Ice War – Defender, Destroyer (One-Man Snow-Hating Heavy Metal)
Nice, some actual heavy metal that’s actually good. I was struggling to understand what in the hell this band name was about since this is now a one-man power act that was originally part of Iron Dogs (known for their risque covers), and that name made sense. Ice War, like, what is that? Is that some weird reference to a time when cave men battled or something? Or is it some Canadian thing I just don’t get? Dude told me it’s because there’s lots of ice up there and they fight against it. Certainly not the exciting explanation I expected, but I don’t know, and I don’t care, it somehow has a ring, but maybe it’s just that the music’s awesome and you won’t care either way after listening to Defender, Destroyer.
This is what I hoped Iced Earth was going to sound like when I first gave those guys a go years ago, and then regretted it within like five minutes. Ice War is much more confident, and without none of the cheese that seems to come with “ice” bands. The thing is though I wouldn’t give this one-man act that much credit until this album in particular. Earlier work was derivative, stale, and stagnant like a thesaurus adjective search. I passed on two earlier submissions, but this, this is king. Ice War in Defender, Destroyer has absolutely conquered the realm of the riff and if ice be his enemy, his musical sword slices through mountains of the stuff as he deals out all that is heavy in the classic sense. But we must also consider the vocals for this style to succeed and which, to my delight, are wholly robust in spite of lyrics about robots and pirates from what I gathered. It’s the best of classic with boosted production and its own identity. Hard not to enjoy.
Ice War – Defender, Destroyer
Fighter Records, Xalpen Records
Cover Art: Didier Normand
4.5 / 5
