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Adventure One from Throne of Iron is an album of epic, pounding metal that stands on the shoulders of classics like Omen's Battle Cry, Manowar's Into Glory Ride and Manilla Road's Open the Gates. It features the same kind of savage riffing and forceful vocals with lyrics about ancient conflict and dark magic but it falls short on a number of fronts. The songwriting is competent, and the songs are fine while on but lack anything resembling a hook and the singing is passable, but no more. The singer has some gravitas in his delivery but mostly sounds like he's out of his comfort zone and belting as best he can to get through the songs. Finally, beginning an album of ostensibly serious material with a spoken-word intro that finishes with a joke makes it hard to take anything that follows without a few grains of salt. Ending with the mystical and atmospheric instrumental "Wish", one of the best songs on the album for its simplistic beauty, makes for a diametrically opposing bookend on a strange and unsatisfying album.