IRONFLAME
“Kingdom Torn Asunder”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Ironflame are a heavy metal band from the USA formed in 2016 by multi-instrumentalist Andrew D’Cagna, releasing five albums to date – ‘Lightning Strikes The Crown’ (2017), ‘Tales Of Splender And Sorrow’ (2018), ‘Blood Red Victory’ (2020), ‘Where Monsters Dwell’ (2022), and ‘Kingdom Torn Asunder’ released in 2024…

…once again featuring D’Cagna playing all instruments, and also handling the vocals! Two years ago the band stormed onto my radar with eight songs of unabashed, old school heavy metal – and now Ironflame are back with eight more heavy hitters to test even the most diehard of metalheads head banging skills! For every song on offer is gonna rock heads back and forth at an extreme rate of knots, with opener ‘Blood And Honor’ storming into life with incredible pace, power and purpose! The band are red hot right from the off, scorching the earth with enough energy to destroy buildings and devastate landscapes – not to mention stretch the necks of every head banger in the world! What a blistering opening salvo, Ironflame adopting a slightly more sedate pace for ‘Soul Survivors’ – only slightly though, ’cause ‘Soul Survivors’ emanates a huge old school “foot on the monitor” feel, the band echoing the iconic metal gallop made famous by legendary (pioneeering) metallers Iron Maiden.

The heavy metal on show across ‘Kingdom Torn Asunder’s opening brace has come hurtling at ya from different sides of the metal genre, Ironflame not confining themselves to standing in just the one place, constantly on the move to deliver a varied sonic assault! An assault that marches on with the speedster ‘Majesty Of Steel’ – the rip roaring pace of the albums opener making an emphatic return. And the melodious intent pouring outta ‘Majesty Of Steel’ is phenomenal, every listener everywhere wetting themselves it’s so fucking gorgeous! I know I have! Excuse me for a moment… Right, I’m back – and so is the bands power metal influences, ‘Mistress Of Desire’ pounding the ground hard! And there’s just a little anthemic thunder oozing out of ‘Mistress Of Desire’ too, the band emanating a force greater than gravity! Ironflame are standing tall and very proud in heavy metal territory, ‘Kingdom Torn Asunder’ rocketing off at high velocity courtesy of ‘Standing Tall’. The speed here is mind boggling, listeners, fans and followers ripping their neck muscles to shreds in a vain attempt to keep pace with the band! Good luck with that one!

And with absolutely no let up in the full on metal onslaught, Ironflame shudder the ground with immense anthemic thunder, ‘Sword Of A Thousand Truths’ standing shoulder to shoulder with anthemic metallers Manowar and Sabaton! The level of oomph here is unbelievable, the band knocking everyone and everything into next fucking week – ‘Sword Of A Thousand Truths’ heavier than the heaviest thing you can think of! ‘Kingdom Torn Asunder’ has just gotten better and better with every song that roars on by, Ironflame continuing that trend by returning blistering pace to the fore – ‘Riding The Dragons’ screaming down the freeway at twice the local speed limit! Traffic cops can forget catching Ironflame, they ain’t got a vehicle quick enough to keep up with the band – ‘Shadow Of The Reaper’ bringing a barnstorming album to a barnstorming close! The head bang ability has been sky high all album long, ‘Kingdom Torn Asunder’ a breath taking barrage of heavy metal to get the juices flowing!

Overall, a red hot scorching heavy metal onslaught, ‘Kingdom Torn Asunder’ is fast paced, infectious and highly head bang-able.

TRACKLIST

Blood And Honor
Soul Survivors
Majesty Of Steel
Mistress Of Desire
Standing Tall
Sword Of A Thousand Truths
Riding The Dragons
Shadow Of The Reaper

https://ironflame.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/IronflameUSA/

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