UMUR
"To the Grave" is the 5th full-length studio album by Danish power metal act Iron Fire. The album was released in January 2009 by Napalm Records. Lead vocalist/ main composer Martin Steene notes in the booklet that the band has seen a couple of lineup changes since the release of "Blade of Triumph (2007" as guitarist J.J. and drummer Jens B. have left Iron Fire. The band weren´t able to find a suitable replacement for J.J. in time for the recording of "To the Grave" and therefore all guitar parts on the album are recorded by Kirk Backarach (who also handles the keyboards). The did however have more luck recruiting a new drummer in Fritz Wagner.
The music on "To the Grave" is classic power metal/traditional heavy metal. Vers/chorus structured tracks, a pounding rythm section, melodic yet heavy guitars, a lead vocalist that delivers fantasy themed lyrics with conviction and some big anthemic choruses. Iron Fire deliver both fast paced tracks, mid-paced heavy tracks and slower epic ones. The opening trio of tracks pretty much tell the whole story of how the album sounds. "The Beast From the Blackness" represents the faster paced tracks, "Kill for Metal" the mid-paced heavier tracks and "The Demon Master" the more epic styled tracks (albeit still pounding and heavy).
The sound production is powerful and suits the music well.
"To the Grave" is basically power metal like our mother made it but I can´t help to feel that the music is pretty generic. It´s not like Iron Fire stand out among the thousands of other power metal acts out there or bring anything new to the genre. But you can´t take away from them that they deliver their music with passion, power and conviction. A 3 star rating is warranted.