It seems lately with every new Power Metal band I get hardly a minute into the album before I sigh and tell myself, “been there, heard it before.” That’s the case here with Break Out. Sugary melodies that sound pleasing the first time around quickly overstay their welcome and are far too easy and as with ninety percent of LMP’s roster the singing seems interchangeable with almost every other band on the label. I feel that these guys decided to take the much beaten path and deliver an extremely safe debut that offers no surprises whatsoever. It seems that they sat down in the studio and said to themselves, “Ok guys, we want to get some recognition in the metal circle so let’s make an album that fans of Gamma Ray will eat up and let’s hope they haven’t been listening to metal for that long or at least haven’t developed a discerning ear yet.” I will admit, if I have not been listening to metal for as long as I have I probably would have been super excited upon receiving this but in this day and age albums like Break Out sit in the middle of the pack with bands like Celesty and Power Quest. The difference between a band like Power Quest and Ironware however is that the former is fun as hell to listen to and to these ears they are the Poison of the Power Metal scene. Campy, non serious, metal to play at parties and to get the blood flowing and to rock out to, while on the other hand Ironware tries to be the next Helloween by simple emulation however that is not enough. To break down the reason why Ironware is best left forgotten is attributed to three things. Their lack of truly memorable riffs is one of them. Honestly, when me and one my friends were putting together a ludicrous Power Metal parody band (with songs like Raise Your Holy Sword, Ride the Pink Pony to the Wizard’s Rainbow, The Magical Luminescent Light of the Gods, Warrior Knights of the Kingdom of Steel, well, you get the idea) he came up with better riffs for that than what I’m hearing coming out of my speakers. Second, the vocals, while competent, Pasi can sing, are too indiscernible when put next to greats such as Lance King, or Tobias Sammet. Many times he sounds strained and during the vocal melodies you can guess what’s coming up next from a mile away. Third, and this is also another major weak link in Power Metal, is that there is a nonstop barrage of double bass. Hardly any variation takes place and the music is dragged down by the endless pattering of the kick pedals.

I’ve listened to this one more time all the way through as I wrote this and I can’t find one song that captivates me for its entire duration. In 2004 with Power Metal on the decline, Ironware is one of those bands that is not going to reverse this downward slope, and if they continue on the way they are now, they will actually be contributors to the stagnation of our scene.