Ice War "Feel The Steel" LP Black vinyl!!

Descripción Ice War is a band/project that I feel like not many people take seriously. Their early albums are very clumsy in production and performance, but in a charming Brocas Helm sort of way whereby the albums are actually quite enjoyable despite their glaring flaws. From ‘Defender, Destroyer’ onwards, there would be more experimentation with different branches of traditional metal - the aforementioned album going in a more thrashy, Venom-like direction and Sacred Lands being a step into the realms of epic doom, with varying quality levels of execution. Generally, I see a lot of mixed opinions on Ice War, with many preferring Jo Steel’s other work like in Devil Cross and Aphrodite, but at least for me, I’ve liked to adored every Ice War album to date, and I’d go as far to say as the albums have only gotten better with time, helped by the fact that Feel The Steel is easily my favourite album of theirs.
Many of the flaws which made early Ice War charming have been improved upon, retaining the same appeal while generally producing higher quality work. The old-school production and the lovably imperfect vocal performance that one comes to expect with Ice War is here in full swing, while taking a notable step down in scale and ‘production value’ from the past few albums, I think that works to their benefit. This is a band that many tout as a ‘demo band’ pushed to the limits, and I totally agree with that - a less technically impressive production style plays into this major strength and appeal of the band. Another notable addition is the use of keyboards, which makes this album so much better, adding a totally new dimension to the Ice War sound. The intro of the title track in particular is just excellent, I hope Jo expands on the concepts laid out here in future releases because I love this.
I wouldn’t say there is a single majorly weak moment on the whole record - I’m not the biggest fan of ‘Red Fire’ but the rest is top-notch. My favourite tracks on here I’d say are ‘Feel the Steel’, ‘Memories’, ‘Life in Waste’ and ‘Damnation’. I’d highly recommend this album to anyone who has never listened to Ice War, as it offers their best stuff to date while showing off exactly what makes Ice War special. Recommended FFO Sumerlands, Legendry, Seven Sisters.
Official promo video:  Ice War - Feel The Steel Official Music Video
Sample:  Ice War - Feel The Steel (2025)