Beyond the Void

Power metal veterans Iron Fire have produced well-made albums, sometimes unremarkable but always solid, since their debut in 2000 (with the exception of On the Edge). Beyond the Void is no exception. Martin Steene's voice is rougher and more gravelly this time around, befitting the revisit of darker themes in this album, whose cover and title track references Stephen King's It. As on previous albums, the big draw here are the riffs. Kirk Backarach's solo shredding is impressive when it appears, and he layers in lead melodies over the chugging rhythms that stay down in the same register as Steene's voice. The melodies aren't as pretty as some power metal bands can make them -- the lower ranges of the sound get the most of the mix -- but they avoid indulgence and stay tight. While stock mid-tempo tunes punctuated with chorus shouts like Wrong Tune left me pretty cold, Bones and Gasoline provides an interesting hybrid of ballad and power metal tune, while The Devil's Path shows Steene singing so low and gritty, to such heaviness, that it is clear that earlier fantasy-themed albums are far in the past. And the horror-themed title track? It is part and parcel with the dark mood the band intends to convey: Fast-moving, deep and rough, it unites the speed the band relied on in earlier days with the turn towards heavy metal in recent albums, and combines well with soloing reminiscent of Marty Friedman-era Megadeth. That grimmer mood doesn't make it, or any of its fellow tracks, longer or more atmospheric, but it lets Steene avoid repeating himself on this one without risking any of the disastrous experiments that plagued the band's sophomore album. Iron Fire has definitely changed, but the change has been gradual, and Beyond the Void does not sacrifice anything that made them worth listening in the past.