Iron Savior – Titancraft (2016)
Titancraft is the ninth studio album by German heavy metal band Iron Savior. It consists of twelve new songs, song “Protector” from the album Condition Red and “Assailant” from the album titled Iron Savior. A video clip for the song “Way of the Blade” was released on April 28, 2016.
The words Iron Savior has already become synonymous of quality. And a new release did not disappoint me, starting with the cover. I can say that it met our expectations. The album was excellent produced and it is not surprising, given the vast experience of Iron Saviors project leader in the recording arts. Not everyone can boast so powerful and crystal clear sound, even famous stars, and Piet is doing his job just outstanding over and over again. From the composer’s point of view, on the album there is something to listen to – there are high-speed songs and the mid-tempo heavy songs like “R & R Addiction”, there is a good half-ballad “I Surrender”. As a result, the band again managed to record quite a varied release for this specific genre like power metal, which they chose from the very first album released in 1997. All Iron Savior features are strongly represented again throughout the duration of the album – it’s the same hard, guitar-driven power metal with extraordinary guitar solos and choral refrains in the spirit of Blind Guardian. There is no excessive symphonic, unnecessary electronics, annoying keys and operatic vocals – everything is done according to the canons of the classic heavy metal and the classic power metal. But, of course, style does not allow experimenting too much and Iron Savior don’t strive to do something extraordinary. As a result, on the Titancraft we have a material showing excellent technique and quality, but the almost complete absence of fresh and bright ideas. Although there are no bad songs on the album, and there are enough of good ones, I would not call any of them the best of Iron Savior. And I’m afraid that the release will not be in top five of the band. Although, I have to admit that even in this way Piet Sielck remains one of the leaders in the style, where banality and excessive pomposity prevail, while Iron Savior sounds hard, fast enough and interesting.
Anyway, the album can be assessed whatever you want – in fact, it is one more highly professional work, worthy of attention, but still really it could please only the real fans of Iron Savior. A rush of enthusiasm, which was on the album “The Landing” (2011), is almost over. To replay old songs with a new sound wasn’t a good idea.