Blog

Aug 28, 2023

Iron Savior

September 1, 2023J PAlbum Reviews0 As a keen industry observer and a bit of a Metal nerd (!) I enjoy following the various industry maneuvers that bands and labels make. Back in 2004 or 2005 Iron

September 1, 2023J PAlbum Reviews0

As a keen industry observer and a bit of a Metal nerd (!) I enjoy following the various industry maneuvers that bands and labels make. Back in 2004 or 2005 Iron Saviour left Noise Records. Fast forward to 2017. Piet announced that the band was issuing REFORGED-RIDING ON FIRE a 19 track, two CD re-recording of songs from the Noise years, 1997-2004. In interviews at the time, he specifically said that the motivation for the re-recordings was that Noise would not issue those first five or six Iron Savior albums and they are getting hard to find. Fair enough. Fast forward to 2022 and the band issues REFORGED-IRONBOUND which is another two-CD set with another 22 re-recorded songs. Let’s run the numbers. The first five Iron Savior albums from 1997 to 2004 (excluding cover tunes EP’s, singles etc.,) had 55 songs. They have re-recorded 41 of them (19+22) or 75% of their Noise Years output.

Iron Savior is on a productive roll. In less than six years they have, not only the-recorded 75% of the early stuff but have also released three, new, full length studio albums. The new album FIRESTAR will be out in October of 2023.

Back to our aforementioned industry maneuvers, is it surprising that Noise wants to capitalize on the momentum and popularity of Iron Savior? Of course not, that is good business sense so now, quite happily, the fine folks at Cherry Red recognized this opportunity as well and have issued RIDING ON FIRE.

RIDING ON FIRE has the self-explanatory sub-title of THE NOISE YEARS 1997-2004. Yes, finally after many years, the first five studio albums, two singles and two EP’s have been issued in one nice six CD set. Fans can rejoice!

I’m not thrilled about the title. The band already has the aforementioned REFORGED-RIDING ON FIRE. The band have so many cool song titles why pick one that has been used before? If that is the only thing I can find to complain about this set is damn near perfect.

The presentation is very good with a clamshell box housing six cardboard sleeves with the original art and a 16-page full colour booklet. There is a very cool historical essay by Lothar Hausfeld and tons of colour photos.

The highlight of the booklet for me is the Iron Saviour story. Fans may know that the first several albums are a very loose concept about the end of humanity, Atlantis and a giant interstellar spaceship called the Iron Savior. As a side note I’ve always felt the concept and storyline was complicated and confusing. It is interesting but not fully fleshed out with main characters, the plot is just broad Sci-Fi concepts. Some of the original Noise pressings included the storyline in the booklet but oddly enough some of them did not. As time went on I was determined to figure out the Iron Savior story so I went on-line years ago and found the plot write-up of the five-part story and printed it off so I could read along and figure out what the hell is going on in the complicated story. Now, those very same notes are reprinted in the booklet of the box set so that was a nice and unexpected bonus.

As always, these types of catalogue reissues can live and die by four factors; presentation, the availability of the original pressings, the familiarity of the fans with the original source material and the value added with bonus material. RIDING ON FIRE meets 3.5 of these criteria with ease making this a valuable reissue. The original pressings, while out of print for many years are readily available used on the secondary market. With a few keystrokes you could own all the original pressings quite easily but at, by my rough calculations at today’s prices, taxes and shipping, four to five times the price of this compact set!

As a big Iron Savior fan, if you will indulge me, I’m going to dissect the track-list of this boxset. Bottom line: ‘Technically’ there is no unreleased material. For ultra-die-hard fans who already own, specifically, the Japanese version of all the albums, singles and EP’s there is no new material. For the rest of us there are at least a dozen rare bonus tracks and cover tunes. If you just own the five studio albums (not the EP’s and singles) then that number jumps to 25 rare tracks! That is a superb value. That is 81 tracks of the crushing triple-guitar attack from these Power Metal titans!

In terms of the rarer stuff attached to the various studio albums we get the self-titled debut EP (1997), the COMING HOME single (1988) the INTERLUDE EP (a sort of a weird half-live, half-rarities album from 1999) and lastly the I’VE BEEN TO HELL single from 2000. I do wish the booklet would have elaborated a bit more of the origin of these rare tracks. I knew what they were but some people might have to go dig on-line to find the source of these songs.

Iron Savior has always liked covers having recorded almost 20 over the years and 11 appear on this set including no less than five (!) Judas Priest songs. They must really like Judas Priest but what Metal fan doesn’t? I finally get to hear their ripping version of the Krokus cut, ‘Headhunter’ and their version of ‘This Flight Tonight’ (written by Joni Mitchell but popularized by Nazareth is, lyrically, a perfect pick for the band.

Let’s set aside all the trivia. Any self-respecting fan of anthemic, German Power Metal needs all the Iron Savior albums and this boxset is a great place to start!

Track Listing:

DISC ONE-Iron Savior

1 The Arrival2 Atlantis Falling3 Brave New World4 Iron Savior5 Riding On Fire6 Break It Up7 Assailant8 Children Of The Wasteland9 Protect The Law10 Watcher In The Sky11 For The World12 This Flight Tonight13 The Rage (Demo Version)** Japanese bonus track

DISC TWO-Interlude

1 Iron Savior (Live At Wacken)2 Brave New World (Live At Wacken)3 Watcher In The Sky (Live At Wacken)4 Riding On Fire (Live At Wacken)5 For The World (Live At Wacken)6 Contortions Of Time7 Touching The Rainbow8 Stonecold9 The Hatchet Of War10 Desert Plains11 Forces Of Rage (Single Version)*12 Atlantis Falling (Live Version ’98)*13 Iron Savior (1st Version)** Japanese ‘Coming Home’ EP bonus tracks

DISC THREE-Unification

1 Coming Home2 Starborn3 Deadly Sleep4 Forces Of Rage5 Captain’s Log6 Brothers (Of The Past)7 Eye To Eye8 Mind Over Matter9 Prisoner Of The Void10 The Battle11 Unchained12 Forevermore13 Gorgar (Version ’98)14 Neon Nights15 Metal Invaders** Japanese bonus track

DISC FOUR-Dark Assault

1 Never Say Die (Album Version)2 Seek And Destroy3 Solar Wings4 I’ve Been To Hell (Album Version)5 Dragons Rising6 Predators7 Made Of Metal8 Firing The Guns9 Eye Of The World10 Back Into The Light11 After The War12 Delivering The Goods13 Headhunter*14 The Hellion** Japanese bonus tracks

DISC FIVE-Condition Red

1 Titans Of Our Time2 Protector3 Iron Bound4 Condition Red5 Warrior6 Mindfeeder7 Walls Of Fire8 Tales Of The Bold9 I Will Be There10 No Heroes11 Paradise12 Thunderbird13 Crazy *14 Living After Midnight*** Limited CD Box Set bonus track** Japanese bonus track

DISC SIX-Battering Ram

1 Battering Ram2 Stand Against The King3 Tyranny Of Steel4 Time Will Tell5 Wings Of Deliverance6 Break The Curse7 Riding Free8 Starchaser9 Machine World10 H.M. Powered Man11 Living On A Fault Line*12 The Call*** Japanese bonus track** Originally a hidden track on the European digipack release

www.cherryred.co.uk/product/iron-savior-riding-on-fire-the-noise-years-1997-2004-6cd-box-set/