Meaning that their albums have always included much fillers, but also good stuff. Just in time when I though the band had steered in on low water with the last couple of releases, this album “To The Grave” was released. Vital, because it’s both the band’s best so far in their career, and also easily the most consistent one. It has received a lot of words and bandleader Martin Steene has stated it himself that it’s darker and heavier than any IF-album both musical and lyrical. It surely is a bit heavier for being them I must say, but not so much darker. Traditional/power metal in it’s very classic form with melodic and big choruses, and still with the same lyrics about metal, warriors, steel, blood and such themes. Yes, the lyrics are still VERY silly and has always been the worst thing with this band. So in overall, it isn’t any big evolution the band has done, it’s just that they have written much better and more catchy melodies and stronger songs in general. The band does also perform very good, Martin Steene keeps a high level with his personal vocals, and guitarist Kirk Bacharach has succeeded very good with the riffs and solos. This album absolutely contains some of the band’s best solos as well, especially the one in “Cover The Sun” is a favourite. Bassist Martin and drummer Fritz does solid performances, even if the drumming may be a bit too simple in the longrun. A bit variated playing does mostly lift a song’s value somewhat. Among the songs I have some clear favourites in the heavy stomper and metal-anthem “Kill for Metal”, fast “Cover The Sun” with it’s great interlude and solo, the heavy yet very melodic titletrack, the a bit diverse “Ghost Of Vengeance”. I also have to mention the very good and rocking bonustrack “Blacksmith of Thunder” which is included on the limited digipak version. A really good smasher with a very simple yet effective chorus and some heavy riffing is included. Can’t really see why it was left off the actual album. Not many albums are perfect though, and “To The Grave” also have a few filler. On here, “The Kingdom”, “Frozen In Time” and “The Battlefield” isn’t anything special and “The Beast From the Blackness” is ‘only’ an OK song with it’s typical euro power metal-style. Good intro of the song, though. Iron Fire does a good effort here, but they still have to work even harder if they’ll reach higher rating from me in the future. Mainly it’s because they still manage to write some shitty songs and one or two so-so songs that feels like they could’ve been more thoroughly worked with. But this is still their album with highest low-point so to say, and if they continue to progress in a positive direction, they might be there on the top with some more album(s) in the bag. Still, I can easily recommend any fan of melodic power/heavy metal to check this up album up. |
| The new riders of the 4 winds. - 100% |
| Written by hells_unicorn
on March 25th, 2009
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| There are two essential elements to pure, 100% power metal, and they are power and metal. Some may augment it with a regular keyboardist and make it more melodic, while some others may throw an orchestra behind it or get a little progressive, but the bare essentials still need to be there. Bone thudding riffs, catchy fanfare choruses for a legion of unholy head bangers to sing along to, fast as lightning beats, and a charismatic front man with lungs of pure steel are all irreplaceable necessities for any band to do justice to the gods. And like 4 raging Vikings in the spirit of Manowar, with its own legion of immortal followers, Iron Fire have stormed the battlefield and single-handedly crushed an army of poser, half-metal pieces of garbage with 12 thundering swings of their mighty swords (or 13 if you go for the special edition, which is worth getting). All of the additives of the past have been tossed away like a rusty old gauntlet, leaving behind a formidable and completely unsubtle berserker, charging forth on the plains towards his enemies while wearing only his battle axe. There are no obligatory ballads, no 80s glam interludes, the keyboards play support and augment the whole rather than dominate it, and the almighty guitar riff plays a coequal role with the melodies of the vocals rather than taking a backseat to them. Epic sounds are brought forth through the character of the music, rather than by elongated song durations beyond necessity, and guitar solos slay quickly and then make room for the rest of the army rather than stealing all of the glory. The vocals walk a fine line between being consonant and being demonic, as Martin Steene draws upon his early days as a death metal styled vocalist to play foil against his sleazy yet melodic clean voice. When put up against other true metal bands of the likes of Metalium and Hammerfall, what emerges is a fully plate armored, 15 ft. tall colossus staring down at a couple of 6 ft. tall gladiators in chain mail. In every respect this album is 1 dimensional, in that it continually pulverizes the ears with relentless metallic chugs, thuds and bangs. The band has definitely taken a lesson from the early to mid-80s work of German speed/thrash pioneers Rage, Running Wild, Grave Digger, and Helloween, as well as newer adherents such as Paragon and Stormwarrior. The songs are catchy as hell when the vocals come in and the guitars chug away at varying speeds on harmonically consonant chord progressions, bolstering the melodic material above them. But when the vocals leave, things start thrashing away riff wise, to the point of putting a bit of Anthrax, Overkill and some assorted Bay Area bands to give the instrumental breaks that crushing sense of heaviness. Essentially what emerges is the best of both worlds, primitive thrash riff poundage and epic, memorable music to fill the ears with images of heroic ventures. Things have come full circle since this outfit when on hiatus, following their ejection from Noise Records and Steene shacking up with former Mercyful Fate and King Diamond members in the more straight up heavy metal outfit Force Of Evil. It surpasses everything that the band did beforehand, including their classic and underrated debut “Thunderstorm”, while simultaneously reaching into that same past and reliving their glory days. For anyone other than me who followed the band during their time in limbo from 2002 until the release of “Revenge”, there is a familiar guitar theme during the epic intro to “The Beast From The Blackness” that also kicked off their “The Underworld” demo song “Firegod”. In fact, the opening song here is a repackaged version of the latter, packing an even wickeder vocal delivery, twice the heaviness, and a dark as hell Latin chorus over the galloping breakdown section after the guitar solo. Of all the songs that have been stuck between the realm of ideas and material reality off of Iron Fire’s 2003 demo, this was the song that I was hoping to hear in a finalized form, and my expectations have been completely surpassed. After setting a super-owning precedent in the first 5 minutes, this album just proceeds to praise all of the various godfathers of heavy metal at varying tempos, while keeping the power right at the helm. “Kill For Metal” and “Hail To Odin” take their cues straight from Manowar, pounding down the gavel of Asgard with every upper mid-tempo, power chord steeped second. “March Of The Immortals” mixes up the riff format a little bit and comes off as a nasty Grave Digger crusher with a catchy, Running Wild oriented chorus. “Cover The Sun” is solid, grade A power thrash, meshing a series of Bay Area inspired riff breaks with an epic chorus that sticks in the brain like a classic off of Iron Maiden’s early Dickinson era albums. “To The Grave” thrashes things up a bit during the instrumental sections as well, but most of it is a perfect 50/50 hybrid of Running Wild’s catchiness and Helloween’s epic and atmospheric affects as heard on the “Keepers Pt. 2”. In terms of picking a best out of this amazingly consistent opus, two favored champions emerge that bring the goods both in the aggression and the catchiness department. “The Kingdom” is the winner if what one seeks is classic epic storytelling with large as hell melodic sections in the vain of the band’s debut “Thunderstorm”, albeit combined with a much darker sound, spearheaded by a bass production that would make Joey Demaio proud, and about twice as many riffs to please the Thrashers who may go for the occasional power metal song. The bonus track “Blacksmith Of Thunder” goes a little bit more in a speed/thrash direction, having a pretty elaborate riff set to start things off, but reverts to that same winning chorus format to allow the lungs of the audience to give their necks a much needed rest. If you like your power metal catchy, but also loaded with good old fashioned German speed metal aggression and without all of the pleasantries of the Finnish melodic variant on the style or all of the AOR that seems to be coming up all over the place, this is the one to get. These guys have successfully edged out their older German counterparts Grave Digger this year, as well as their contemporaries Hammerfall’s and Paragon’s latest efforts, to speak nothing for utterly destroying Metalium’s last 3 releases. Perhaps it’s a tad ironic that these guys look like a bunch of modern thrash fan boys led by a pissed off, leather toting, Johnny Rotten look-alike, but in spite of the lack of hair in this band, this is about as metal as it can get. Originally submitted to (http://www.metal-observer.com) on March 25, 2009. |