Iron Savior: Reforged Ironbound Vol 2

The music business is a funny old game where seldom it’s the band who made the music who actually ‘owns’ that music. Ridiculous though those circumstances may well be, it is a long established practice that the record labels that bands are no longer signed to remain custodians of any music that was recorded prior to the break-up. Hence it’s become common place in recent years for groups to re-record their own music so they can then decide its fate without having to beg previous partners for permission. Reforged Ironbound is the second such offering from veteran German power metal outfit Iron Savior, with the enthusiasm from their fans not just making the first such outing a success but spurring the band into venturing deeper into their first five albums to give some tracks - 23 in all - a second burst of life.

What makes this idea a little more special for Iron Saviour fans is the involvement of not just the band’s current line-up, but also their previous members Jan-Soren Eckert and Kai Hansen (Helloween) who have returned to reprise their roles on the songs they originally performed on. And with Tim Hansen (of whom singer Piet Sielck is the godfather) also contributing a guest guitar solo, Sielck himself sees this release as something of a family affair.

Now, for existing fans there could be the notion that revisiting these old tunes could be something of a fruitless task, after all, albums such as Unification, Dark Assault and Battering Ram have long been seen as amongst the band’s best offerings. However, while still true to the originals and reverential of their own history, the likes of “Children Of The Wasteland�, originally from the self titled debut, the Hansen written “Deadly Sleep� from Unification and “Riding Free� from Battering Ram, all seem to have something new to say here. A modern production courtesy of Sielck certainly helps this process but there’s maybe a slickness and assuredness about these new versions that maybe wasn’t so obvious before. And the same goes for most of the songs in evidence, with the opportunity to contrast and compare new against old quite difficult to resist. In truth, for the old faithful, the original versions are most likely to win out nearly each and every time but that’s not to put this album down in any way, with the intention here to build on the legacy these tracks earned long ago rather than rival them. For old fans that’s surely as good a reason as any to give these re-recordings a chance, while for newcomers to the Iron Saviour cause, this is pretty much the perfect place to jump onboard.

Track Listing
1. Children of the Wasteland
2. Protect the Law
3. Starborn
4. Deadly Sleep
5. Forces of Rage
6. Brothers (of the Past)
7. The Battle
8. Unchained
9. Seek and Destroy
10. Solar Wings
11. Made of Metal
12. Predators
13. Firing the Guns
14. Back into the Light
15. Ironbound
16. Paradise
17. Thunderbird
18. Tyranny Of Steel
19. Riding Free
20. Starchaser
21. Living On A Fault Line
22. Crazy
23. Sweet Dreams

Added: September 28th 2022
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Iron Savior online
Hits: 760
Language: english

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