Ice War "Feel The Steel" CD

Descripción Ice War has largely stayed true to their template for a decade now, consistently dropping speed-tinged heavy metal with bandleader Jo Steel handling all the vocals and instrumentation. However, each of their releases has been a step in the project’s gradual improvement and their sixth full-length album sees the most polished execution of their vision thus far. There are enough raw touches and quirky moments for Feel The Steel to still be recognizable, but it’s worlds away from how frankly amateurish their early work turned out.
Along with securing the clean production that cropped up on the last couple outings, the overall musicianship has gotten considerably tighter. The guitar work is much less clumsy, exerting more confident gallops and lead transitions, while the rhythms have a bit more dexterity and the workman vocals are more concentrated than their usual tuneless holler. One can also hear keyboards playing a prominent role they hadn’t before, drawing comparisons to fellow one-man vehicle (and Devil Cross bandmate) Haunt and emphasizing that eighties metal atmosphere.
These upgrades allow the songwriting to feel more honed in, resulting in a better sense of exploration with smoother executions and mixed tempos that don’t use speed so much to overcompensate for sloppiness. A track like “Red Fire” feels like the sort of thing that would’ve fallen flat on its face before, navigating a steady Maiden-esque march with stirring choral vocals and complementary piano. “Venom” and “Memories” do especially well in bringing out their catchy choruses, the former transplanted from the 2024 EP of the same name with upbeat gallops and the latter putting in more of a hard rock strut.
Having found Ice War’s past efforts endearing in an admittedly backhanded sort of way, it’s wild to say that Feel the Steel may be their first to cross over into being a genuinely quality album. They’ve shown signs of promise before whether it be in an intriguing riff marred by a shoddy execution or just a general passion for their weird metal style, so it’s satisfying to see them deliver without losing any of that underlying character. There’s extra vindication in this still being done as a one-man operation, a reminder to us all that there are still artists working to actively improve themselves. This is still no doubt an acquired taste and below the echelon of traditional metal’s best, but I’m happy to see Ice War truly live up to their potential
Official promo video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP8FxLTlC0I

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeiVnDEFgwk&t=639s