Iron Savior
Interlude

September 1999
Released: 1999, Noise Records
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: EvilG

Piet Sielck and metal god Kai Hansen return with the result of their third release - INTERLUDE. While this is not a new studio release it does contain TEN tracks - 5 live at the Waken Open Air from August 1998, 4 new studio tracks and a cover of "Desert Plains" (originally by Judas Priest).



Lyrically this remains in the vein of Piet's other godly work. The subject on this CD concerns the alien race, the Calderans who have emerged from a rift in space and greet mankind with aggression. They are referred to as the "masters of time." If you're a sci-fi fan then you no doubt love Piet's ongoing storyline. In terms of the music, if you liked the material on "Unification" then the new tracks on here are right in line with what they've done to date. For example the new track "Contortions of Time" in places sounds a lot like "Coming Home" from Unification. The other new tracks are all killer upbeat power metal with only "Stonecold" being the weaker of the new tracks - it's ok but has a very weak chorus. The five live tracks are all from the first Iron Savior release which brings me to a minor complaint - too bad they didn't include a live track or two from "Unification." That aside, each is executed flawlessly and the mix is great! The last track on the CD is their excellent rendition of Judas Priest's "Desert Plains." Piet handles the vocals on this one and he does a damn fine job but I think Kai's vocal style is better suited for the Halford material - if you don't agree then have you heard Gamma Ray's Powerplant :-) ?!?! The final thing included on the CD is a CD-ROM portion. According to the sticker on my CD it's supposed to be there but it's not. I must have an alternate version that does not contain the multimedia stuff...too bad for me. Either way it's still worth having with or without the multimedia portion.



Interlude is an apt title for a CD as this will keep our interest up until Iron Savior release their next studio CD. I just hope that the dynamic duo of Peit and Kai will remain intact because we all know that Kai's first priority (and rightfully so) is Gamma Ray. Fans of Gamma Ray, Iron Savior or of power metal in general should already be familiar with Iron Savior....if you're not then what rock have you been under?