{"id":106134,"date":"2026-06-26T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T23:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=106134"},"modified":"2026-07-03T12:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T11:14:26","slug":"album-review-crying-steel-agent-steel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-crying-steel-agent-steel\/","title":{"rendered":"CRYING STEEL – Agent Steel (2026) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

CRYING STEEL
\nAgent Steel<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nPride & Joy Music (2026)<\/span>
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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We are only half way through the year and already we have a band picking up an award, in this case it is Italian veterans Crying Steel for what is, without doubt, the worst album artwork of 2026. Some of these cover designs are so bad I wonder if the band were even consulted, but if you can look beyond the art then hopefully you\u2019ll be able to settle within the confines of Crying Steel\u2019s latest record.<\/p>\n

It was some time ago now that I purchased the band\u2019s 1987 debut album On The Prowl<\/em>, but since then they\u2019ve somewhat trickled through the decades, their last opus, Stay Steel<\/em><\/a>, emerging back in 2018. It\u2019s still very steely in design, guided by original members Franco Nipoti (guitar) and Luca Ferri (drums) who have rarely settled on a steady line-up. New vocalist Tiziano Sbaragli joins other more recent recruits, Paolo Nocchi (guitar) and Marco Zirondelli (bass) who both featured for progressive death thrashers Relic.<\/p>\n

If, like me, you don\u2019t like the album art, then hide your eyes from the promo videos for \u2018You Got The Look\u2019, \u2018Just Played On\u2019 and \u2018My Heart Still Rocks\u2019 as the trio come packaged in migraine inducing anime-styled visuals. Musically, though, they are all adequate enough rockers which sink in immediately, even if the layers of cheese clog the throat.<\/p>\n

Tiziano has a decent set of pipes, and the band seems happy to accommodate all in the name of macho heavy metal. \u2018My Heart Still Rocks\u2019 isn\u2019t exactly a powerhouse; the melodic touches enable a hard rock accessibility as Tiziano attempts to scorch the tame wasteland with fire. I guess you could throw this sort of mild natured rock into the realms of Dokken.<\/p>\n

At least with \u2018Just Played On\u2019 there\u2019s an element of pace and energy. Tiziano shows versatility here, bringing a higher pitch and it\u2019s the more upbeat surges which drag the album beyond potential mediocrity as \u2018Coming Home\u2019 gallops with intent over the hardened barricades of the wielding axe work.<\/p>\n

\u2018To Remember\u2019 is as equally charged, the combo shifting towards a Judas Priest, circa the 80s, glide, especially on \u2018Under Cover\u2019, but it is hard not to headbang along to the mid-tempo crunch of opener \u2018The Arrival\u2019 and personal favourite powerhouse \u2018Queen Of Grinder\u2019. Sure, there\u2019s nothing fancy going on, just good straight down the middle Euro metal, but it\u2019s a solid return from the Italians.<\/p>\n

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

CRYING STEEL Agent Steel Pride & Joy Music (2026) Rating: 7\/10 We are only half way through the year and already we have a band picking up an award, in this case it is Italian veterans Crying Steel for what is, without doubt, the worst album artwork of 2026. Some of these cover designs are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4078],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-crying-steel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106134","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=106134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106135,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106134\/revisions\/106135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}