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Iron Savior: Rise of the Hero

I'm sorely tempted to merely reprise my review of the last Iron Savior album The Landing at this point (see review here) because precious little has changed in Piet Sielck's world view and this makes everything fine. Like AC/DC, Iron Savior have a sound (muscular power metal) and they stick to it religiously and are highly adept at repeating it so that it remains fresh each time out because let's face it, in many ways like Angus and the boys they make the same album over and over again. Some may have a problem with this, I don't. If I want innovation I look elsewhere. If I want to raise my fist and feel manly then Iron Savior is my first port of call.

As a vocalist Savior frontman Sielck is as metal as they come. One couldn't imagine him ever crooning a love ballad, that's for wimps. Iron Savior play heavy metal and couldn't give a toss about subtlety. Despite the huge hooks within practically every song Iron Savior remain ridiculously uncommercial and heavier than many within the genre. That said, the first three proper songs give the impression that Rise of the Hero will be a wholly classic Savior album which it isn't possibly thanks to the inclusion of a cover version ("Dance With Somebody") which must have been a Euro hit as I'm unfamiliar with the song but suffice to say it is genuinely horrible and is desperately out of place here but other than that this record will definitely satisfy long terms fans whilst probably not picking up new ones in huge amounts.


Track Listing:
01. Ascendence
02. Last Hero
03. Revenge Of The Bride
04. From Far Beyond Time
05. Burning Heart
06. Thunder From The Mountains
07. Iron Warrior
08. Dragon King
09. Dance With Somebody
10. Firestorm
11. The Demon
12. Fistraiser

Added: April 8th 2014
Reviewer: Simon Bray
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 2163
Language: english

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» SoT Staff Roundtable Reviews:

Iron Savior: Rise of the Hero
Posted by Steven Reid, SoT Staff Writer on 2014-04-08 12:51:09
My Score:

There are so many sub genres these days that you actually need to carry a Metal-Rock-Prog handbook when classifying which band is exactly doing what. In fact so much so that the days of simply piling together everything from Cinderella to Venom and calling it Heavy Metal seem laughable now.... more's a pity.

So guess what? Iron Savior are Heavy Metal. Aside from an opening synth intro that has zero to do with what follows (really, do we still need every second album to do that?), if you played the roaring riffs, throat ripping, yet clean vocals and pummelling drums to any average punter who isn't steeped in the many ways of Symphonic Power Progressive Rap Black Death Djent Metal, they'd immediately declare from the opening outburst of "Ascendence" that yup, guess what? This is Heavy Metal. And boy is it all the better for it.

Now eight albums into their existence Iron Savior are the classic example of a band who know what they do, do it well and satisfy their own band of rabid followers in the process. Thankfully Rise Of The Hero is no different, for this is heads down, guitars up, drums rattling, bass pounding stuff. Solos are aimed squarely at your head at every opportunity and vocally, the only ever present across the years, Peter Sielck adds enough theatrical pomp to his ferocious attack to give a larger than life feel to this barrage of Metally Metallic Metal of Heavy Metalness.

For those a little more in the know, the other fact the instantly charges for your senses is the undoubtedly Teutonic nature of every song (bar one) on this album. Whether through the Accept attack, the Helloween intensity, or the power of Primal Fear, Germany is the only country that could have created a band like this. And it did! The one song (as rightly pointed out by Simon in his review above) that throbs like the proverbial thumb of soreness is the ghastly cover of the Mando Diao, Euro-electro-hit "Dance With Somebody", which, while damn catchy simply doesn't belong here and hopefully signals an end to the current trend of Metal acts doing so-so to laughable covers of awful Pop hits....please.

So this is, if you haven't been paying attention, Heavy and Metal. That'll do for me!



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