IRON ALLIES

IRON ALLIES "Blood In, Blood Out"

By Dr. Abner Mality

Herman Frank is a guy who can do no wrong in my book. No matter what project the veteran German guitarist is involved with, the result is always quality. IRON ALLIES is his latest effort and it's one of the best.This is killer heavy metal in classic mode from first note to the last.

His partner in crime this time around is David Reece, one time vocalist of ACCEPT, a band Frank knows a bit about. It's a perfect match. You can hear the cigarette smoke and whisky in Reece's bluesy singing and it brings a lot of character to IRON ALLIES. To be sure, the material here is VERY familiar and I could swear I've heard a couple of these songs before, but the delivery is faultless and the energy never flags. No ballads on this sucker! "Full of Surprises" sets the stage with a classic sound and they never look back from there. "Destroyers of the Night" is a guaranteed fist pumper totally in ACCEPT mid-paced mode, almost matched by the title track, "Freezin'" and "We Are Legends" (You And I). Frank and Reece are great but the rest of the band keeps pace.

The songs that really slap you in the face are "Evil The Gun", "Sellin' Out" and "Truth Never Mattered", all of which rocket along at high velocity. No slowing down for Herman here. The slowest track is the bluesy grind of "Martyrs Burn", which runs just a tad too long. But really, I like "Blood In, Blood Out" better than ACCEPT's most recent album and way more than UDO's tribute album. IRON ALLIES are really carrying the torch of ACCEPT with this fine album.

AFM RECORDS

IRON ALLIES