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Grand Magus > Iron Will > Reviews > Empyreal
Grand Magus - Iron Will

Spicy! - 90%

Empyreal, July 13th, 2010

You know, with some bands, simplicity is not just a virtue, it is a fucking force to be reckoned with. On Grand Magus’ Iron Will, when you hear the hammering, later-Bathory-esque riffing and the loud, hollering vocals, it is like being plowed through a wall by a goddamned tank. They use simple, repetitive ideas and crushing dynamic and urgency to make you feel the fire as if it’s right under your nose. The choruses are just the song titles shouted out repeatedly, but they carry so much oomph that they could probably light up your house during an electric storm - they are incredibly effective, even with so little put into them. Every time they repeat a chorus, every time they hammer out another lightning-forged riff and beat you over the head with it, it becomes apparent that these guys mean business, and they intend to use everything they have as a lethal weapon of mass destruction against your ears. Prepare to be destroyed by the IRON WILL!

I mean, holy shit! Grand Magus is a band that apparently used to play stoner type metal, but on here all I hear is barbaric, pounding heavy metal that sounds like Doomsword with more immediate hooks, a brassier production and a heavy influence from bands like Viking-era Bathory or something. It’s quite an original sound for a genre like traditional metal, which usually focuses so much on establishing oneself in the already-established genre traditions rather than innovating. They don’t do anything really outlandish, but the sound still isn’t exactly like any one other band or even any one regional template. These guys make no apologies for that. In fact, with their bashing cavalcade of masterful riffery, they will make you want to apologize instead!

They waste no time. “Like the Oar Strikes the Water” gallops out with a big, galloping riff and a heroic melody, as well as absolutely fucking crushing vocals. Seriously, one of this album’s trademarks is the tendency to utilize singer JB Christofferson’s clear, punishing howl like it is an extra guitar rather than a separate entity. He just wails along with these songs and makes them even heavier than before. “Fear is the Key” and the anthemic pounder that is the title track up the ante, and we get some real killers with “Silver Into Steel” and the magnificently pulverizing “The Shadow Knows,” which pack enough hooks and manliness to fuel an entire album. But all bow before the triumphant “I Am the North,” which rocks out with a morose lead melody and a cutting riff, exploding into the best chorus on the album:

The Wolf will riiiiiiise
The end of liiiiiiies
Corruption diiiiiies
Free FOREVEEEEEERRRRR!


Awe-inspiring, really; manly enough to turn any gay man straight. Grand Magus is a top notch band, and this album is worth checking out for anyone who likes traditional metal in the least. Iron Will is a big, fat metal middle finger to anyone who dares to slander the good old name of True Metal in its finest form. And you will know that by the end of this, or you will be nothing. Nothing, I say!