Iron Man - Black Knight
Hellhound Records
Sabbath Worship
10 songs (48:44)
Release year: 1993
Iron Man
Reviewed by Crash
Archive review

Let’s get this straight. I absolutely love Black Sabbath. From the self titled to Sabotage and those “other” albums, I have been a Sabbath fan since I was but a wee rocker. Ironically enough though, I find myself being disappointed in bands that try to capture the glory that the fab four once had. There are tons of bands with this inspiration who get it right. Faith No More did it so well that he eventually got to tour with the band and join Ozzy’s lineup. Bands like Sleep and Melvins took the heaviness and pushed it in new directions, almost single handedly creating drone and grunge, respectively. Then there are the “worship” bands. These bands have only one major objective: to try and recreate the magic that once was. Sometimes it works. More often than not it doesn’t.

Iron Man is a band that tries hard, but ultimately fails for the reasons that most of these worship bands do. They take the heavy blues riffs, filthy noisy distortion, and demonic subject matter and do their best to write their own Master of Reality. There can’t be much blame given, as there really is not a band to my knowledge that truly captures what Sabbath was all about. Unfortunately, these bands take the obvious cues and apply them to their music, all while leaving out the spirit and most importantly the fun out of the music.

Black Knight starts off promising. Choices kicks off and instantly will remind one of Children of the Grave. The song does a good job of emulating the classic track while still keeping it their own, for the most part. The vocals must be brought up as they are the falling grace of the band and ultimately the album. They sound tired, and uninspired. Not the same way as The Sword who are often criticized for the same reason. That band I believe still is able to push out a sense of believability that surpasses the obvious lack of range. This on the other hand sounds stale. Osborne is and will forever be one of the gods of rock and metal. The icon can’t be duplicated, but it is no excuse for such sloppy delivery. It is a shame, as the fuzzy guitars and loud drums do a good job replicating the parts of Iommi and Ward.

If you love Black Sabbath and love the worship bands they have spawned, this band may rub better off on you than they did with me. I only listen to these bands when they have something to offer that the originals didn’t. Unfortunately, Iron Man make Sabbath out to be a one trick pony content in it’s own plainness. There are better bands and albums out there and most of them are easier to find than Iron Man’s Black Knight.

Killing Songs :
Choices is the only one that won't put you into complete boredom
Crash quoted 59 / 100
Other albums by Iron Man that we have reviewed:
Iron Man - I Have Returned reviewed by Adam and quoted 90 / 100
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