"Hmm, with cover art spotlighting a hulking, sword-wielding Viking standing in front of lightning-spattered mountains and featuring songs with titles like "The Final Crusade", "Warriors Of Steel", and "Glory To The King", this is either the new Conan soundtrack or another sword & sorcery Power Metal band. Produced by the man who wrote the textbook on Power Metal production, Tommy Hansen (responsible for the celebrated, early HELLOWEEN releases), there is a charm captured by Iron Fire that is difficult to put into words...their style is by no means original and the music is interchangeable with any of HAMMERFALL's or EDGUY's work, but there is something about their delivery that makes them sound more sincere than the aforementioned `heralds of the New Metal Age'. The choruses actually sound as if they were recorded in the halls of Valhalla, and while the music is obviously derived from traditional HELLOWEEN; there is that underlying spark of uncompromising fidelity akin to RUNNING WILD. Take it for what you will, but Iron Fire is a young band that has managed to transcend mediocrity and set precedence for European Metal bands to look within their hearts before they venture into their Power Metal mimicry!"
HAIL IRON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anthony | New York,United States | 02/01/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"New POWER METAL for 2000-2001. I went to the music store with my freinds brian and Jim. We were on the hunt for true power metal. We were all mesmorized by the power of track 1 - the final crusade. The intro is excellent with a chant. My friends eyes popped out of his head! We were all so amazed by the power of this cd. Key tracks include Tracks 1,5,11,12. Overall this is an albumn for heavy metal people. HAIL , METAL RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
IRON FIRE KILLS!
MANOWARRIOR | Long Island, NY USA | 01/29/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I said to my friends(Cordero and Beihl-the lumberjack), "Pack your stuff we're going to the CD store." They said, "Why?" I said, "We're going to look for some good METAL!" Upon our arrival, we heeded the call, and headed for the METAL section. After passing over much FALSE METAL, we stopped in our tracks as we saw "THUNDERSTORM". We knew instantly that this was TRUE METAL! What other type of band puts a viking warrior on the cover? After sampling only the first track, we knew this CD was for the TRUE HEAVIES! Every track is awesome, with the exception of track 10- DO NOT LISTEN TO TRACK 10! Nevertheless, this CD meets the approval of the METAL KINGS! Be sure to pick this up! Also buy MANOWAR and HAMMERFALL! DEATH TO FALSE METAL! HAIL IRON FIRE!"
Iron Fire - Thunderstorm
Gandhi the Vile | Tulsa, OK | 05/20/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
""Thunderstorm" (2000) is the debut album from Danish power metal band Iron Fire.
Every song here is at least decent, and the album is well-played. There's nothing terrible here, but there's nothing particularly amazing , either. "Thunderstorm" suffers terribly from a lack of variety. With the exception of the bluesy "Angel of Light", most all the songs sound about the same. Certainly they have interchangeable parts. Many songs don't flow well (It seems that several guitar solos are in there for no other reason than you have to put guitar solos in metal songs), and often the verse feels like filler until the next chorus.
Vocalist Martin Steene (whose vocals are often compared to those of Hammerfall's Joacim Cans, but that isn't completely accurate) isn't at his best here. He doesn't show anything close to the range displayed on later albums, and at times he sounds like he just has a clothespin on his nose. The production doesn't help his vocals at all.
On the whole, this is a solid if unspectacular release from a band that would move on to greater things."