Review by Rexorcist for Iron Savior - Unification (1999)

Let's be honest, Iron Savior are not one of Germany's best.

Iron Savior are practically the sci-fi counterpart to Rhapsody of Fire.  Both bands released their debut albums in 1997, and Iron Savior came first by seven months.  Now, metal operas were becoming more popular, especially to those influenced by Savatage or Queensryche.  It wouldn't be long before every fifth band in the metal world wanted to do a concept album.  And Iron avior was one of them.  Did that make their music better?  Not really.  They hadn't captured the sci-fi vibe the way Scanner did in their early days. 

If you don't know the story, the debut talks about the history of Atlantis, its war with another race, and the creation of a great battleship called "Iron Savior" which was seized by the enemy and used against the Atlanteans.  The Iron Savior was launched into space for thousands of years in a last-ditch effort to saver the planet, but has returned to conquer Earth.  Unification is about the humans attempting to overthrow the robot and discovering proof of Atlantis.  And this dramatic metal opera is recorded with better lyrics, getting just as much into the spirit of the story and sounding less generically power metal.  "Coming Home" opens the album, and it's level of heaviness is unbelievable, slaughtering the Iron Savior debut by staying true to heavy metal brutality and still keeping Helloween's anthemic vibes strong.  Of course, those kinds of vibes are needed for a metal opera that takes place during a great battle between man and machine.  Especially songs like "Deadly Sleep."  Piet Sielck is the perfect vocalist for this story, sounding completely masculine and full of power and energy.  And many of Kai Hansen's best solos are on this album.  Of course, he's practically the Godfather of Power Metal.  Without the necessity for trumpets or pianos, the band creates an operatic symphony on their own.  Songs like "Forces of Rage" would make Taro Bando of F-Zero fame proud.

Ther only problem with the album is that all of the songs still sound the same, despite changes in tempo.  But if you're not bothered by that, then I recommend you check out this album as soon as possible.  This is real metal, and if you like sci-fi stories then pay close attention to the lyrics.  This is a pretty cool story.