The Landing

Piet really should be proud of himself with this release, and we can assume he is, seeing as this album's release almost exactly coincided with his leaving of side project Savage Circus. This album definitely takes us back to Iron Savior's eponymous album in terms of instrumental quality. However, the most important aspect of this album is the massive improvement in Piet's vocal quality. Their last release, Megatropolis, was hit and miss in terms of vocal quality, but this album is by far Savior's best in this area -- the addition of more melodic elements has done wonders for the band's sound, even if it's not a very large difference.

The first thing I noticed when I got this CD was the artwork, though. Now, this has no impact on the album itself aside from looking pretty, but as a person looking through my local record store or a friend's CD collection, this would definitely catch my eye as something worth checking out. Getting into the music, we start with an intro song. Been done before, of course, but hey, this is power metal. Originality fell off the track in the 90's.

Overall, the quality of the songs, as said before, is really superb. The balance and mastering is quite high quality, it has the usual pointed sound Iron Savior brings to the table, and it showcases the powerful verses and soaring choruses that the genre and Iron Savior specifically both specialize in. However, it is quite apparent that this album reminds us of all of Iron Savior's work, much like Condition Red. And, what do you know, it's the same lineup! However, though this is a negative, it is pretty much the only one. Again like Condition Red, this album is essentially a remastered best-of compilation (in fact, if you get the bonus tracks on your album, that's what they are), but that's not a bad thing. In fact, I'd say the ability for the band to have albums that reflect on their previous success, improve on it, and at least bring some new tunes to the table is a success in my book.

In the end, this album is one of my top from 2011, and it is a definite success in Iron Savior's book. If the improvement from Megatropolis to this release is the same for their next album, I'm certain it will go down in history as the quintessential power metal album.