DippoMagoo There are some great power metal bands who seem to be going largely unnoticed, despite consistently making great albums, with one of my favorites being Danish band Iron Fire. I’ve been a fan of the band since their 2010 release Metalmorphosized, which marked the beginnings of a more modernized sound for the band after their past releases were all fairly traditional European power metal albums. They especially blew me away with the more progressive, symphonic and just plain epic Voyage of the Damned, though sadly that one wasn’t too well received, and the band took a bit of a break afterward. However, over four years later the band returned in 2016, with Among the dead, a hard-hitting collection of heavy/power metal tracks, that while being more straight-forward compared to its predecessor, was still intense and left me extremely satisfied.

Now, the band is set to release their ninth full-length album, Beyond the Void, and it is yet another killer! Fans of Among the Dead should know exactly what to expect, as the lineup remains unchanged, and musically this is a direct continuation of that album, with the same kind of raw, hard-hitting power metal, mixed with some classic heavy metal and some occasional thrashy riffs. While Among the Dead was a concept album revolving around a zombie apocalypse, Beyond the Void deals with many different lyrical themes, but otherwise, it’s pretty much more of the same, to the point where a couple of tracks feel eerily similar to tracks from the previous release, though the songwriting is consistently strong enough for that to not be a big problem.

Performances are as strong as always, with the guitar work being as heavy as before, though there are some more melodic passages compared to the previous album, and these are very well done, drums are mostly fast and furious and well done, and of course Martin Steene’s deep and raspy vocals are as strong as ever, with the faint hints of extreme metal vocals he showed on the previous album continuing to creep in from time to time. Production is also top notch and powerful sounding, as expected. Songwriting is generally fast-paced, intense and plain fun, with the occasional slower track and one ballad to offer up some variety. This is the kind of album, though, where you won’t be surprised very often, but it’ll keep you consistently entertained, with excellent riffs, some great melodies, powerful vocals and just some really fun, highly addictive songs.

Following a brief intro, the title track kicks in and is very similar to the title track of Among the Dead, with everything from the lead riff to the chorus feeling oddly familiar, to the point where I wasn’t enjoying it much at first, but over time it has grown on me. Anyone who hasn’t heard the previous album should be entertained immediately, as it’s a fast paced, hard hitting power metal track, with fun verses, thrashy riffs, and a strong, catchy chorus. On the more interesting side, “Final Warning” is a slower building track, featuring a pummeling main riff, heavy verses which march along at a decent pace, and a light, melodic chorus, which picks up the pace as it goes along. It has great, emotional lyrics about destroying the Earth, and is a very good song overall. My favorite song on the first half, and probably the whole album, is “Cold Chains of the North” a fast, hard-hitting track which has more of those thrashy riffs, as well as a frantic, but very melodic chorus, with some pretty cool gang vocals, and some excellent lead vocals from Martin. It’s a very fun, catchy and highly energetic track, which just gets everything right.

Keeping the momentum going, “Wrong Turn” has some of the thrashiest riffs on the album, along with hard-hitting verses, and a basic, but the very fun chorus. Two more speedy tracks are up next, with “Bones and Gasoline”, which has soft, melodic passages during the intro and verses, which remind me a bit of some classic Metallica songs, while the chorus is speedy and fun, and “Old Habits Die Hard”, a more melodic but very speedy track, where Martin uses some of his harsh vocals throughout, and does a great job, as always. Both songs are straight-forward, and pure fun, just like pretty much every song on the album. The lone ballad of the album is “Judgement Day”, which has some beautiful, melodic guitar work, calm verses where Martin uses some of his softest vocals ever and sounds great, and another powerful, epic chorus. It has a great solo in the second half, but the highlight comes a bit before that, with a more intense, yet still melodic section, with some of the best vocals on the album, along with the line “recreate a world without hate, and bring me back to 1998”, which cracks me up every time I hear it.

Moving into the final sequence of the album, “To Hell and Back” is another frantic, hard-hitting track, with some very heavy and intense verses, as well as one of the more traditional power metal choruses on the album. It’s yet another very energetic, highly addictive track, of the sort the band excels at in this stage of their career. My favorite of the final four tracks is “One More Bullet”, a slower, heavier metal based track, with heavy verses, and an intense, but very melodic and catchy chorus, with more nonsensical, but fun lyrics and the guitar solo near the end is really cool, as well. The track has a classic heavy metal feel to it, in an awesome way and is one of the catchiest and most addictive tracks on the album. The last full speedy track on the album is “The Devil’s Path”, another thrashy power metal track, with a great mix between clean and semi-harsh vocals, as well as more excellent thrashy riffs, and a fun chorus. The track sounds pretty similar to “Tornado of Sickness” from the previous album but still manages to be great in its own way. Closing out the album is “Out of Nowhere”, another classic heavy metal sounding track, with more laid back, but enjoyable verses, and an upbeat, very fun chorus, with some excellent vocal melodies. It speeds up towards the end and gets very epic during the final run through its chorus, before closing out softly and ending the album on a high note.

Iron Fire is one of those bands that will probably never get the attention they deserve, but they manage to consistently put out great, hard-hitting power metal albums at least once every few years, and Beyond the Void is no exception. It largely builds on the more modernized, somewhat thrashy sound they started on Among the Dead and offers up the kind of heavy, energetic and highly addictive power metal the band specializes in, while also mixing in a bit of classic heavy metal on some tracks. Fans of the band’s previous album should love this, while fans who prefer their earlier albums may again be disappointed, but anyone unfamiliar band and looking for some hard hitting, fun heavy/power metal with a slightly modern twist, should definitely give this one a shot, as it’s definitely one of Iron Fire’s finest works to date!

originally written for myglobalmind.com: https://myglobalmind.com/2019/03/10/iron-fire-beyond-the-void-review/

DippoMagoo Sometimes, even a long anticipated album will sneak up on you from out of nowhere. The latest case of this is Among the Dead, the eighth full length album by Danish power metal band Iron Fire. I loved their previous release, Voyage of the Damned and had been looking forward to a follow up for a long time, but aside from the occasional update, I knew little about the album (not even its final name) or when it was coming, so when I checked my promos one day and saw the release there, I was shocked and excited, to say the least. Better yet, as soon as I heard the album I was instantly satisfied, and it has only grown me more since then. While it doesn't quite match its predecessor for me, I'd still rank it ahead of all prior Iron Fire releases, and it's certainly a great example of how to modernize power metal in a way that actually works.

Iron Fire started out as a rather typical Euro power metal band, with releases like Thunderstorm and Revenge representing some great, mostly fast paced power metal with fun choruses and epic songwriting, and vocalist Martin Steene had a rather typical voice for the genre, except he sounded a bit more animated than usual at times. By the time their fifth album To the Grave was released, the band had mastered their classic sound and were at a point where they were consistently producing great album after great album. So it was a bit surprising that with their next album Metalmorphosized, they started adding in some modern elements, giving their music a bit of an edge and Martin started doing some death growls. That album was my introduction to the band and at the time I didn't like it much, but I've since realized that it was somewhat of a transitional album, moving away from their old sound and into something new. The band only evolved further with Voyage of the Damned, where their usual guitar dominated sound was somewhat dialed back to allow for the inclusion of keyboards, which managed to fit in well with the Sci-Fi concept of the album, and between that, a more extensive use of symphonic elements, and even a bit of prog, especially on the title track, it ended up being their most ambitious album to date and by far my favorite. Sadly, the album wasn't particularly well received, and so the band went through a bit of an overhaul, and have since returned as a three man band.

After Voyage of the Damned proved to be a rather divisive album, I was expecting some kind of return to the roots with Among the Dead, but suffice to say, that's not what what happened. While the new album lacks the experimentation found on the previous album, it's still very modern sounding compared to their first 5 albums, and it's also much rougher. In fact, this is by far the darkest and heaviest Iron Fire release to date. Which makes sense, as this time around the concept centers around the ever popular theme of a world being overrun by zombies. While not the most original concept, it's executed pretty well here, with a cool and rather entertaining voice over filled intro track, and the lyrics fit in well with the music. Getting back to the music, it's a much more aggressive sound than the band has had in the past, with the keyboards from Voyage removed completely, and now some of the riffs have a bit of a thrashy feel to them. If anything, the growls and metalcore screams from the previous two albums are even more prominent this time around. In fact, Martin's delivery all around is a lot rougher, with a much deeper and more gruff voice than he's displayed in the past. He remains the band's biggest asset, though, and shines throughout the album, as always.

One area where the band somewhat toned it down this time is the songwriting. Listeners won't find the kind of experimental tracks found on the previous two albums. Instead, most songs here are fast, furious and straight to the point. After that rather enjoyable intro, the title track kicks things off and right away the more aggressive, modern riffs are on full display, and the song charges ahead at a fast paced, with Martin mixing clean and harsh vocals effectively. The chorus is very good, and overall it's an excellent start to the album. Next is “Hammer of the Gods”, a slower track that still has a lot of energy to it, and again the riffs are very strong and the harsh vocals are used effectively. The rest of the album doesn't stray too far from these two tracks, though there are some amazing moments throughout.

My favorite song on the album is “Tornado of Sickness”, a very speedy track which has the best chorus on the album, and it's a very aggressive track with a ton of energy. Other highlights include the more melodic but still rough up tempo track “Higher Ground”, the fast but largely more melodic “Last Survivor”, which alternates between clean and harsh vocals in an awesome way during its chorus, “Iron Eagle”, where the guitar lead sounds like something from a classic Iron Maiden album, and “No Sign of Life”, which has the thrashiest riffs on the album, with even the chorus feeling like it would have fit well on an 80's thrash album. “Made to Suffer” is a very good fast paced song, while “Ghost from the Past” is a slower track and probably my least favorite on the album, but it's still fairly enjoyable, if not one of the band's more memorable efforts. One last song to mention is the closing track “When the Lights Go Out”, a nice ballad where Martin's vocals really shine. I usually don't like when albums end with a ballad, but this is a very well written track and after the intensity that precedes it, it feels like a nice way to end the album. Lastly, the band has included as a bonus track, a cover of the classic Metallica song “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, which fits their sound surprisingly well, and Martin's harsh vocals add a new element to the song that makes it a pretty interesting cover.

While I don't see Iron Fire ever making another album that's so in line with my musical tastes as Voyage of the Damned was, Among the Dead isn't too far behind and it's definitely a great, aggressive and more straight-forward release that demonstrates how a band can effectively add in modern elements to the genre and make it work. I can see it being another divisive release for the band, but I'd recommend that fans of their previous works at least give it a try, and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a power metal album with more of an edge to it, and especially to anyone who won't be scared off by all the harsh vocals.

Warthur Voyage of the Damned is a solid album by Danish power metal veterans Iron Fire. Seven albums into their career, any band which hasn't burned out has typically either refined their approach to a fine art or just resorted to phoning it in; curiously, Iron Fire seem to have done both, since what they've produced here is a decent rendition of their particular power metal formula with the occasional symphonic ambition but ends up feeling totally disposable due to how generic it is. It's a simple offering of the sort which lots of bands dabble in, but Iron Fire pull it off with a bit more consistency at least the average power metal act - plus I have to give them points for including a Warhammer 40,000-inspired bonus track in the form of Warmaster of Chaos.

adg211288 Voyage of the Damned is the seventh album by Danish power metal act Iron Fire. The album was released in 2012. I’m going to confess straight up that while I’m not that familiar with the band to fully judge them what I have heard from them in the past has seemed listenable music, but nothing really remarkable to write home about. They’ve always seemed to tackle predictable themes in a predictable power metal way and have never stood out from the crowd for me.

Voyage of the Damned goes some way to change that, lyrically taking their listeners for a trip into space, and Iron Fire’s brand of power metal on the album additionally draws on traditional metal with symphonic and extreme metal influences, sometimes with very slight progressive leanings. Despite this Voyage of the Damned still has the unmistakable sound of European styled power metal, but Iron Fire attempts to further expand their sound through most notably use the growled vocals to go with Martin Steene’s clean singing voice. Steene is quite easily the best thing Iron Fire has ever had going for them, being a very good singer who doesn’t quite fit the whole typical power metal sound they’ve had going for them in the past. To be honest with a voice like that the growling isn’t really needed, but fortunately for Iron Fire the growls do mostly work in context of Voyage of the Damned, but this seems to be a trap that many power metal bands (and artists of other styles that don’t feature growls as a rule) are falling into. I can’t say I approve of band’s giving growling time of day when they don’t play a genre that demands it, like death metal, and especially when the singer is of high calibre. In this album’s case, there is death metal growling which works, but also some that sound closer to metalcore, which don’t so much.

What makes Voyage of the Damned noteworthy for me though is anything that previous made me think of Iron Fire as just another generic power metal act seems to have been sucked into a black hole, and although I don’t find myself with as high a regard for the album as I maybe could, I find myself nodding with approval all the same at the true power behind their riffs, the excellent and tasteful use of keyboards, which are anything but typical power metal cheese and of course Steene’s excellent vocals. Compositionally it is also pretty solid stuff. Iron Fire has really moved up in the world with this album. I could do without the moments of balladry parts, because the band shows their clear strengths to be in that classic Euro power metal sound and the first proper track after the intro, Enter Oblivion OJ-666, is no better example of Iron Fire being exceptional.

Although I can’t really consider it for the top tiers of ratings Iron Fire has left me impressed with Voyage of the Damned and pleasantly surprised. They really honed their craft and if they could just continue down this path they started to follow with this album then I think that they’ll be producing some of the best power metal going. Voyage of the Damned certainly has enough killer tracks like Enter Oblivion OJ-666, Taken, Ten Years in Space and Dreams Of The Dead Moon to suggest just that. Recommended album definitely.

8.1/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

Time Signature Realm of metalness...

Genre: power metal

European power metal has had the somewhat unfortunate reputation of being cheesy and poppy-happy, but that seems to be changing now with the emergence of European power metal acts that draw on heavier types of metal. One of these bands is the Copenhagen-based band Iron Fire (well, these guys are actually power metal veterans with several demos and albums under their belt), who, with "Voyage of the Damned", remind us that of the "power" that the term "power metal" includes.

The genre framework is unambiguously that of the aesthetics of power metal the big, epic overall sound of the album and the use of huge melodic choruses as well as the larger than life sci-fi-based subject matter of the lyrics. And, yes, there are keyboards and ballads on this album (just check the epic ballad 'The Final Odyssey' or the massively epic and symphonic title track). And these power metal elements themselves are not a problem at all. The problem to me is the way that many European power metal bands have cheesed up the genre. Fortunately, this is not something to worry about here, because there are hardly any cheesy moments on the album. Rather than being smearing in slushy cheese, the central power metal elements are neatly wrapped in thrashy guitars, groovy riffs, aggressive drums, occasional proggy shifts and odd time signatures, heavy doom-ladden passages and harsh growls and screams to supplement the already impressive – and expressive – clean vocals.

Iron Fire's brand of modern power metal, as presented on this release, not is not just the result of great songwriting but also top notch musicianship. These guys know what they are doing, and the overall performance is impeccable – from the guitar solos over the drum beats to the vocals. Drawing on genres such as melodeath, death metal, thrash metal and doom metal, Iron Fire have managed to create truly epic power metal, but, rather than going totally cheesy, they have manged to generate a dark and haunting feel – very fitting, considering that the darkness of outer space is a central theme of the album.

"Voyage of the Damned" is a slab of solid, dark and epic power metal. Totally free of Euro-power metal silliness, it is recommended to those who like their metal epic and powerful, but free from cheese.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility)