IRON VOID is a doom metal band based out of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, formed in 1998, disbanded in 2000 but reformed in 2008. This is their third full-length record entitled "Excalibur", released on Shadow Kingdom Records, on May 25^th 2018. The album doesn't start with a riff or a hard-sounding snare but rather a prophetic sermon, which is repeated, quite a few times in "Dragon's Breath". This leads into a very dirty and grimy guitar fest of distortion. The heaviness is also evident through the clean acoustic bass sounds. The vocals do have a stoner feel to them (think KYUSS), but in the way they are delivered, it could very well fit the Viking metal style.

"The Coming of a King" has a great groove to it, which does have a touch of BLACK LABEL SOCIETY in it and very catchy chorus (one of the best ones of the album) and the overall feel to the song is the same that sends shivers up my spine when listening to "Children of the Grave". Some of the other highlights found herein are "Forbidden Love", which is a great tribute to CANDLEMASS, both in its musical aspect, but also in the soul-driven vocal style used here.  "Enemy Within" is a great headbanger, that taps into "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" but makes it fresh and modern as well.  Finally, the dark and melancholic, "The Death of Arthur", shows the more passionate side of the band in its expression of sadness and grief.

Overall, this is a very strong effort in a genre that tends to copy itself a lot and even if it taps into some of the artists I mentioned above, it still sounds different, especially with the medieval theme that runs through all of the songs. <