Ohio’s Ironflame is a writing machine.  Since 2016 they have released four full-length albums and now they have dropped their fifth one Kingdom Torn Asunder on us.

I have enjoyed all their prior albums a lot, although I did feel their 2022 album Where Madness Dwells, slightly suffered in the production department and the hooks were not as prevalent as prior material.  That has been corrected with Kingdom Torn Asunder, which is one of their best releases.

10 songs in 50 minutes “Blood and Honor” is a scorching opening song with its galloping power metal speed.  Andrew D’Cagna is still helming the band, but he does it all.  He does have some guests and has a live line-up, but his vocals are arguably the best with this new album.  Phenomenal old school nods to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and Helloween with this opening track speeding forward pretty fast.  This reminds me of 1987, in Germany with all the heaps of power metal bands from that area.  Whether it was Helloween, Scanner or Angel Dust, new bands were popping up all the time.  This is one of the strongest songs opening any of their albums!!

“Soul Survivors” is a slower song with extraordinary guitar harmonies and super catchy vocal tones,  Andrew can still reach those highs without issue, incredible and the guitar playing here, is the best for any Ironflame album.  Epic Heavy Metal done right!!  There is a great guitar solo towards the end of the song with a bit of galloping speed to round this song out, the right way.  “Standing Tall” brings the speed back, after some excellent songs, such as “Majesty of Steel”, with its epic sound, in only four-and-a-half minutes.  “Standing Tall” is fast and then slows down a bunch to bring in excellent guitar melodies until that speed returns and it’s just pure galloping power metal fun!!!  Excellent vocal harmonies too and this a terrific song, with some gang vocals, and the song just sounds big!!  So many creative twists and turns in this 5+ minute tune.  There is more speed with “Riding the Dragons” and while listening to this you should be watching Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon for the full experience.  This song reminds me of Visigoth, in many ways.  Epic, melodious with multiple twists and turns with the varying tempo shifts.

The last two songs are bonus tracks, “Cold Flesh Falls” and “Exile of the Sun” have different production values.  Maybe these were left on the cutting room floor for a reason.  I am happy to have the bonus songs, however they’re actually not as good as the rest of the album.  These are slower, more atmospheric pieces of metal.  Still cool to have them.  Overall Kingdom Torn Asunder is produced excellently and it just sounds massive.  The songs hit harder and are played with more gusto than their last album and this is a very memorable album.  Ironflame is a terrific band!!

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