Grand Magus ‘Iron Will’ CD/LP 2008

Grand Magus 'Iron Will' CD/LP 2008Now I picked up this record after hearing the band’s last two records, 2003’s ‘Monument’ and 2005’s ‘Wolf’s Return’ but not even those two records quite prepared me for the sheer weight of utter and unashamed heavy metal worship displayed on ‘Iron Will’. And, when I say Heavy metal I talk not of the prancing mockery of the Power Metal brigade or the tongue-in-cheek irony of the current teenage pretenders sporting reebok hi-tops from an age that long predates them. I’m talking of the Heavy Metal that the Norse gods themselves put on the stereo and headbang like crazy fuckers too.

Now it’s not all power and glory as that strong doom vibe the band had on ‘Monument’ has now all but disappeared which is a damn shame, but we can’t lament too much, as they have replaced it with such a striking Heavy Metal foundation that you can’t help but smile. From the very first strains of ‘Like the Oar Strikes the Water’ to that intro on ‘I am the North’ that fist of yours will not stop punching the air in Heavy Metal worship.

Put simply, this is a big, chest pounding true to the bone anthemic monster of a HEAVY METAL record. It is macho without a whiff of homoerotic Manowarism, old school without sounding dated. It is a record that will stir the soul of anyone that has ever tapped their foot to a Priest song or flashed the horns to a Dio tune. It hits on that reason we first got into metal in the first place, iron will indeed.

Label: Rise Above Records
Website: www.grandmagus.com

Scribed by: Andrew Sloan