Iron Kingdom - Gates Of Eternity
This is the second offering from this promising Canadian band so expect a slightly more polished traditional metal approach to their raw debut. Once the album gets going you get to ‘Guardian Angel’ which is truly tremendous. It has all the hallmarks of classic metal resonating atmosphere, guitar riffs, cool in-key power screams and varied range vocals with an energy that simply becomes infectious. Following from this ‘At Home in the Dark’ really has some early Maiden influences nailed to a tee. Guitar harmonies, galloping rhythms, powerful musical interpretation, these are all key elements and considering their last album ‘Curse of the Voodoo Queen’ they did try to emulate this, but on ‘Gates of Eternity’ experience and lessons learnt are clearly audible. Those power screams I mentioned earlier find favour as they are not beyond Chris Osterman’s range, the songs are written in a suitable musical key to fully utilise Osterman’s range and style, something many other young bands should try to emulate in fairness.
The production is a better professional job (not that the last album wasn’t, this just sounds fresher), I like the fact that I can hear the bass in the tracks, something that often gets overlooked and obvious guitar double tracking works very well, especially in something like ‘Crowned in Iron’. With experience comes courage, a 15-minute plus epic in ‘Egypt – The End of Near’ really shows a vast range of time signatures and musical skills that these Canadians can offer. The level of consistency is pleasing, even with the sweet instrumental ‘Candeloro’ breaking up the metal that is present in every other corner of the release. The album artwork depicts heaven and hell, chose your destiny and chose this album.
With ‘Gates of Eternity’ Iron Kingdom have become their own masters, the songwriting is more proficient, the drift between time signatures is certainly brisk and precise, the while album is years beyond their own years. If you harbour traditional heavy metal, then look to the Iron Kingdom, the future is bright and the battle has really only just begun, this album should give this band a kick in the right direction.
[embed]
The production is a better professional job (not that the last album wasn’t, this just sounds fresher), I like the fact that I can hear the bass in the tracks, something that often gets overlooked and obvious guitar double tracking works very well, especially in something like ‘Crowned in Iron’. With experience comes courage, a 15-minute plus epic in ‘Egypt – The End of Near’ really shows a vast range of time signatures and musical skills that these Canadians can offer. The level of consistency is pleasing, even with the sweet instrumental ‘Candeloro’ breaking up the metal that is present in every other corner of the release. The album artwork depicts heaven and hell, chose your destiny and chose this album.
With ‘Gates of Eternity’ Iron Kingdom have become their own masters, the songwriting is more proficient, the drift between time signatures is certainly brisk and precise, the while album is years beyond their own years. If you harbour traditional heavy metal, then look to the Iron Kingdom, the future is bright and the battle has really only just begun, this album should give this band a kick in the right direction.
[embed]
- At The Gates
- Chains Of Solitude
- Demon Of Deception
- Candeloro
- Guardian Angel
- At Home In The Dark
- Crowned In Iron
- Egypt – The End Of Near
- Shadow Of Death
