The Ferrymen – Iron Will
Melodic metal supergroup, The Ferrymen, return with their fourth album Iron Will. Formed in 2017 and made up of vocalist Ronnie Romero, drummer Mike Terrana and all-round multi instrumentalist Magnus Karlsson who between them have played in some of the biggest bands and alongside the biggest artists in rock and metal on the planet including Primal Fear, Rage, Masterplan, Rainbow, Axel Rudi Pell, Yngwie Malmsteen and Tarja Turunen to name but a few.
From the epic uplifting, intro we’re straight into modern “chug-laden” melodic power metal and this first track, Choke Hold, is laying down the blueprint for what’s to come. The drums are powerful and in your face, vocals are superb and could just as easily fit in any 80s AOR band as well as they do here, and then there’s the guitars, which I have to admit are stellar. Magnus Karlsson is a master of the craft and the solo when it arrives is a mission statement for the album. Super technical but at the same time highly melodic and any fan of shred guitar will find something here to like. The pace and the power continue as we rip through the next few songs, Mother Unholy, and the title track, Iron Will, both have prominent but subtle choral and symphonic elements which add interest but they never push forward too much and serve to enhance and support, not overwhelm. Above It All sees the use of piano in the intro before we’re back to driving power metal with Adrenaline.
Darkest Storm, which marks the mid-point of the album and is a stand-out song for me, has an atmospheric and brooding feel with another ripping guitar solo. It almost feels at this point in the album that if this were a gig the band have settled into the evening and there’s a real sense that Karlsson is really enjoying himself at this point. Next up, the song Dreams And Destiny, which can easily be described as a “metal ballad”, has a real melancholy about it. The Celtic feel of the song, achieved through the use of pipes, puts me in mind of a lonely moorland or a brooding forest and it almost feels like the deep breath before we plunge back into driving, epic, melodic power metal for the last four songs one of which, The Darkness That Divides, is another stand out track. And then it’s over….
This is a really great album; thoughtful, brooding and sombre while at the same time epic, uplifting and powerful which is a real musical feat. The musicianship is exceptional and the arrangements and production are also very good, and suit this style of slick, modern metal well. The drums are forward in the mix and the bass and guitars provide the weight and density needed for this style of music. My only slight criticism is in the Mastering in that there are some volume discrepancies between the songs and I did notice two songs that were noticeably quieter than others. That said however, this is a very slight issue and could even be due to the fact this review was done from a digital promo of the album and hopefully the final release version doesn’t have this issue.
Rating: 8/10 – Excellent
Label: Frontiers Records
Wayne McAloon | Now Spinning Magazine