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IRON CURTAIN
Metal Gladiator EP

Dying Victims Productions / Ironbound (2023)
Rating: 6/10

Spain’s Iron Curtain impressed me with their 2012 full-length debut Road To Hell, but since their inception in 2007 they’ve been somewhat sporadic in their output, with their last album (Danger Zone) – their fourth – emerging in 2019.

The problem with bands of this ilk is that there is no room for progression. They burp out a 70s style of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal affected by its stodgy vocal tones, banal lyrics and sub-standard gallops. It’s fun for a short while, but as evidenced on this new EP it’s just stagnant heavy metal churned out by a glut of bands seeking a throwback air.

Vocalist Mike Leprosy has a rough and often off-kilter throaty tone that wouldn’t be out of place on a Neat Records release from 1981, but as it stands today the novelty has somewhat wore off, even as Iron Curtain strives to inject more pure, molten metal into the veins of its audience.

The likes of ‘Rattlesnake’ showcase the glaring frailties of Mike’s vocals as the combo rattles through a Motörhead-style ramble, while the likes of ‘Stormbound’ and ‘Rough Riders’ all go through the oily motions of nuts ‘n’ bolts rock ‘n’ roll better suited to the archaic ruins of 1984. Sure, after a few beers the glaring mishaps can be overlooked, but there is no denying that Iron Curtain has somewhat regressed and not just in their album cover art.

Neil Arnold

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