ICY STEEL is a Power Metal band from Italy. Upon the first listening, I automatically detected a huge MANOWAR influence. After the first song it becomes a different affair though; primarily in the form of instrumentals. I have never heard a Power Metal band with this many instrumentals on one single release. I get the feeling that they simply weren't able to come up with enough lyrics so they padded the album with them. I hope that isn't the case. Nevertheless, it does stick out like a sore thumb. You either like it or you don't. It's not that there is a quality issue here, but when I buy a Power Metal album, I want to hear vocals. Clean high pitched vocals are one of the reasons I love Power Metal in the first place, so when they are not present it leaves an empty feeling in me. It does feel like there's something missing. The songs are longer than normal. Most hover around the six minute mark or more.

There are vocals though, and when they are used, they fit the genre well. I feel Stefano Galeano is trying his best to do an Eric Adams impersonation. One could certainly do worse than trying to imitate the best Power Metal vocalist of all time. One thing that annoys me about this release is the constant slow paced songs. When you couple the slow plodding songs with an over abundance of instrumentals, you really cripple your sound. Power metal isn't meant to be slow and it is meant to be sang, not just played on guitars and drums. I hope they are able to correct this in the future. It shouldn't be hard to find someone that can write good lyrics about magic, battles, kings, castles, dragons, honor, revenge, etc. It's not brain surgery. One thing that cannot be denied is that they are trying very hard to sound old school. This is the second or third release in a row where a band of this genre has tried very hard to capture the classic 80's sound. I feel that this is neither good nor bad, it simply is what I have stated it as being, but when you are going to go that route, you need to do it correctly.

If you can handle a lot of instrumentals and a frequent slowing of pace that comes out of nowhere, then you might not mind this release as much I as I do. I hate to be negative on power metal bands, since it's my favorite genre, but at the same time I must call a spade a spade. The production is classic. It doesn't sound like it was recorded yesterday, and that is intentional. It is offensively bad either; it's just not my cup of tea. I cannot highly recommend this release, nor can I comfortably tell anyone to avoid it like the plague either. If you are interested in this album, go to their MySpace page first. That way you know what you're getting before you shell out your hard earned money.