RSS Feed


IRON GRIFFIN
Storm Of Magic

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 7/10

Back in 2019 I stumbled upon this Finnish band and their debut full-length album Curse Of The Sky, and can honestly say I wasn’t sure about them. The production was tepid and the strange mix of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, 70s rock, doom metal and folky flirtation didn’t excite me.

Now, three years later, Iron Griffin returns and I’m sort of back at square one. Waves of nostalgia creep in as proto-metal vibes surface, akin to finding an obscure 70s band on YouTube only to find that their other material is rubbish.

Iron Griffin are familiar, similar, mesmerising yet annoying – there’s a lot of fog n’ foreplay as progressive streaks are applied. There’s a leafiness, a mystical mist and occult flashes, but thankfully it’s not the two-a-penny musings of the last witchy wizard stoner band.

The female vocals of Maija Tiljander are haunting throughout, applying an ethereal feel, particularly on the clunky ‘Unholy Epistle’ or the more majestic yet stuffy ‘Goddess Of The Moor’.

All instruments are the work of a chap named Oskari Räsänen, clearly the brains behind such a project, and I get what he is trying to do, especially with the wistful folk murmurs of ‘The Witch And The King’.

In a sense Storm Of Magic is peculiar, evoking wafts of Cirith Ungol, Pagan Altar and numerous eerie 70s rock has-beens who delved into esoterica. I’m on board and in the circle, but at times bemused, left pondering the production but always intrigued by the murky strands it leaves behind.

Iron Griffin surely can’t be this low budget intentionally, but even so this second release does enough to tickle the taste buds.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share