Saturday, March 5, 2011

Iron Angel - Rush of Power (2004)

Rush of Power is the second of Iron Angel's reunion compilations, released a year after The Tapes, and it collects more of the band's 80s live material, and their 1984 Legions of Evil into one package. Unlike the live material from the previous comp, this is from the Warpke festival in 1985, and heavily stresses material from their Hellish Crossfire debut, include "The Metallian" which was omitted from the other release. The exception is "Devil's Gate", a tune from their demo days. The quality of sound recorded from this performance is not necessarily an equal to The Tapes, so mileage really varies here. It's a rough ride, but the fact that it incorporates the earlier material might tip the hand of some collectors.

As for the Legions of Evil demo itself, it's incredibly rough around the edges, too rough to really enjoy by today's standards, and thus it's once again the province of those that simply want to own everything that the band has released on audio. All of the tracks were re-recorded for the debut album, and all of them sound exponentially better there than they do on this, so it's not really much of a value. Hearing "The Metallian" or "Rush of Power" is this context is frankly quite trying. In the end, anal retentive purists will probably seek both compilations if they can find them, but I have to give a slight favor to The Tapes, if only because the quality of the live audio makes for a better nostalgic experience. But the best way to experience this band's material is simply to purchase their full-lengths and avoid both of these. These were assume to serve as a preamble to the band's relaunching, but such plans have since dissolved as the band were unable to assemble an acceptable lineup for future touring and recording.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]


http://www.iron-angel.com/

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