IRON FIRE - Revenge
Band name and cover artwork should be warning enough. Iron Fire from Denmark released already two albums in 2000 and 2001, but apparently didn't use the five years since their last release to rethink their attitude. OK, I am not familiar with their past, but Revenge is one of the most shameless middle-of-the-road melodic power metal albums I have come across in many months. Tommy Hansen's production is good as always, but when you have a band that not only takes care to walk on safe musical ground all the time, but assaults our ears with rhymes like "heat/beat" and "proud/loud", then you should allow me my allergic reactions to this album.
As clichéd as the regular songs are, it doesn't get any better with the obligatory metal ballad Icecold Arion. This kind of music is rarely innovative, but some bands at least give their sound more depth and the vocals more power. I like early Manowar, and also have to smile at revivalists Hammerfall, but as much as I like to eat chocolate and candy, I am grown up enough to know that sometimes enough is enough. The power metal genre desperately needs new input, and Iron Fire are not the ones to deliver it. If you get really angry about my subjective opinion and furthermore think that the German Majesty are a metallic revelation, then by no means spend your money on Revenge. Anybody else beware!