The Iron Brigade

Whether they be regarded as the modernized continuation of heavy metal late-comers from the 90s Double Diamond, or as Belgium's quasi-thrashing power metal answer to Mystic Prophecy, FireForce has definitely been making some sizable sonic waves throughout the 2010s. Following a string of well put together albums that mirror the more aggressive strain of German speed and power metal that is embodied by the aforementioned former home of Firewind guitarist Gus G or a number of other acts like Brainstorm, Grave Digger or Paragon that place an emphasis on heavy riffing and grit rather than symphonic pomp and mythical legends, i.e. bands that view Accept's "Fast As A Shark" as the proper archetype of power metal rather than Helloween's "The March Of Time".

The visual of a mighty tank with a skull-like menacing glare as its aims its gun towards the listener is a fitting visual for the sonic fist to the gut that is contained within. Featuring a powerful production that features an equal amount of punch to the most recent Iron Fire and Primal Fear outings, this album showcases a brand of metallic fury that bridges the gap between Judas Priest's Painkiller and its modern emulators in the German scene. About the only part of the arrangement that deviates a bit from the prototypical German approach is recently recruited ex-Crystal Eyes vocalist Søren Nico Adamsen, who definitely features a bit more of a modern Swedish vocal persona, perhaps comparable to current Tad Morose front man Ronny Hemlin and occasionally even Daniel Heiman.

While largely relegated to the speed metal oriented side of the power metal coin, this album isn't without an affinity to the melodic tendencies that the genre imported from Iron Maiden. Case and point, the consonant melodic lead guitar content that peppers the instrumental breaks on the otherwise speed-thrashing romp, title song and opener "The Iron Brigade". This tendency of trading blows between tuneful melodic content and pummeling riff work continues onward in the more Primal Fear-inspired cooker "Revenge In Flames", while the occasionally mid-paced yet still fairly fast "Defector" manages to mix in occasional moments of melodic guitar flair. Things truly come to a head on the closing frenetic crusher "The Boys From Down Under", which gets fast enough at times to trade blows with Toxik and features Adamsen wailing away with the best of them.

Though this is a bit more of a wildly enticing snack rather than a full on feast of power metal mayhem compared to the trio of albums that this band has previously unleashed, it's of about the same caliber. The inclusion of Adamsen into the equation makes for a somewhat more interesting sound given his massive upper range, but it doesn't quite get explored to the same extent here compared to what he brought to the table during his tenure with Crystal Eyes. Nevertheless, these four songs are all winners and things are definitely looking bright insofar as FireForce's future is concerned.