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Artist......: Ironflame
Album.......: Where Madness Dwells
Year........: 2022
Genre.......: Heavy Metal
Type........: Album
Label.......: High Roller Records
Language....: English
Source......: WEB/FLAC (24bit)
Quality.....: 1734kbps / 44.1 kHz / Stereo
Tracks......: 8 tracks
Playtime....: 00:39:15
Size........: 486.5 MiB
R.Date......: 2026-08-14
S.Date......: 2022-07-01
Url.........: https://open.qobuz.com/album/sf9lx82mc59gc
01. Everlasting Fire 4:38
02. Under the Spell 4:45
03. Kingdom of Lies 4:52
04. A Funeral Within 5:33
05. Ready to Strike 3:50
06. The Phantom Flame 4:28
07. A Curse Upon Mankind 5:03
08. Where Madness Dwells 6:06
Classic Power Metal infused old school Heavy Metal as
the textbooks dictates it. That is what IRONFLAME
delivers. Andrew D'Cagna is the man behind the band, and
the sole soul when writing, arranging and recording the
albums, which is quite impressive as the musicianship
all around the IRONFLAME releases is quite stellar. It
is close to the first Heavy Metal band I've come around
being a one-man project (when playing live, the band
becomes a quintet!). One-man projects is something I
have been associating with more harsh genres such as
Industrial, Black Metal, Death Metal and such, as those
genres perhaps aren't as much driven on musicianship as
on sheer intense emotion, where Heavy Metal needs a
great touch of musicianship on top of a great
atmosphere. That being written D'Cagna is doing both
quite well. There is no doubt that he is handling
especially guitars and vocals quite well, the bass is
present, rumbling all the right places and doing its
job. The drums on the other hand, they are delivering a
solid backbone, though I have a quite hard time to
figure out if they are the real deal or programmed. The
rhythm patterns are quite square all along the tracks,
and have always been, in IRONFLAME's case. The drums
sound great, though again it is textbook rhythm patterns
all the way through, without many shenanigans. The song
writing is stellar, as already written, very classic and
powerful American Power Metal based on classic epic
Heavy Metal. Catchy, melodic, great guitar solos and
sheer power - and hooks all the right places. The vocals
from D'Cagna are also great, he has an organic and
powerful to very controlled melodic way of singing,
always placed great relative to the music. The vocals,
together with the guitars are bringing aces home on this
album, as well on IRONFLAME's three records prior to
this - that together with the great songwriting, which
also always has been a trademark of D'Cagna.
Production-wise the album is ace as well, a clear and
powerful sound with the right swing on the instruments
and vocals, intense and quite organic, flowing with the
music. If you miss your late eighties feel, like I often
do, the Heavy Metal scene right now is blasting with
amazing bands and releases, taking us back to the glory
days of power and conviction. This isn't pure retro, it
is classic Heavy Metal done in an updated manner, with
so much power, energy and epic atmospheres, that it is
hard not to be taken away. "Where Madness Dwells" is yet
a great album from IRONFLAME.