Iron Man - I Have Returned (2009)

“

To say that it has been a rocky and difficult path on the way to Iron Man’s fourth full length album would be an understatement. It has been nine years and countless line up changes since Generation Void. That kind of turmoil can take a serious toll on a band. The Submission EP in 2007 allayed some of the concerns and led to a lot of crossed fingers and fevered prayers among the doom metal faithful, prayers that a full length would see the light of day.

Well children of the iron faith, your prayers have been answered and then some! “Burn The Sky” opens the album with authority, leaving the EP version in a serious cloud of dust. The production is just immense, a serious wall of sound but with each individual instrument clearly present and at the forefront. The band is tight beyond belief. You could argue the individual merits a bit in each case (other then the heart of Iron Man, guitar genius Al Morris III), but this is by far Iron Man’s best line up as a cohesive whole. Long time DC scene veteran Louis Strachan thunders on bass, Force skin pounder Dex Dexter brings the complimentary cannons with dexterity and fits seamlessly into a rhythm section of both power and appropriate restraint. Joe Donnely, fresh from Sabbath tribute band Sabra Cadabra, fronts the onslaught with a varied and very effective vocal approach. These vocals in my book go back in the direction of Rob Levy’s performance on Black Night, a far better fit for this band than Dan Michalak’s technically superior vocals and the second and third albums. And of course Al’s guitar is the core, burning out doom riff heaven with a tone halfway between Masters of Reality and Vol. IV. The solos are all about fitting in with the song, equal parts stellar technique and expert craftsmanship.

“Run From The Light” continues the updating and pushing into brilliance of the EP tunes. All of them except the instrumental “Crazy Fingers” are represented here and while some might take issue with that, I’m calling it a very good thing. I want to hear each and every tune from that done with the band firing as perfectly as they do here and with the jaw dropping immensity of the sound here. “Curse The Ages” shows in no uncertain terms that the creation of killer tunes has continued since the EP. So good it seems gone in a blink of two minutes rather than it’s actual over four minute length and bam! It’s straight into the forged in iron doom behemoth of “Sodden With Sin”. This is penultimate DC area doom…it really does not get better then this…a standout performance from every member and everything perfectly in place…if the rest of the album was not so brilliant I would be hitting repeat on this track again and again.

“Blind Sighted Forward Spiral” fully fulfills the potential showed on the EP in all its chugging, head banging doom tinged glory and spot lights the fact that Al Morris is without a doubt one of the top doom metal guitarists ever. If this doesn’t get you head moving and your pulse up, you got some serious problems going on. “Days Of Olde” provides a brief acoustic respite from the here to fore and here after unrelenting crushing heaviness contained on this disc. And brief it is at less than two minutes before the title track is caving your skull in. “I Have Returned” indeed, stronger than ever. The strength of this one in both compositional skill and muscular performance is indeed impressive. “Gomorrah Gold” rides a somewhat less dark and more grooving riff and vibe than its disc mates, but makes for an enjoyable rollicking listen. “Fallen Angel” starts off with more delicate strumming before slowly building serpentine riffing intertwines with the anguished vocals to bring and dark and epic feel without resorting to the normal musical force used to achieve that feel. The solo on this one is about as good a representation as one could wish for of the concept that it is best to let the song dictate the content of the solo. ‘Among The Filth And Slime” close it all out with a pulverizing take on the remaining EP track.

This album is just golden from start to finish. The packaging is awesome (but what else did you expect from Shadow Kingdom?). The band, including its resident legend, are in top form and the song caliber does not waver from excellent. Currently residing on my list as the best album this year and quite possibly there to stay, do I even have to say that you need this…immediately! By Mike Ballue

”

Al Morris III - Guitar [Force]
Joe Donnelly - Vocals [Faust]
Louis Strachan - Bass [Creepshow, Life Beyond, Wretched]
Dex Dexter - Drums [Force]

1 Burn the Sky 4:08
2 Run From the Light 5:41
3 Curse the Ages (Curse Me) 4:24
4 Sodden With Sin 4:39
5 Blind-Sighted Forward Spiral 4:13
6 Days of Olde 1:42
7 I Have Returned 4:28
8 Gomorrah Gold 5:02
9 Fallen Angel 5:05
10 Among the Filth and Slime 6:10

EAC LOG

Download:
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
pw: pigandpepper

Iron Man - Generation Void (1999)
Iron Man - The Passage (1994)
Iron Man - Black Night [2009 Remaster] (1992)

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