• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Iron Fire have been around for a while now, though they have stayed largely under the radar. This, their fourth studio album, will hopefully break them out into a wider audience. Vocalist Martin Steen has also lent his talents to the Denner/Sherman project Force Of Evil, but if you ask me, Iron Fire are way better.

Iron Fire are just about metal - no gimmicks, no trends, no orchestrations or acoustic interludes, and no fucking ballads. Blade Of Triumph is a disc of solid smoking Heavy Metal that glitters with that distinctive Scandinavian sheen. This is catchy, crispety-crunchety Power/True Metal not too far removed from Hammerfall or Cryonic Temple or other stalwarts of the scene. Iron Fire don't waste time trying to innovate, they just kick ass with great tunes like "Bloodbath of Knights", "Dawn Of Victory", and "Jackal's Eye". Really there are no clinkers on here, and all the tunes feature solid riffing, good solos, and Steen's smooth, charismatic vocals. The production is deeply impressive, and the band sounds tight and huge.

This is a solid, enjoyable album that entertains from start to finish and has no weak spots. If there is a weakness to this album at all it's that there are no really awesome songs on here, just a lot of good ones. Instead of 3 five-star songs and a bunch of filler, we get a whole album of four-star songs. Some days, I think that's really the way to go. Recommended for all fans of straight up metal.