Since I heard THE WHO'S "Tommy" and RUSH's "2112", I've been more than a fan of the concept album; especially the good ones. Even ANTHRAX's album "Among the Living", whilst it didn't stick to one even story arc, included songs reinterpreting tales from Stephen King and a representation from then-edgy comics (giving us a synopsis of Judge Dredd and his universe) was an example of Metal artists taking stories to a new form. Such albums were epic, operatic and told stories that spanned two sides of a piece of vinyl. Now comes IRON FIRE's "Among the Dead", giving us a vision of a post-apocalyptic somewhere that puts AMC's The Walking Dead to shame.

"Among The Dead" is reminiscent of other great story albums and from the haunting intro piece through to their surprising cover of METALLICA's "For Whom The Bell Tolls". From start to finish the album simply refuses to take any prisoners. Some might argue trimming the line-up down to three persons limits the band's sound and scope (gone are the keyboards that some of might remember from 2012's "Voyage of the Damned"), but the album does not suffer for it. Gunnar Olsen steps forward and fills the void nicely - especially in tunes like "Hammer of the Gods" - and if you really are missing those keyboards, I *promise* that by the end of "When The Lights Go Out" you'll scarcely forget they aren't there. The soul and the power that the band had that you were looking for is still there, still available.

With strong vocals throughout, an excellent storyline (each song a microcosm in itself that weaves into a larger tapestry) and a finely balanced yet powerful sense of mastery, this is a power Metal album and one  that I'd highly recommend. It's not too Thrashy, not too in your face, but *definitely* well within in the genre's shelf space. There are excellent production values; you could crank this one to eleven with minimum distortion. Even given it's story precept, I'd be comfortable giving this to the younger set of metalheads as an introductory album. While it represents the style well, it's content is fairly tame by comparison to some of the other offerings that are available in the genre.

My final thought? Few people can cover METALLICA as well as these guys do. The sheer balls of quality of that alone make this a must-buy; especially as it seamlessly fits into the story arc of the album - and they make the song their own while remaining true to the original. Bravo, gentlemen, bravo.