"L'album de Iron Mask est une tranche épique étonnamment conçu de musique Power Metal où, Dushan Pertrossi arrive à afficher non seulement ses talents de guitariste. Mais aussi sa chanson naturel écrit capacité à son plein!"
Review by Lee Smith
| Track listing: |
01. Back Into Mystery
02. Like A Lion In A Cage
03. Only One Commandment
04. Seven Samurai
05. Fifth Son of Winterdoom
06. Angel Eyes, Demon Soul
07. Rock Religion
08. Father Farewell
09. Eagle Of Fire
10. Reconquista 1492
11. Run To Me
12. The Picture Of Dorian Grey
Iron Mask Line-up:
Mark Boals – Vocals
Dushan Petrossi – Guitars
Vassili Moltchanov – Bass
Andreas Lindhal – Keyboards
Ramy Ali – Drums
Although this album was released on AFM records, late last year, I felt there wasn't enough quality English reviews of this album. With Dushan's recent announcement of the next Magic kingdom album on it's way soon and this album being recently re-released it seemed fitting to write this review. Iron Mask are a Belgium neo-classical Power Metal band. Often the fantasy imagery of medieval sorcery is associated with this genre. While lyrically 'Fifth Son Of Winterdoom' features many of the elements we have all come to expect from this kind of band. For the most part avoids the clichés. However I wont - enter the dragon and get ready to be rocked! There maybe a damsel that needs a knight to rescue them.
Be prepared to do battle the moment you press play! Dushan with his "swordsmanship", has his axe (guitar) held high and is a technically adept axe-man who will easily slay all his enemies. Dushan has all the virtuoso shill of guitarists like Michael Romeo, Yngwie Malmsteen and so on. However being such a skilled guitarist often means that they will be tempted to show off and produce an over pompous self indulgent album that only appeals to the musically inclined. At the same time Dushan is also faced with the quest of pleasing his fan-base who for the most part, are demanding - so it's a double edged sword Iron Mask has to tackle.
The album has good production and is well mixed, apart from Mark's vocal's being a little too quite for my liking. Although you can clearly hear all the words. Mark, singing in high falsetto means that on lower notes the vocals lack impact with the mix as it is. The twelve tracks display fluidity in terms of song writing versatility and arrangements. While skilled guitarists are two to a penny, what is unique about Mr Petrossi, is his competence as a song writer. “One Commandment” for example contains an addictive riff, and hooks that fans of Dio will be familiar with . "The Picture Of Dorian Grey" to me seems to be more of a progressive track.
The late Gary Moore, one of my personal favourite guitarist is payed homage to with the title cut-featuring Celtic keyboards. Other notable tracks are; "Rock Religion", "Father Farewell" and “Reconquista 1492”, while does contain a recognisable riff from Iron Maiden, it does develop into an original composition which features some really nice acoustic flamenco style guitar in the intro.
Mark Boals (ex- Yngwie Malmsteen) delivers the vocals. He is in my opinion one of the best vocalist in this style of music and also a personal favorite of mine.. He has an amazing range and is perfectly suited to the album in question. My only concern is that maybe Dushan is becoming too self-conscious, as I wouldn't want Iron Mask to become a "Hard Rock" band.
I loved some of the heavier elements, and more guitar orientated approach of their previous album "Black As Death". This time around though, Iron Mask prove they can write songs that will have you punching the air with tracks like "Rock Religion, and at the same time deliver touching moments that we can all relate to with "Father Farewell". I would highly recommend this album to any rock fan. This was for me the best metal album of 2013. It seems now appropriate to sum up this review with a few words of French.
L'album de Iron Mask est une tranche épique étonnamment conçu de musique Power Metal où, Dushan Pertrossi arrive à afficher non seulement ses talents de guitariste. Mais aussi sa chanson naturel écrit capacité à son plein!
Alien Candy rating: 9/10
Please note after careful thought I have revised my rating system.
Rock Religion is a video taken from 'Fifth Son Of Winterdoom'.
No comments:
Post a Comment