IRON KINGDOM "On The Hunt"





IRON KINGDOM

"On The Hunt"

Cold steel from the Great White North, IRON KINGDOM take up the battle for epic heavy metal with "On The Hunt". This should please all lovers of traditional 80's power metal. Have no fear that this is the fruity keyboard/symphonic stuff like RHAPSODY or ELVENKING...this is more in the vein of OMEN, early FATES WARNING, MANILLA ROAD and even IRON MAIDEN. There's more fast galloping here than in John Wayne's entire canon, coupled with tons of twin guitar melodies and flourishes. The pace and intensity is pretty steady, only really letting up on last song "The Dream", a somber metal ballad revolving around a simple motif.

Singer Chris Osterman might take a little getting used to, as he has an extremely nasal tone. But if you could take Mark the Shark from MANILLA ROAD or even the dude from SACRED STEEL, you can cope with it. Speaking of the late great MR, I was reminded of them more than once, particularly on the epic "Invaders" and "Sign of the Gods". IRON KINGDOM are comfortably nestled in the realm of sword swinging barbarians, dragons and mystical might. OK, it's about as original as a show about Alaskan hillbillies, but they tackle the subject with the same fervent worship as aforementioned MANILLA ROAD or IRONSWORD.

Quite a lot of mythic power metal has been released lately, but if you like yours tough and stripped to the essential core of the genre, "On The Hunt" is worthy of further investigation. As the band themselves say, "Keep It Steel"!

Comments

Popular Posts