Iron Kobra
Might & Magic

Iron Kobra, that’s Iron Cobra for the illiterate – or perhaps for a German heavy metal band attempting to look a bit cooler by spelling their name slightly differently, in this case the latter is the most likely, wouldn’t you say? The cover looks a bit ritualistic, and evil – kind of like an old heavy metal cover artwork. I like the names of the band members, as an idea but the actual names are a tad lacking in imagination in my view. The quartet of heavy metal maniacs is releasing their second album that is titled Might & Magic, the debut is called Dungeon Masters – I think imagination isn’t the strongest side to this band. Fortunately for my objectivity I did not really know any of this before I had given this album a dozen or so plays in my stereo.

“This record is best played at ten” they say when the album starts. Ten what? Ten o´clock, I don’t have that kind of volume or equaliser settings on my stereo so it can’t be that, so why is it best played at ten o’clock? And is that AM or PM? It isn’t musically that exciting in terms of novelty as it is heavy metal from a band with idol pictures of Steve Harris and Dave Murray littering the walls in the rooms where this band do their stuff, I also think that Number of the Beast is favourite album of theirs. A lot of the melodies and riffs feel “borrowed” from a certain iron lady; the production is also akin back towards a time when heavy metal was all new and amazing. The singer is okay but his accent can be annoying at times, it is very clear that his native tongue isn’t English, but overall I think he does a good job. A good thing with living in the past is the shortness of the album, nine tracks and 37 minutes just isn’t enough to completely bore anyone to death.

How about the positives first? For one the simplistic and fairly catchy songs make the album quite easily accessible and you will know almost instantly whether you’ll like it or not. Short and to the point with clear, tried and tested song structures, melodies and choruses. The nostalgia card seems to work well in certain groups as well, and the fact that they sing in German in one of the tracks is also a positive even though the track itself is quite nonsensical. On the negative side; the production feels ancient and the album lacks depth. I also cannot really help thinking about from which songs released in the early eighties the riffs and melodies are stolen. It also becomes too much cliché and if there is something I cannot stand it is stereotypical thinking. A bit of novelty is severely wanted here.

The album has decent songs but too many of them are too recognisable from a British band that also starts their band name with Iron. In many ways it is as imaginative and unpredictable as a Swedish crime novel and the same mental depth as a deeply religious person. It is fun in a sense but no matter how I twist and turn this album it is really impossible to claim that it can be recommended for anyone. As imaginative they have been in their forked tongue, as unimaginative they have been in their song writing, maybe they should have split their time between the band member name and song writing a bit differently as it is still the music that is the most important thing. I can accept some loans of riffs and such from the idols but the entire album? No, that is just too much for me.

Perhaps fans of heavy metal who claim that everything modern is wrong and still wishes that it is 1982 can find some pleasure in listening to this album. The rest of us can without feeling bad overlook this album as it has nothing new to offer, just another artist name and album title for something we have already heard.

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