I still
remember, many aeons ago, discovering a dusty old cassette of “The Passage” in a
decrepit shop. Since then it remained one of my all-time favourite Doom Metal
releases and opened my ears to an amazing band.
Shadow Kingdom
is re-releasing the 2 Iron Man albums with Dan Michalak on vocals (“Generation
Void” being the other one). DVD live footage is being added to each of the two.
I haven’t seen any of this footage but “The Passage” hasn’t lost any of its
spirit since its original 1994 release and if the album still hasn’t been
drafted into your Metal collection then this is a good opportunity to make
amends.
On a personal
level it was a joy rediscovering the heavy riffs of ‘Unjust Reform’, the darkly
anthemic ‘Harvest of Earth’, the furious ‘Iron Warrior’, the eloquent
instrumental ‘Tony Stark’. The album tends to sound a lot like Black Sabbath’s
“Mob Rules” or “Heaven And Hell”, particularly with regards to the vocal
melodies.
A
quintessential Doom album.
