Review by Saxy S for Ignited - Steelbound (2019)
On the surface, I understand why bands like Ignited take the safe route and write music that is indebted to traditional heavy metal bands like Judas Priest and Overkill. These are legendary acts with legendary albums; Painkiller and The Years of Decay respectfully, are not just great heavy metal albums, but also some of the best albums of their respective years. And so, it becomes an easy sell for those who grew up with that music, or the younger generation who were educated on the history of metal through these iconic acts.
Steelbound is that with almost no development whatsoever. Most of this album sounds like it could have been written for a late era album by one those bands like Ironbound or Firepower. I don't understand why Ignited play this plainspoken without any development of the sound in question, in order to make it their own. Heavy metal in the most traditional sense of the word has become remarkably stagnant in the last decade, and it's albums like this that prove it.
The songwriting feel formulaic and everything involved in that songwriting is paint by numbers: Denis Lima's belting vocals, the riffing in the guitar feel played out, and the song structures follow very static verse/chorus/bridge/solo formulas. The riffs are okay, the vocals and guitar solos are impressive without becoming over-indulgent, and some of the choruses are fairly catchy. That being said, I once again hear too many similarities to a band like Judas Priest instead of a sound that takes influence and transforms it into something unqiue.
And you know what? All of that could be forgiven if the production was decent. But what we end up with is a lifeless mix in which I wonder if the bass player (Sama Benedet) even had their amplifier turned on. I'm sorry, I cannot forgive "Living in the Dark" for giving the guitar a modest lead, only to find out that there is nothing anchoring that guitar lead in place. Meanwhile, "Roaring Gears" has a rhythm guitar chugging riff that is doubled by the bass boosted kick drum, which is usually my biggest issue with death metal records! The riffs on "Steelbound" and "Ignition" feel like they have been taken right out of a groove metal handbook from fifteen years ago. And the overall tinny guitar tone just puts it over the edge for me. No amount of Rob Halford pipes will save this one!
To me, Steelbound feels like an album that was created by a bunch of dads who could never get into the new trends of traditional heavy metal. So they decided to make an album under the guise of "hey fellow dads! Are you sick of all of these new popular trends in metal? You want something that is old school?" Their description for this album on Bandcamp reads "...straightforward with captivating and powerful songs!" It's straightforward alright! To the point of unrecognizable. Even Judas Priest's worst albums never got this far. You'll be better off sticking to the OG's.