Iron Mask - Black As Death (CD Review)

01.From Light Into The Dark
02.Black As Death
03.Broken Hero
04.Feel The Fire
05.Genghis Khan
06.God Punishes, I Kill
07.Rebel Kid
08.Blizzard Of Doom
09.The Absence
10.Magic Sky Requiem
11.Nosferatu
12.When All Braves Fall

Mark Boals (Vocals)
Dushan Petrossi (Guitars)
Vassili Moltchanov (Bass)
Roma Siadletski (Vocals/Shouts)
Mats Olausson (Keyboards)
Ramy Ali (Drums)


From the beginning passion always was the driving force for Belgian guitar master Dushan Petrossi. In the slipstream of his symphonic metal band Magic Kingdom, Petrossi followed his neo-classical influences with IRON MASK for 10 years now. All the dedication he put into the band finally resulted in the band becoming the more successful of the two.
Especially in Japan they are is hailed as one of the best neo-classical power metal band for years now, but also the following in Europe is steadily increasing.

This development surely will continue with the new (fourth) album "Black As Death“. Even more: the perspective for IRON MASK is very promising and it´s likely that the band will advance to the next level of popularity.
Their new vocalist ex-Yngwie Malmsteen frontman Mark Boals was chosen by Petrossi.

'From Light Into The dark' quickly sets the tone with great acoustic guitar and melodic electric guitar, leading in to powerhouse drumming for 'Black as Death'.
It continues in this vein till we hit 'Feel The Fire' which has more high pitched vocals, agressive drumming and screaming guitar work.
All goes well till we get the awful power ballad 'Magic Sky Requiem', but fortunatley the rest of the album returns to generic power metal with that symphonic touch that helps lift this album (slightly) above the average.

Rating : 7/10

For fans of: Firewind, Dio, Iron Maiden, Yngwie Malmsteen, Rainbow