Heavy Metal
Independent Release
Release date – November 4th 2022
Line Up:
Chris Osterman – Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar
Megan Merrick – Lead Guitar
Leighton Holmes – Bass
Max Friesen – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Tides Of Desolation
2 – Sheathe The Sword
3 – Queen Of The Crystal Throne
4 – Hunter And Prey
5 – Witching Hour
6 – In The Grip Of Nightmares
7 – Primordial
8 – The Blood Of Creation
Iron Kingdom hail from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada and they’ve been going for over a decade with regular releases. Their debut ‘Curse Of The Voodoo Queen’ was largely ignored but this did not deter them and they have subsequently gathered momentum with the three albums they released since. Let’s hope they pick up a bit more with this effort.
Opener ‘Tides Of Desolation’ is minute plus instrumental that leads into the power metal blast of ‘Sheathe The Sword’ before the mid-tempo NWOBHM worship of ‘Queen Of The Crystal Throne’ which has some excellent guitar work weaving around Osterman’s powerful high pitched howl. ‘Hunter And Prey’ is pure rapid power metal – very Gamma Ray/Helloween and tells the tale the tale of a Finnish farmer/sniper who had over 500 confirmed kills during a war with Russia. ‘Witching Hour’ is a fine galloping romp ala Maiden with a touch of Sabbath along the way before ‘In The Grip Of Nightmares’ goes almost thrash with some excellent melodies and superb axework from Osterman and Merrick then the instrumental ‘Primordial’ brings some Maiden into the mix with some fine guitar lines and a galloping rhythm from Holmes and Friesen. The Maiden theme continues on the fabulous 13 minute plus ‘The Blood Of Creation’ and as you would expect its chock full of riffs, solo’s and melodies through different passages.
Only 8 tracks but boy do they cram it all in. Loads of riffs and melodies some excellent lead breaks and pounding rhythms. This is bonafide, foot on the monitor, fist pumping, horn throwing real metal. I have never heard Iron Kingdom before but on the strength of this I will be obtaining the back catalogue very soon. I can’t say they’re doing anything new but what they do is superb, and this release really will take them to the next level.
Score: 7/10
Reviewed by: Smudge
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