Iron Savior – Firestar – 2023

Although Firestar is Iron Savior’s 14th album or so and I’m quite familiar with the same Iron Savior. I don’t think I ever really listened to them. I definitely don’t know anything about them. It’s a German band apparently co-founded by Kai Hansen. That’s one of the things I’ve learned from my brief research to write this text. Another co-founding member was drummer Thomen Stauch who then was in Blind Guardian. The main figure, and the only original member still left in the band is multiinstrumentalist Piet Sielck, a name I never heard before. I should since I found out that he has produced quite a number of albums and played as a guest on a number of albums too.

Firestar is a fast-paced Power Metal album and I also learned that many of their albums are connected by taking place in the same universe. Apparently, Iron Savior is a spaceship with its own consciousness and has connections to the lost civilization of Atlantis. I don’t know how much of this is applicable on Firestar though. But it’s certainly an interesting idea. I can hear that the lyrics are in the fantasy genre for sure. There are songs about dragons and other stuff like that.

But regardless of lyrics, I really like the music. Sure, it could have been heavier. There could have been more cool riffs and so on. But I think Firestar is a typical Power Metal album and it sounds like it. It doesn’t need much more. Of course, it will never be different enough to be a masterpiece that way. But it’s a really really good album and it makes me want to explore the previous records with Iron Savior for sure!