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I try to avoid reading press releases before reviewing something and my first reaction when I listened to this album was that it sounded like some Herman Frank material. Well, no kidding. Herman Frank is one of the members, along with David Reece, Don Van Stavern, Francesco Jovino and Michael Pesin, most of whom have played in Herman Frank, Accept, or some bands playing similar styles. Now, this is not a carbon copy of Herman's band, but if you liked that stuff, you're pretty much guaranteed to like Blood In Blood Out. Whereas Frank's band was more on the power metal side of things, Iron Allies draw more from traditional heavy metal, giving the album more of an old-school vibe while not sounding dated with the power metal elements not content to be a too distant second. This is heavy and crunchy and a lot of the songs here are fucking catchy, calling for the listener to sing along and break out the air guitar and headbang happily most of the way through. I wouldn't go as far as to say there are bad songs, but they could probably have made the album a little bit better by shaving some 5-10 minutes off of it, with a couple of songs sounding like they're "just there"; not really hurting the experience, but kind of dragging things a little longer than they should be. That's nitpicking and largely up to personal taste, but suffice it to say that Blood In Blood Out is a strong album of power metal-infused heavy metal that should satisfy your thirst for the old and the new.