IRON MAN – At hålla dig över

Do not let the Swedish title fool you. This is the band Iron Man from Maryland, USA. Formed as a Black Sabbath cover band back in the day before they started writing original material, resulting in tree solid albums in the 90s and a phenomenal comeback in 2009. Constant lineup change has been Iron Man’s curse throughout the years. The EP “At hålla dig over” is the second release with vocalist Screaming Mad Dee behind the mic, following “Dominance” (also an EP) which was released last year.

In true Iron Man tradition, we get a majority of heavy songs with one acoustic interlude along the ride. Imagine 70s Black Sabbath with Judas Priest style vocals and you get the idea of what Iron Man sounds like in 2012. This is pure heavy doom metal. No fancy shit, just heavy riffs to get your head banging. Still the two new heavy tracks here, “Quicksand” and “Crucified”, have a lot happening in them, with some well placed time changes and new parts appearing even near the end of the songs. Not quite progressive, but not repetitive either.

The Iron Man signature is there right from the start, much thanks to the great guitar tone of band leader throughout the years, Al Morris III. This time around, the acoustic interlude is accompanied by vocals and harmonica, which gives it a cool blues feel. The final track on the EP is a re-recording of the song “On The Mountain”, originally from the album “Generation Void” (1999). Dee’s distinct heavy metal voice really takes the band back to those days, only with more talent and power than the vocalist they had back then.

Like “Dominance”, this EP has a relatively simple production, but it works for the most part. It’s impressive how powerful Morris III’s guitar tone remains. The drums however, especially the snare, do suffer a bit from the way it’s produced. Hopefully this will all be fixed on a full length in a not so distant future. Other than that, all we really need is more of this.