Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 05:26 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Old School Death Metal
Country: Germany
Label: Black Skull Records
Year: 2015
While the wagon of old school death metal keeps getting more and more attention, it’s only natural for more bands to arise as well. Atomwinter as somewhat an outsider in the scene in terms of popularity, even though they don’t really lack anything musically or in content. The German act focuses on warlike themes and plays the established, stripped down to the absolute basics, old school death we all know by now.
Iron Flesh is the second full length of the band, which is a follow-up of 2012’s Atomic Death Metal, already forming a conceptual pattern with war and atomic bombs probably. While their debut album contains pretty much the same ideas, the production here is significantly improved and the unwanted noise has been replaced with the delectable filthy sound of the genre. Iron Flesh is also shorter by six minutes, climbing up to half an hour of music, the ideal length for an OSDM record if you ask me.
Starting with the track “Mother of War”, which opens with a short cello introduction that feels like we’re listening to some obscure dungeon synth band, the band blasts it’s game a few seconds later and goes on for the rest of the whole album. I would choose “Mother of War” as a standout track and it’s a great opener for that matter, while all the rest of the tracks are at about the same level. The drum lines could be a little more varied, since all the standard tricks of the genre are there but nothing more.
The blessing and the curse of the band is just that they play really good old school death metal. There are plenty of good riffs everywhere and the vocals are stunning, yet I can’t say it’s something you’ve never heard before. Iron Flesh is addressed to the fans of the genre, if they need yet another band that worships the style they love in a pleasing way. I enjoyed the record because it’s simple and brutal, with an attacking attitude and the element of death metal unadultered, still I wouldn’t pick it as a favorite among great like minded records of this period.
All in all, Iron Flesh is by no means a bad record and it won’t ruin your appetite. Check the band out and add them to your typical death metal playlist, since it was made not to impress but not to disappoint either. It’s a neat record with easy melodies and some of them you might have thought of yourself while humming in the shower. Consider it the doorstep to a great genre.
3,5/6
