Never say die; well it’s a pretty appropriate motto for my favorite bunch of undead Luftwaffe pilots and after the fog of war clears, Stuka Squadron re-emerge from their coffins under the fine new name Iron Knights and the eternal underground war continues.
From the off there’s no mistaking who this is; their signature stocky and muscular riff style is there in ‘Jericho’, engines squealing and bass and drums like propellers rattling for a skilled take off. It’s a really great hard, punchy number with a cool chorus and certainly clears away the debris. It also highlights a couple of things which are reinforced and amplified by the terrific ‘First Legion’: Iron Knights have always been storytellers, each song a little chapter in their never ending war but on New Sound Of War I am pleased to find there have been real strides in other areas. The production is sharper than on Tales Of The Ost, yes, but the songs are too. The melody filtered through the lead and rhythm work from Gravedigger Cox and Doktor Suicide is highlighted and more driven and it really gives these tracks an extra lift when needed. The vocals of the grim commander, Duke Fang Bagley, wrap around this with their narrative driven, wonderfully eccentric character intact and together with the new polish on the songs the atmosphere just seems more encompassing. On songs like ‘The Path’ the instrumental break is superb and when the vocals return there is that grit to them that pulls the story and the listener back in for the thumping final stretch. They even pull a little more of the gothic on us with the song ‘Tell Me Strange Things’, an entertaining graveyard tale of the doomed undead truth behind the author Montague Summers.
It seems that this time around our night time flyers have returned from the Eastern Front and immediately have been dispatched to the North African campaign via ‘The Immortals’ which is a cool intro and then on ‘The Path’ to meet with ‘The Desert Fox’. The latter is another fine number, a little subdued maybe but still catchy enough so maybe live the chorus can be given just a slight kick to get it buzzing as it deserves. No such worries for ‘The Messenger’ which has a kind of stop/start swagger and crunch to it and shakes that sand out nicely for the short and moody bridge piece ‘Afterwrath’ to end that campaign in darkness. A really good section this. Really good.
Closing song ‘Bloodstorm’ is a chugging piece off heavy metal. Catchy, yes, but not my favorite it must be said and I do find it a curious choice of end piece when that glorious, hook riddled call to arms and loyalty ‘First Legion’ might have worked better. Still, I guess being immortal undead they can take the long view as opposed to the gone in a moment life of a blood sack like me. And when all is said and done it is a good, solid song.
With ‘New Sound Of War’, Iron Knights have taken a hard grasp on their signature sound. Despite a couple of songs which don’t totally hit the mark for me (‘Feeder Of Crows’ in particular) They seem to have stripped it down, injected more fluidity and energy and come out with their own sound still there but with a hard new sheen on it. A real improvement on their still good debut. Hard work, talent and plenty of bombing raids and they have a fine, entertaining slice of heavy metal on their hands that is well worth your attention.
(7.5/10 Gizmo)
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