Riding battle-to-battle readied to adapt to whatever medieval scourge or witching hand lie ahead the chameleonic ride of Occitanie, France-based heavy/speed metal duo IRON SLAUGHT is destined for triumph on this surprisingly agile sophomore full-length album. Forged from hardlined taste in both traditioned and extreme metal ‘Metallic Torments‘ yet reads as a possessed bout of power-metallic thrashing for the future and less a retrofied exacting study for the uber-niche. Though their work here never fully embraces a total fusion of its many elemental tangents the experience is yet varietally struck, a side-effect of decades of fandom gloriously overflowing in mind.

Iron Slaught formed circa 2011 as a trio (?) by way of guitarist/vocalist Iron Jérémy and a rhythm section with deepest roots in obscure 90’s death metal. Their approach to heavy metal initially read as inter-generational trad metal saladry on their debut ‘Crusading Metal Mercenaries‘ (2015) where a foundation of power/heavy metal, epic heavy metal and thrash-sauced pacing met up with the occasional harsh vocal or tremolo-picked riff a la (earlier) Sacral Night or Molten Chains + German power metal. A slurry of Maiden tropes, a few Kreator snarls, and a good mix of aggressive power/thrash defined their sound then and expanded to a more boldly stated combination a few years later for a split with Tentation in 2018, a slightly more coherent approach overall from a Mark II lineup including a current member of Zöldïer Noïz. The general threat issued by the band today is a more extreme, aggressive version of themselves eight years later.

‘Metallic Torments‘ does nothing to pull Iron Slaught‘s intent away from a gluey celebration of all things true heavy metal but it does find the band making a few oddball choices to arrive upon their signature style. The first choice is potentially an ugly necessity in that this album partakes in programmed drums, courtesy of engineer/producer Stéphane Hellkine, a choice which is less obvious on headphones and moreso cranked on a stereo per my own experience. The second choice is to sate their killing hand and use machine rhythms to amp their on album presence, slotting more black and death metal inspired expression into what are otherwise eclectic power/thrash metal pieces. Think of your favorite (non-Satan) NWOBHM band’s comeback record from the post-millennium revived with louder production values, a double-bass kicking rhythm section, plus a few Running Wild riffs and you’ll have a good sense of what to expect from this second album at a glance.

As was the case back in 2015 it’ll take a number of qualifiers to fully describe Iron Slaught‘s myriad approach to heavy metal tradition and this’ll become most complicated mid-album where a jaunty power metal puncher like “Soldier of Fortune” follows the roaring, blackened bustle of “The Executioner” almost to the point of incoherence. Not that these feats can’t “go” together but rather it feels like the band put on a different mask for each piece, making for an entertaining amount of variety but an odd smear of ideas overall. The Petrozza-like escalations of “Condamné Pour L’Éternité” (see also: “Primal Conquest”) and the quick-slung power metal stoked melodies which fuel it offer a decent fusion of these elements right after yet this cannot account for the twee melodic balladry/jaunt of “Charme Funeste” right after. The strong contrast felt from song-to-song ensures a reaction at the very least but how strong it’ll be might depend on how eclectic the listener’s ear is.

The most steadily maintained ramping found on ‘Metallic Torments‘ comes within its first four songs, a pretty natural thread of extremity-kissed heavy metal and thrashing hand kicked off by the ‘Death or Glory‘-feeling ride in via instrumental “Harbinger Of Afflictions (Prelude To Torments)” unto the heavier riffing, pit-opening first minute of “Ghastly Obsession”. If anything Iron Slaught have a great sense for thrash metal bravado, obviously more rooted in the European tradition but no less heavier for it, though they have the most trouble linking it to the early 90’s power metal jet applied elsewhere. “Soldier of Fortune” sticks out like a sore thumb in this sense, so, if you’ve locked onto this album thinking it was a slate of exactly that sort of thing it is more of an island than a standard-setter per the experience ahead. To be fair “Fatal Retaliations” and “Charme Funeste” do sound like they were writ by the same hand but these folks are never fully locked into one thing, nor do they fully amalgamate their whole gig into one squared-up deal.

Boldly set, loud, heavier than ever and presented with a reasonable surge of dark energy there is a lot to like about Iron Slaught‘s return off the jump. Despite the full listen still bearing the mashed-up, tossed together feeling of their debut ‘Metallic Torments‘ makes a strong case for itself by way of a somewhat novel combination of all-metal inspiration and numerous memorable songs/moments which’d consistently stood out on successive spins. Likewise a great album cover goes a long way towards selling the experience and the work from Mario Lopez featured here is particularly choice in an enduring era of soul-shaming generative AI use. Though I figure they’ve not yet arrived upon the exacting niche fusion in mind just yet, and I would prefer the hand of a human drum performance, all signs point to a great time for the broad minded heavy metal enthusiast herein. A moderately high recommendation.

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