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IRON FIRE - To the Grave

Gandhi the Vile | Tulsa, OK | 01/28/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

""To the Grave" (2009) is the fifth album from Danish power metal band Iron Fire. Stylistically, it follows in the footsteps of "Revenge" (2006) and "Blade of Triumph" (2007).



Iron Fire billed this album as "a bit darker" than previous releases. Lyrically, this isn't the case - like previous Iron Fire releases, Martin Steene mostly sings about battles and fighting and warriors and metal here. Musically, what "a bit darker" apparently means is a few more attempts at death-style vocals (there still aren't many), and the utter lack of any of the softer and slower songs that Iron Fire have always been very good at (and which also help to add much-needed variety to albums in a genre often sorely lacking it).



The production here is very good, especially compared to some of Iron Fire's earlier releases. Steene's vocals and Kirk Backarach's guitar work are highlights, as always, but the songwriting here is isn't up to Iron Fire's previously established standards. The fundamental problem is a lack of melodic creativity; by and large, "To the Grave" doesn't have the catchy and memorable guitar riffs and melodies (on verses as well as choruses) that the superior "Blade of Triumph" has. The end result is a whole album of more or less equally heavy songs, most of which run together because there isn't anything particularly memorable about them and because there isn't much variety as far as the tempos go (the limited edition version of "To the Grave" has one extra song - "Blacksmith of Thunder" - it, too, is unmemorable). There are no real phenomenal tracks here - "Kill for Metal" and "To the Grave" are highlights.



On the whole, "To the Grave" is something of a disappointment after the spectacular "Blade of Triumph". But it is a solid power metal album, even if there's precious little variety here, and it's about on par with Iron Fire's first three releases. Nevertheless, Iron Fire has given us good reason to expect better than this from them."