Iron Fire is a Danish Heavy Metal band, and I have been following them from the first demo, which was made in '98. In 2000 the official debut album,
Thunderstorm (out on Noise Rec., produced by Tommy Hansen) gained the young talents a good amount of followers around in Europe. The style was very catchy and melodic, not far from
HammerFall and
Helloween, with a great dose of
Running Wild-like riffs thrown in the mix. The second album,
On The Edge, showed the band turning to a more "dark" and less catchy point, which I wasn't exactly overjoyed about. The album showed a bunch of good tracks but overall was a slight letdown for me.
Now the band is back as a demoband, and after several line up changes this demo was made. Apart from singer and mastermind,
Martin Steene, it features
Søren Jensen (guitars),
Mads Andersen (guitars),
José Cruz (bass) and
Steve Mason (drums), who I all find to be doing a great job here! Especially Martin's vocals have improved a great deal since the debut!
After a short, atmospheric intro, the band starts the record with the mid-tempo rocker
Nightmare. A very catchy and groovy song with a great, pretty happy sounding main guitar riff and a good flow. I could have wished for a little more in-your-face song to open the album, but anyway, the song rocks, with it's groovy feeling, duelling guitars, and nice melodyline. A very recognisable guitar riff help the song get stuck in your head pretty fast.
On we go, with
Brotherhood Of The Brave, a pretty rhythmic track, and again with a very catchy chorus. Some nice guitarwork also lifts the quality of this one, and the band sounds rather tight.
Crossroad is the ballad of the demo, and a very good one, far from the sugarsweet
Angel of Light from the debut album. The melody and the strong vocal performance are the highlights of this deepfelt track. On the contrary the super highpitched background voices draw a little from the overall impression, but I can live with it.
I like these kinds of ballads that carry forth emotions without being totally covered in sugar. One of the best tracks on this demo, and I can tell you, it's even better live!
From The North bears strong assembly to Running Wild, a mid-tempo, guitardriven song
with a rather simple profile. Lyrics of course deal with the Norse mythology, Valhalla, Odin, and so forth, and this track seems somehow perfect for drunken sing-a-long nights.
Power starts with some quiet singing, before the guitar blasts ahead, leading us into a well written and catchy song, with some nice changes in pace and feeling.
Riding Through Hell speeds things up and has some cool drums and bass lines. Some of the work on this track reminds me a little of the great
Iron Maiden. Again a very chorus based song, but that's one of the things
Iron Fire do best, I believe. The band sounds very tight on this track and the guitar work is pretty amazing. The song shows what the band is capable of when playing a little faster and harder than normal for them.
Phantom Symphony clocks in at more than 9:00 minutes, and is probably the most epic
Iron Fire song ever. A song this long needs some more elements in my eyes, to keep the interest of the listener. Yes, it has tempo shifts, instrumental parts, parts with more silent singing and more aggressive, hard parts. But though I like this song, I would have wished that the band either had added some more elements or had went more into details with the ones present. Just to make the overall impression that little bit more interesting, to keep the listener bound by the track. A good and solid performance but not as astonishing as it could perhaps have been.
Afterlife is this kind of typical mid-tempo, chorus based
Iron Fire song, however not one of the best on this demo. The very simple structure and vocals revealing Martin's interest in "glam like singing" make me skip this track sometimes. The faster part towards the end is something I like, though.
Odin's Call has a great bombastic feeling to it and without a doubt shows that Martin Steene has indeed become a singer to be reckoned with. His performance on this ultraslow track simply is astonishing! The singing carries this song entirely, and the rest of it mostly consists of keyboard sounds. Another solid track, and a great end to the demo!
Martin Steene has always had the ability to write songs that get stuck in your head, as well as more epic tunes.
Iron Fire is a band that certainly seems to have a lot more to offer in the future, and I can't really understand why they're still unsigned. A lot of the songs are pretty alike concerning structure, but if you like this style, I don't think you will be disappointed!
To buy the demo or check out some free full songs, visit
Iron Fire's
homepage
While I like the overall sound of the band, there are still some elements that could be worked upon to make the band more unique and less of a good band in the flock of good, new bands sounding this way. I think
Iron Fire have come a long way in terms of having their own sound since the beginning, but the evolution of the band still isn't entirely completed. This demo shows that the band is still alive and kicking, but finding a more personal sound and a stable line up is essential now!
The production on this demo is of very high quality, even good enough for a real album! Being made in Nifelheim studios, belonging to ex-
Iron Fire guitarist Søren Jensen (who also produced) has given the band a very transparent and clear production, a big surprise for those who expect to hear "regular" demo sound here. The cover and inlay is also rather professional, and while it's not what makes me buy a demo, it surely enhances the overall impression!
Written by
Nina Friday, July 23, 2004
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