New Music Review : Iron Mask - Fifth Son of Winterdoom : CD Album Music Review - Dangerdog Music Reviews

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Iron Mask: Fifth Son of Winterdoom

Melodic/Heavy/Power Metal

4.0/5.0

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AFM Records
by Craig Hartranft
11.08.2013

Guitar wizard Dushan Petrossi and Iron Mask return for their fifth album, Fifth Son of Winterdoom. It's another platter of European melodic heavy power metal featuring Petrossi's fret pyrotechnics. I know what you're thinking, 'So you're saying it's more of the same.' And you would be right.

Iron Mask Fifth Son of Winterdoom Band Photo

Iron Mask: taking a break.

But there's a lot of it, too, over an hour of melodic metal. While in the neo-classical guitar tradition, Petrossi can vary his leads; it's not all Malmsteem-esque twiddling. I find him to be a good mixture of that classic style with equal parts John Petrucci, Magnus Karlsson, and Eddie Van Halen.

And Petrossi and company can craft some good tunes. They go more for the catchy rock groove for the melodic metal of Back Into Mystery, Angel Eyes Demon Soul and Rock Religion, which has eerie similarity to a Dio sound. It also has some dirty/death vocals in the chorus I do without. Like A Lion In A Cage is some true power with some equally true neoclassical leads. One Commandment is straight basic heavy metal.

The Picture of Dorian Grey and the title track, the two longest here, reach for the more epic side of melodic power metal. The former song has some of Petrossi's strong, most varied, guitar lines. Finally, there's the somber heavy metal of Father Farewell, where he mourns the loss of his father. You can definitely feel the sadness in the guitar lead.

Sure, Fifth Son of Winterdoom is more of the same from Petrossi and crew, but it's still good stuff, and there's much to be said for consistency. Recommended.

IRON MASK - Rock Religion (2013) // official clip // AFM Records

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