The "ghost of all-time fav Iron Maiden... Greece's premier "traditional Metal label Sonic Age Records presents one of their latest signings in its roaster. You might judge from the band's logo, you may evaluate by their name reference, but it's not that simple to finish off before sneaking "in the flesh. Music serves the truth better and Made Of Iron surely have the guts to prove so, in the not-that-distant future.
The band was formed in late 1999 by Nicko Nikolaidis and Jim Over, two Greeks livin' for years in Germany. Sharing the shame passion for Heavy Metal - and Iron Maiden, in particular - the Maiden cover band after two years turned into an "adult quartet. Two demos - "Made Of Iron (2000) and "King Of Kings (2003) - gave the band an initial recognition in the "cult Metal scene, "pushing in the direction of releasing the self-financed "Made Of Iron 7¨ single (2003). And this brings us to fall 2004...
"Made Of Iron play traditional heavy metal as it should be. Straight and true, directly from their souls and hearts. You can feel their love for heavy metal, their potential and their creativity in every song, is proudly written in the band's site. It may sound at least retro, but I couldn't prologue the band's musical "deeds better. For you, the merciless tormentor-judge, Made Of Iron ARE NOT a copy-paste Maiden-istic band (I know someone else who does that for a living...). Their compositions definitely "lie enough on the London East End's Metal supergroup "way of thinking (of course, in most parts of the guitar harmonies or the mid-tempo bass parts), but there's lots of room for providing pure Classic Metal songs, mainly in the Power/Epic field, with good-old trustworthy "rough vocal lines by Jim.
None of the songs featured are specifically written for this album, as they've appeared in the band's previous demo works. But, with the proper "80s based production, cuts like the opener "Fight For The Cross... Die for Jerusalem, the riff-dominated "The Storm Just Began or the groovy Never Deny Your Fate reminded me a lot (leave Maiden "off) of many US 80s Metal acts (e.g. Dark Knight, Whitchkiller or Black Knight - vocals omitted), mainly European bands like Sweden's warriors Heavy Load and Greece's legends Crush (sound), or even Aussie heroes Pegazus. Well done...
It's for sure that the band's worries are to "win that part of metalheads that are "into 80s traditional Metal (in general). So, if "Heavy Metal to you starts from Hammerfall or Primal Fear, always under the Maiden "shadow, take a look at these metallers. They're true Maiden fans producing their own Metal music. Not something different from what the most of us would (like to) do, huh?