IRON FIRE
Blade Of Triumph
Napalm Records
4/10
“Blade Of Triumph” sounds rushed from the start, signaling dread for Iron Fire, a band that made a good showing last time around. On this album, the vocals are way too high in the mix, a fact that’s immediately evident and one which becomes painfully difficult to deal with as the album progresses.
Certainly, there’s enough good songwriting on “Blade Of Triumph” to satisfy most power metal mavens, but the vocals are much too obnoxious to allow the strong guitar performance to shine through. At other points during the record, “Bloodbath Of Knights” in particular, certain melody lines are pushed up in the mix to compete with the too-loud vox, making the entire affair sound rather messy and un-listenable.
Over-saturation of effects, particularly contrasting reverb plates further confuses matters. But poor production isn’t the only thing holding this record back – the music is simply too paint-by-numbers, lacking the eloquence or advanced songwriting qualities necessary to compete in today’s power metal scene.
Dated, redundant angles cause songs such as “Dawn Of Victory” and “Steel Invaders” to suffer terribly, resulting in a subpar effort that’s not worthy of even passing interest from most well-attuned followers of this style of metal. A real power metal producer would greatly help matters, at very least; a remix of this entire record is in order.
Hardly a triumph for Iron Fire, this record is a major disaster from beginning to end.
Written By: Harvester Crowlee
No comments:
Post a Comment