Album Review: Iron Angel - Hellbound

Shrimpy Metal

Hellbound marks the return of the cult heavy metal band Iron Angel. Back in the 80's this band 2 albums and a smattering of demos. Hellish Crossfire is a speed metal gem while the second album is just a fun record. This is not actually the first time the band reformed. The first reunion happened back in 97 with first Dirk Schröder and Peter “Piet” Wittke and after the latter died in a car crash, Mike Matthes filed his shoes. The sole product of that reunion is a demo that supposedly is awful. I have not heard it but as it supposedly takes from Pantera, I am not really inclined to check it out. In 2015 Dirk decided it was time for another comeback and this time there were no other original members. This new lineup couples 2 “kids” with 2 oldies. Usually its the oldies who tend to go for a misplaced attempt at modernizing(read groove metallisation) the sound of a band. At least kids into traditional metal tend to be a lot more hostile on groove metal and yes that is a good thing.

Right from the start Iron Angel gets to business, the first song is a straight up speed metal affair. While there are a couple speed metal bands out there today with not that many thrash metal elements they usually do not sound like speed metal from the early 80's. However Hellbound is nothing but songs that sound like Priest's Exciter or Fast As a Shark. This is an impressive feat especially considering that both guitarists of the classic period are no longer with us.

Sounding like one of the best things in metal history does not mean anything of course. Luckily Iron Angel mostly delivered. While I think Hellish Crossfire is a better album, Hellbound is still a damn fine record. While there is a moment here and there where the songs drag a bit due to the songs being a bit too long sometimes. These are however but fleeting moments when you look at the grand scheme of this album. Everything else just works from the riffs to the production and mix. This is almost exactly what a new album in this style should sound like. I'd just turn down the drums and the vocals down a small notch and up the guitars a little bit but that is almost nitpicking. This is not an album with forward pushing ideas, you can not modernize a sound like this without ending up with a product that nobody really wants. Just think about it, the current speed metal bands that are innovative like Evil Invaders do not really try to update the 80's speed metal sound. The small flaws of this album certainly not caused by this.

This album will actually end up higher on my albums of the years list than some albums I actually consider better pieces of art. This is for a simple reason, while Hellbound is not a transcendental listening experience it just is so much fun. It is something I just need more in a way. I can compare it with eating food. I love eating lobster but on an average day I’d rather eat shrimp.

Final score: 86/100

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