Label: AFM Records
Release date: 15.03.2019
Production: Piet Sielck
Album length: 49.48 min
Genre: Heavy Metal / Power Metal
Iron Savior are the old-school standard-bearers of the Hamburg school of power metal. Piet Sielck, the undisputed chief and commander of this long-lived German outfit, is practically one of the patrons of European power metal: before launching Iron Savior in 1996 he produced the first albums of the cult Blind Guardian, and he was around for the birth of power metal too, when Helloween were coming together in Hamburg in the first half of the eighties. A legend, in other words.
Sadly, his Iron Savior never enjoyed major commercial success or a notable breakthrough on the international scene, even though they definitely deserve one for their excellent body of work and the (thorny) road of defiance they’ve walked. They’re also very hard to catch on stages across the old continent, since they rarely venture south of northern Germany. Their generational peers like Gamma Ray, Helloween, Blind Guardian and Primal Fear came out of it better in that respect, but Sielck doesn’t lose sleep over it. He’s content with his status, and through more than 20 years of unbreakable activity Iron Savior have stayed loyal to making music that’s a proper schoolbook lesson in “in your face” heavy metal rawness and punch, carved with devotion after the old German power metal recipe.
»Kill Or Get Killed« (you can hardly come up with a more power-metal album title) is Iron Savior’s thirteenth album. In 2017 Sielck had the great idea of re-recording selected cuts from the band’s career and releasing them as the double compilation CD »Reforged – Riding On Fire«. Great stuff, a must for every power metal devotee, and one that strongly recalls the move by Hansen’s Gamma Ray and their 2000 compilation called »Blast Form The Past«. A welcome move in general, because many of the albums Iron Savior put out, especially in the first decade of their run, are hard to find in shops, if at all. If you asked Sielck and Hansen whether they know anything about hell, they’d tell you they know damn well what it’s like to be there, meaning being under the wing of Noise Records. Iron Savior even have a song on the subject (I’ve Been To Hell), but let’s leave the sarcasm aside and get back to »Kill Or Get Killed«.
This Iron Savior reset, a quick stroll through the past works and released albums, especially up to the album »Megatropolis 2.0«, as embodied by the aforementioned double compilation released the year before last, has clearly done the man and his crew a world of good, because »Kill Or Get Killed« is again more varied and, as far as phrasing goes, a considerably stronger album than its predecessor “Titancraft“, which was plagued by a mild creative exhaustion and hollowness from too much self-recycling. That gave the predecessor a thankless “happy Freedom Call” flavor that was mildly annoying when listening, if not downright off-putting.
Iron Savior have their own well-developed musical character and stand firmly behind it, and that goes for the excellent new studio effort »Kill Or Get Killed« too. Sielck keeps his remarkable vocal power and explosiveness. His voice retains an incredibly charismatic punch that suits the German brand of uncompromising metal slicing phenomenally, with the Germans going all-or-nothing on phrasing and attacking with everything they’ve got. A massive Gibson sound from two guitars, sharpened to a metallic edge and razor-sharp, so you can feel the iron filings flying off the strings as they go berserk on the Iron Savior riffs. Excellent production. As always, with Piet Sielck at the producer’s helm!
Power metal diehards will be thrilled. The tracks steal each other’s thunder in riff inventiveness and freshness. It doesn’t get more authentic than this. The sentence that follows has been written plenty of times before, but there’s no way around repeating it. Listening to Iron Savior is like putting the raw primal power of Judas Priest beneath ornaments of fast riff-picking and betting everything on power, speed and aggression, which brings Iron Savior’s character close to kindred Gamma Ray, and to early Blind Guardian too. Piet Sielck knows exactly what heavy metal is, in all its primal essence and elemental force! That’s why »Kill Or Get Killed« is a true-blue, hardened shrapnel shell that hands fans of the band, as well as fans of the whole Euro power metal genre, immodestly put, a true heavenly manna of fresh, boundless delights from the classic metal alphabet of the German school!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Track list:
1. Kill Or Get Killed
2. Roaring Thunder
3. Eternal Quest
4. From Dust And Ruble
5. Sinner Or Saint
6. Stand Up And Fight
7. Heroes Ascending
8. Never Stop Believing
9. Until We Meet Again
10. Legends Of Glory
Lineup:
Piet Sielck – guitar, vocals
Piesel Küstner – guitar
Jan-S. Eckert – bass
Patrick Klose – guitar
