Hey everyone,

This month's album of the month was an easy pick for me. When looking back on that golden age of European powermetal which lasted from 1996-2000 Iron Savior is a big name for me. I loved the debut and I loved Unification in fact Unification has taken it's place as one of my favorite albums of all time. Over the years the band put out a lot of releases. They were good to ok but the band seemed to fade out of the spotlight and were sort of forgotten about. Sure I would buy each new release but to be honest I wasn't really paying attention to the band like I did so many years ago.

 

Fast forward to 2011. They come out with "The Landing" which to me was an amazing album! My attention suddenly turned to what Iron Savior were doing. I was so blown away by "The Landing" that it was in my top 5 for 2011. The songs, the spirit, and everything I liked about the band was here. I felt like I had gone back to 1997/1998 when this band was really big for me.

So then it came time to get Piet Sielck back on my show. Piet was actually one of the first interviews I ever did on The Metal Command and so many years had passed I was excited to have him on again. At the same time I went back to many of the albums I had overlooked through the years and realized I was missing out. Some of these albums were really good. "Condition Red" was one record that really stands out for me.

So now my anticipation for the next Iron Savior album was really brewing. The same anticipation I had when I was waiting for "Unification" to come out. I had this gut feeling they were going to put something really good out but never realized they could put something out that would surpass "The Landing" but they did.

Here comes "Rise of the Hero"!!!! What an excellent release! I could not believe how much I liked this album. Not only that but my least favorite songs on it are the first couple on the album. The album gets better as it goes on. In fact the album gets better and better. The last three songs are also my favorites. They also do a killer cover of the song "Dance with Somebody". Making a metal version of that track takes some real talent.

Overall Iron Savior's new album brings you a great record of some killer powermetal. Sure it may not be the most groundbreaking things out there but the songs are well written and recorded. I have sort of fallen out with eurometal over the last few years however, Iron Savior has really helped me get back into it! Definitely a must if you are looking to relive the glory years of European power metal!

Iron Savior Official Website: http://www.iron-savior.com

Tony Webster 4/25/2014

<<<back to the blogs page