{"id":105184,"date":"2025-07-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105184"},"modified":"2025-07-31T15:12:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:12:58","slug":"album-review-iron-spell-from-the-grave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-iron-spell-from-the-grave\/","title":{"rendered":"IRON SPELL – From The Grave (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

IRON SPELL
\nFrom The Grave<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nDying Victims Productions (2025)<\/span>
\nRating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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When I first slapped the new Iron Spell album on I thought there was something wrong with my ears. I played it again and then began to question my stereo system, although it had never let me down before. So, I played From The Grave<\/em> on two other music systems and bam, the same thing again.<\/p>\n

To say that Iron Spell\u2019s second full-length \u2013 their first since 2016 debut Electric Conjuring<\/em> \u2013 suffers from mixing issues is the understatement of the year. As soon as vocalist Merciless begins his chants of \u201cRiding from a distant place…\u201d<\/em> on opener \u2018Curse Of The Ushers\u2019 I\u2019m beginning to wonder if he was locked in a cupboard by the rest of the band when they recorded this record.<\/p>\n

The vocals throughout are so low in the mix that it naturally affects the experience. It\u2019s also worth noting that the instruments sound too thin. The sound is tight but lacks punch, as if everything is delivered with restraint. Lastly, and this is minor quibble, the cover just doesn\u2019t suit the music. Iron Spell fans have waited almost a decade for this album and I hope they are as honest as me with their opinions.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with Iron Spell, they are a quintet from Santiago in Chile that plays straight up heavy metal. Littered with gallops galore, From The Grave<\/em> does border on power metal at times while also honing on traditional metal. It\u2019s an interesting mix as \u2018Sorceress\u2019 zips along with pace, but to maintain some sort of Gothic intrigue songs such as \u2018Children Of The Night\u2019 offer an 80s style of unison, springing the darker nostalgic themes with elements of Skid Row.<\/p>\n

However, influences are numerous; the likes of Dio, Cinderella, King Diamond and Lizzy Borden all spring to mind as theatrical touches blend with speedier arrangements. There\u2019s no denying that the band members are talented musicians, but it\u2019s just a shame that there\u2019s no real fire to heat this album up.<\/p>\n

\u2018Devil King\u2019 begins with some militant drumming courtesy of Steelhammer and the axe work of Terry and Raiden is airy but lacking weight. If the mix wasn\u2019t so poor then songs like \u2018Release From Darkness\u2019 would really catch fire. There are still plenty of good moments and hooky melodies. \u2018Whispers Of Sorrow\u2019 propels Ivlock\u2019s bass to the fore; there\u2019s similarity to M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce\u2019s \u2018Primal Scream\u2019 initially before unravelling as a cool mid-paced rocker. Meanwhile, \u2018Black, Hot & Heavy\u2019 runs like Adrian Smith \/ Dave Murray of Iron Maiden flecked with traces of Enforcer and Wolf.<\/p>\n

From The Grave<\/em> is a nifty opus of that I\u2019ve no doubt, but it just sounds like the spine has been ripped out and replaced by a plastic straw, and Merciless is still banging on the studio door to get back in. Considering the yawning void of time between album releases, you\u2019d have thought that Iron Spell would have picked up on the production flaws, but alas, no. And so, we are left with a record of what could have been; a heavy metal opus that tends to shy away from the heavy part because someone behind the desk forgot to push the right buttons.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IRON SPELL From The Grave Dying Victims Productions (2025) Rating: 6.5\/10 When I first slapped the new Iron Spell album on I thought there was something wrong with my ears. I played it again and then began to question my stereo system, although it had never let me down before. So, I played From The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5949],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-iron-spell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105185,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105184\/revisions\/105185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}