{"id":39425,"date":"2014-04-11T19:43:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T00:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=39425"},"modified":"2014-04-11T19:43:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-12T00:43:21","slug":"iron-savior-rise-of-the-hero-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/iron-savior-rise-of-the-hero-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Iron Savior | Rise of the Hero<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"IronLong-running German power metal band Iron Savior is back after a three-year absence with Rise of the Hero<\/em>, their eighth full-length album. The band released what may be their best album ever in 2011\u2019s The Landing<\/em>, so the pressure is on to see if they can top that.<\/p>\n

Iron Savior continues to step out of the Helloween\/Gamma Ray shadows with this album, and they also continue to move away from the science fiction conceptual elements that trademarked their earlier releases. With Rise of the Hero, we\u2019re getting a very heavy yet still highly melodic brand of power metal with some blazing speed and headbanging intensity. It\u2019s actually quite reminiscent of the classic Somewhere Far Beyond\/Imaginations From the Other Side<\/em> Blind Guardian sound, which is not a bad thing at all. Part of that is Piet Sielck\u2019s vocals, which have some of the same gruffness that Hansi Kursch has.<\/p>\n

While the whole album has a very consistent sound musically, the themes are pretty varied. Fantasy seems to trump sci-fi this time around, with songs like \u201cThunder From the Mountains,\u201d \u201cIron Warrior\u201d and \u201cDragon King.\u201d There are also some old school metal anthems like \u201cBurning Heart\u201d and \u201cFistraiser\u201d to get the blood pumping. There\u2019s even a song about the Kill Bill movies (\u201cRevenge of the Bride\u201d), which has to be the first Tarantino-themed power metal song ever. The album\u2019s standout track though is the melodic, soaring anthem \u201cLast Hero,\u201d which you can tell instantly will be a staple of the band\u2019s live shows for years to come. The only odd moment is the band\u2019s rendition of the pop song \u201cDance With Somebody,\u201d which isn\u2019t bad, but even \u201cmetalled-up\u201d just seems out of place.<\/p>\n

Rise of the Hero<\/em> is another first-rate album from a band that has more than earned a spot in the top ranks of the power metal genre. It\u2019s already a contender for best power metal album of 2014, and given the number of other high quality power metal albums released already this year, that\u2019s saying something. Obviously long time Iron Savior fans need to get their hands on this album right away, but Rise of the Hero<\/em> should satisfy almost any fan of power and traditional heavy metal. \u201cRaise your fist and set your spirit free!\u201d<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: The limited edition version of Rise of the Hero<\/em> comes in a digipack and features a re-recorded version of \u201cI\u2019ve Been to Hell\u201d as a bonus track.<\/p>\n

Lineup
\nThomas Nack (d) (v)
\nJan-S Eckert (b) (v)
\nJoachim Kustner (g) (v)
\nPiet Sielck (v) (g)<\/p>\n

Track Listing
\n1.\tAscendance
\n2.\tLast Hero
\n3.\tRevenge of the Bride
\n4.\tFrom Far Beyond Time
\n5.\tBurning Heart
\n6.\tThunder From the Mountains
\n7.\tIron Warrior
\n8.\tDragon King
\n9.\tDance With Somebody (Mando Diao cover)
\n10.\tFirestorm
\n11.\tThe Demon
\n12.\tFistraiser<\/p>\n

Website: www.iron-savior.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9.25\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Long-running German power metal band Iron Savior is back after a three-year absence with Rise of the Hero, their eighth full-length album. The band released what may […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8645,2317,9120,9121],"class_list":{"0":"post-39425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-iron-savior","11":"tag-rise-of-the-hero"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}