Tuesday, July 8, 2008

IRON SAVIOR: Battering Ram


Produced by Piet Sielck

Released: 2004

Battering Ram is the fifth album from Germany’s Iron Savior, and true to form it sounds exactly like everything else they’ve done. Frustratingly consistent, every album Iron Savior has recorded has been nothing short of excellent: soaring, incredibly catchy anthemic melodic power metal of the highest order. This one is no different, and therein lies the problem. There’s nothing at all to distinguish it from any of the previous albums, apart from the possible exception of the almost total absence of keyboards from this release.

Trying to find a technical fault or a lapse in Iron Savior’s songwriting ability is impossible because Piet Sielck helped to develop the formula for this sort of thing and is no less a master at the form than the likes of Kai Hansen and Hansi Kursch, and the musicianship is faultless. But again, this is so polished and seamless in every respect that it could have just rolled off a production line somewhere. Fans of mainstream European power metal will love this because, as usual, Iron Savior does it so much better than most, but for anyone seeking some degree of originality and innovation or something a little more challenging, this is likely to serve as little more than background music for a rowdy drinking session.

  1. Battering Ram
  2. Stand Against the King
  3. Tyranny of Steel
  4. Time Will Tell
  5. Wings of Deliverence
  6. Break the Curse
  7. Riding Free
  8. Starchaser
  9. Machine World
  10. HM Powered Man

Rating: 85%

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