Iron Fire – Metalmorphosized (2010)

Ever wonder how can you royally screw up the flow of an album?, just listen to Metalmorphosized and you will have the perfect example of how not too structure your release. Featuring 3 new songs (tracks 1, 3, 8 and 10) and 9 more from the band’s demos between 2001 and 2006, “Metalmorphosized” showcases Iron Fire’s metamorphosis in terms of sound between the years.

Immediately you can notice that “Metalmorphosized” is a ‘stitched together’ release because the way the sound of the band changes between songs. The only common denominator of this release is the band’s signature Power Metal sound and Martin Steene’s characteristic vocals. The new songs are definetly better written (and sounding) than most of the band’s older stuff presented here, but the vocal ‘experiments’ get to be very annoying sometimes.

These vocal experiments consist of using harsh vocals here and there, and some ridiculous layering that sounds very bad at times. While we love the ‘traditional’ Power Metal vocals of Steene’s, all this harsh vocals and weird layering take away from the epicness of this release. Songs like “Reborn to Darkness”, “Back in the Fire”, and “Still Alive”, feature said vocal changes and somewhat ruin perfectly good songs. The use of female vocals in the song “Crossroad” is actually very good, and creates a very nice duet with Stenne, making this song the ‘Power Ballad’ of this album, and one of the best songs as well.

In terms of the changing styles, we have the perfect example between “Nightmare” and “Still Alive”, “Nightmare” is the typical Power Metals song with soaring guitars, great vocal melodies, a catchy chorus section (and shitty harsh vocals). While “Still Alive” feels a bit more experimental with heavier drum patterns and even harsher vocals, these two songs contrast greatly and for me kill the flow of the album very early. This happens through most of the album, especially when they introduce a ‘new’ track (1, 3, 8 and 10).

However, besides the fact that the album is ‘weirdly’ arranged and that some of the vocals and layering sounds odd for a Power Metal release, Iron Fire is actually a very solid band musically speaking. Most songs are very well written and feature the traditional ‘ingredients’ to make them great Power Metal songs, which are brilliant vocals (for the most part), catchy chorus sections, epic guitar riffs and solos, and very tight drumming. Songs like “The Graveyard” brilliantly represent these ingredients, and the extra atmospheric keyboards work wonders to make this song one of our favorites.

There is no doubt that Iron Fire is a great band, as individual songs “Metalmorphosized” is a very solid album that might be better enjoyed arranged in a different manner. The band has been fairly consistent with their sound since 2006 and this album (the new songs) shows some improvement over their latest efforts. If they can get their shit straight and play the genre they are great at (Power Metal), without any of the pointless harsh-vocals they would be close to greatness.

Release: September 29th, 2010

Country: Denmark