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IRON VOID
IV

Shadow Kingdom (2023)
Rating: 8/10

It is always good to hear a rainy UK act channelling the powers of simplistic doom metal which harkens back to the halcyon days of the early 90s. It could be argued that Iron Void would have been better suited to such times because nowadays this style of doom metal, even with all its traditional values, seems rather bare and barren, especially as the whole and rather trendy occult rock / doom genre continues to flog dead horses.

Thankfully Iron Void are far from that satanically influenced glut of bands. Instead, the West Yorkshire brood drifts heavily into the smoke of Black Sabbath, as many bands did back in their heyday when the doom scene was on the up.

What you get here are massive, catchy, rolling riffs that are instantly accessible and as rich in tone as an ancient oak tree. Iron Void doesn’t exist to reinvent the wheel but to simply provide an extra steely spoke. The vocals – like the riffs and drum thuds – are simple, stark reflections of Sabbath circa Ozzy Osbourne.

As the album traipses on there is that quintessentially British lumber, and whether you take in the lyrics or not one cannot help but dream of wistful folk horror riddled with serenity and dread. Again there is that familiar Sabbath tremble alongside such other heavyweights as Witchfinder General, Pentagram and Trouble, particularly with the epic ‘Grave Dance’. ‘Blind Dead’ slows the pace but remains oaken and majestic, while ‘She’ showcases the subtle versatility within the camp as this stirring ballad of sorts soars into an almost folky grandiosity.

Extra aggression and groove is applied to the sneering rattle of ‘Slave One’ and my personal favourite ‘Lords Of The Wasteland’ has that menacing traipse to its deathly trickle of black, congealing waters.

This is doom metal as we have always known it; robust, majestic and daubed in folkloric connotations, and I welcome such familiar themes with open arms while at the same time toasting Iron Void’s fourth volume with a tankard foaming with bestial broth.

Neil Arnold

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