Iron Fire – Voyage of the Damned (2012)

Led by the multi-faceted vocals Martin Steene, Iron Fire delivers the latest mash-up album with “Voyage of the Damned”. Featuring a plethora of vocal styles and ridiculous amounts of layering and studio magic, this release actually sounds very dynamic and highly efficient. The band’s Power Metal trademark is clearly evident but it is all the ‘extra stuff’ going on that makes them truly unique and different.

The real album opener “Enter Oblivion OJ-666” features over the top keyboard arrangements graciously overdone by extremely over the top vocals. Martin goes back and forth between styles never sounding dull, and in a weird way we actually liked it a lot. The somewhat more conventional “Taken” showcases the ‘serious’ side of the band and delivers a very powerful and well crafted track.

With a very atmospheric opening passage, “Leviathan” is one of our favorite songs of this release thanks to its super catchy vocal harmonies and heavy keyboard use. The riffing is excellent and while the harsh vocals sneak up on you, they are still very odd sounding (as we also noted when we reviewed their last album). We don’t really know why the band needs growls, but they surely surprise the hell out of the listener.

The ‘Power ballad’ could not be missing in an Iron Fire release and the epic “The Final Odyssey” nicely satisfies the requirement. Martin’s vocals are very emotional and shine majestically, especially with the atmospheric elements of this track. The rest of the songs follow a similar pattern in terms of combining epic vocal harmonies, vocal layers, crazy keyboard and excellent guitar work. We particularly enjoyed “Verge to Collide”, the solos on “Dreams of the Dead Moon”, and the crazy guitar work on the closer “Warmaster of Chaos”.

IF you are looking for a very diverse release that tries to appeal to everybody but ultimately ends up being a very rich Power Metal album, look no further and get “Voyage of the Damned”. The band goes all out in terms of creating very dynamic songs that will keep you guessing and will leave you fully satisfied.

Release: February 7th, 2012

Country: Denmark