IRON SAVIOR / Rise Of The Hero (2014)

The story of this heavy power metal act began in 1996 when Piet Sielck, Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray) and Thomen Stauch (Blind Guardian) formed this band but only as a project. Their goal was to create a traditional heavy metal band (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden e.t.c.) with a lot of power elements but, also,with science fiction concepts linked lyrics.


The rough, expressive voice of Sielck set additional accents that gave the band its own profile and in 1997 they released their debut album, "Iron Savior", which received a great feedback from the metal press. With the second album "Unification”, the savior made it to the top 100 of the German chart. It was followed by further studio albums in "Dark Assault" (2001), "Condition Red" (2003), "Battering Ram" (2004) and 2007´s "Megatropolis". Meanwhile, the line-up had changed. Since 2001, after the exit of Hansen, Piet Sielck remained the last of the three founding members, and he is still holding the band and their vision steadily on route.

In 2011, the band released the excellent "The Landing" and they made a great comeback in the metal scene after a four year break. Nowadays, Iron Savior is back again with the brand new opus which is entitled "Rise Of The Hero".

After a short intro, the album kicks-off with the furious metal anthem of "Last Hero". This song sounds like an early day Helloween/Blind Guardian leftover while in "Revenge Of The Bride" we are dealing with another power metal gem! Glorious! "Burning Heart" is a more straight forward tune that includes a heavy in-your-face riff and a superb chorus line!! "Dragon King", "The Demon" and "Iron Warrior" are all brilliant samples of power metal at its best! The album, also, includes a cover version of Mando Diao's hit single "Dance With Somebody". This is the catchiest and coolest track of the album and, of course, a great surprise! So Sielck admits that “Dance With Somebody” originally was recorded to become a bonus track for the limited edition, “but we simply liked it too much and finally decided to make it a regular album track”.

All in all this is a solid release from Iron Savior all the way! Great arrangements, powerful and in-your-face performances, epic choruses, great guitar work and a tight musicianship are the ingredients of "Rise Of The Hero"!
Heavy Paradise's Rating: 8/10

Track List :

1. Intro / Ascendence

2. Last Hero

3. Revenge of the Bride

4. From Far Beyond Time

5. Burning Heart

6. Thunder from the Mountains

7. Iron Warrior

8. Dragon King

9. Firestorm

10. The Demon

11. Fistraiser

12. I've Been to Hell 2014