Enter to win for free the album of IRON KINGDOM “The Blood Of Creation” [Closed]

Metal Centre and Asher Media Relations arranged for you the newest album of IRON KINGDOM “The Blood Of Creation”. For fans of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queensryche, Fates Warning, Riot, Helloween. So, if you want to get this CD then you write for us by our profiles of FB (English or Polish)!

1. Follow English facebook MetalCentre page: https://www.facebook.com/MetalCentre/

or/and

Polish facebook Metal Centre PL page: https://www.facebook.com/MetalCentrePl/

2. And leave a comment under the post with the contest and like the post!

3. One person of you will get the CD of IRON KINGDOM “The Blood Of Creation”.

4. The contest is active until 22 January

6. Good luck!

“We are stoked to be sharing with you our 5th studio album ‘The Blood of Creation.’ Our music is best described as if Iron Maiden and Judas Priest had a child and raised it on Hammerfall, Helloween, Rush, and, Blind Guardian.

With this album, we feel like we’ve merged the more straightforward approach of our last record ‘On the Hunt’ with the storytelling and epic quality of our earlier releases. We took advantage of the forced hiatus from shows and spent the longest on writing that we have for any of our previous efforts and feel like it’s really paid off.

The pandemic also brought us a new drummer to solidify what we feel is our strongest lineup yet and his influence is felt on this record. This album shows the level of maturity we have reached as song writers as well as musicians while maintaining what makes an Iron Kingdom release.

With ‘The Blood of Creation’ listeners can expect the usual mix of fantasy and history-inspired songs that aim to entertain and at least lightly educate about past events and beliefs.” – Leighton Holmes (Bass)

Inspired by legendary pillars of heavy metal such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, The Scorpions, and Rush, this four-piece is well known for their energetic and electrifying stage presence, as well as intricate musical melodies that bring listeners back to a time when heavy metal was in its prime.

Formed in Surrey, B.C. Canada, in June of 2011, the bands core members were Chris Osterman on guitar and vocals, bassist Leighton Holmes, and drummer Amanda Osterman, joined by Jordan Wright on guitar. This quickly changed, after recording their debut album ‘Curse Of The Voodoo Queen’ Jordan was replaced by guitarist Kenny Kroecher. ‘Curse Of The Voodoo Queen’ was released on Dec 14, 2011, and the band took the opportunity to tour western Canada, along with an appearance on the TV Show, Canada’s Got Talent.

With the debut album receiving little attention, the group decided it was time to record a new album, and by April 26, 2013, ‘Gates Of Eternity’ was released. Garnering some strong reviews coming in around the world, attention was growing, and the band was invited to perform at Germany’s Keep It True XVII festival. This opened up many new avenues for the act to pursue, including some serious time on the road through Canada in 2013, Europe in 2014, followed by a tour in the USA with California’s Night Demon. The band had created some major momentum and Iron Kingdom were spreading their moniker far and wide in support of the first two releases.

On July 30, 2015 Iron Kingdom released not one, but two more albums, ‘Ride For Glory’ their 3rd full length album, as well as ‘Unleashed at the Kraken (Live in Seattle)’ an exclusive live E.P. recorded on a previous tour. The band set out on the road again in support of the two new releases. The tour was unfortunately riddled with many trials, including a vehicle accident that almost killed the band members. Following the tour, Amanda decided to step back from the band to pursue other commitments. Joey Paul then took her place behind the kit.

Life on the road continued, including a massive North American tour in 2016, as well as a tour in Brazil in a supporting slot for former front man of Iron Maiden, Blaze Bayley. After many performances, guitarist Kenny and drummer Joey departed, thus leaving the door open for Chris Sonea, and Megan Merrick, on drums and guitar respectively.

It took four years for the follow up album after ‘Ride For Glory’, but finally on Oct 4, 2019, ‘On The Hunt’ was released. This was the fourth full length release from this traditional metal act. Iron Kingdom toured ‘On The Hunt’ immediately with an extensive North American tour in the fall of 2019, and shortly after, toured Europe in March of 2020. Thankfully the band was able to perform the majority of their European dates, but unfortunately, COVID-19 took its toll and their final performance was cancelled. At the return of the tour, drummer Chris Sonea decided to depart from the group, and the band (now consisting of band members, Leighton Holmes, Chris Osterman and Megan Merrick) began auditions to fill the void on the drums.

In the Spring of 2020, Max Friesen joined the band, taking his seat behind the kit, and once again, Iron Kingdom stands ready to take the world by storm and aid in the revival of the mighty and classic sounds of Traditional Heavy Metal.

Their new album “The Blood of Creation” is scheduled to be released in Fall 2022.

https://iron-kingdom.bandcamp.com/album/the-blood-of-creation

Release Date: November 4, 2022
Label: Self Released
Distribution: Indie Pool (Digital Distributor)

Track Listing:
1. Tides Of Desolation – 1:13
2. Sheathe The Sword – 5:25
3. Queen Of The Crystal Throne – 4:58
4. Hunter And Prey – 5:25
5. Witching Hour – 5:44
6. In The Grip Of Nightmares – 5:23
7. Primordial – 1:40
8. The Blood Of Creation – 13:38
Total Running Length: 43:29

Album Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Iron Kingdom
• All songs written by: Iron Kingdom
• Produced by: Iron Kingdom
• Mixed by: Andy Boldt
• Mastered by: Greg Reely At The Green Jacket
• Album Artwork by: Alan Lathwell

Album Recording and Live Band Line Up:
Chris Osterman – Lead Vocals / Lead Guitar
Leighton Holmes – Bass Guitar
Max Friesen – Drums
Megan Merrick – Lead Guitar

The album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY)

This album is quite dark topically, the lyrics speak of war, fear, sacrifice and pain, and the music although very classical and explorative also has some very evil moments throughout. We were in a dark place due to the pandemic and the music reflects some of those emotions.

Track by Track explained (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY)

1 – Tides Of Desolation – (Instrumental) – This intro tune has a Tribal like feel to it. The first song of the trilogy within this album tells of the beginnings of the ancient Mesopotamian creation myth and the creation of the gods. This song is best explained from this quoted source: “In the beginning, there was only undifferentiated water swirling in chaos. Out of this swirl, the waters divided into sweet, fresh water, known as the god Apsu, and salty bitter water, the goddess Tiamat.” World History Archive.

2 – Sheathe The Sword – Based on the Wheel of Time character Lan Mandoragon. The title Sheathe the Sword refers to a sword move in which you willingly accept your opponent’s sword into your body in order to inflict a killing blow. Lan is the uncrowned king of a lost and scattered kingdom and is highly respected by neighbouring kingdoms who recognize him as the Battle lord of the borderlands. Musically this song is a speedy, driving power metal tune in the vein of early Hammerfall.

3 – Queen Of The Crystal Throne – A Song about a dark seductress: cold, aloof and dangerous, you show interest at your own peril. Musically: this song is a powerful mid-tempo rocker, with hints of early Queensrÿche or Accept.

4 – Hunter And Prey – Telling the historic tale of Simo Häyhä, a Finnish hunter, farmer and sniper who played a large role in the Winter War with Russia (November 1939 – March 1940) Simo had over 500 confirmed kills in the conflict and earned the nickname ‘White Death’. Musically this song takes on a speedy Power Metal feel not unlike something Stratovarious or Sonata Arctica may have done in some of their earlier pieces.

5 – Witching Hour – The shifting darkness in the corner of your eye and all the things that go bump in the night. Is it there? Is it real? There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of… Musically this song has some evil almost Black Sabbath vibes from around the Tony Martin era, with some melodies even hinting towards Gamma Ray.

6 – In The Grip Of Nightmares – This song is about the sword Stormbringer from the Michael Moorcock book Elric of Melnibonè Series. The sword ‘consumes’ the souls of those who it strikes down and feeds the energy into Elric, who needs it to survive. The two are bound together by fate. Stormbringer has sentience to it and ‘shrieks’ as it cuts down foes. Musically this song is relatively progressive, I’d say it has some Helloween and Fates Warning like feelings. It is quite fast and driving, but also quite melodic with lots of leads and solos.

7 – Primordial – (Instrumental) – This instrumental is the second installment towards the Ancient Sumerian creation tale of Marduk and Tiamat. One of the oldest known stories of mankind. Following from the beginnings of ‘Tides Of Desolation’ this song speaks of the beginning of time, and the calm before the storm that is about, to begin with, the epic ‘The Blood Of Creation’.

8 – The Blood Of Creation – Telling the tale of the Mesopotamian creation myth: the gods are created in the beginning by Tiamat and Apsu her partner. Gods kill Tiamat’s partner Apsu. Tiamat becomes a dragon and creates a demon army. Marduk defends the remaining gods and defeats Tiamat in her dragon form along with the demon army. The god Anke uses the dragon’s corpse to create the heavens and the earth. The blood of the demons is used to create humanity. Musically this is a 13+ minute epic tale with twists and turns, and epic musical passages that take you beyond this world. Leaving you at the end in contemplation as the acoustical passages slowly fade into the abyss.

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. The Blood Of Creation was completely self-produced, written and recorded. The album was sent out for Mixing (Andy Boldt) and Mastering (Greg Reely), but we handled everything else. Chris engineered the record with some help from the band and some friends (Dan Yakimow, Jeff Black)

2. We went on tour to Europe in March of 2020 in support of our 4th LP ‘On The Hunt’, which went great until the last week or so when Covid-19 started to shut down events and countries began closing borders. We tried to come home early but we couldn’t get through to the airlines due to the phone lines being so busy, so we stayed and continued to play as many of our final shows as we could. Some nights we waited with our gear set on the stage to find out only 30 minutes before if we’d even be allowed to perform. We ended up playing our last show on March 15/2020 in a town called Magdeburg, DE and the bar wanted to empty its Keg’s so they kept giving us beers. We got pretty wasted. The next day we travelled through Germany, Belgium and into France as each country closed its borders, and we were on the 3rd last flight out of Paris to Vancouver. Seems we got pretty lucky when we first bought our flights, had they been booked for one day later and we would’ve been stranded.

3. During the writing process of The Blood Of Creation, Chris had actually broken the tuft (or tip) of one of his fretting fingers in a work accident. He proceeded to write with the group using only two fingers for three months.

4. This is our drummer Max Friesen’s debut with Iron Kingdom, we got quite lucky that he was even able to join the group as he was teaching abroad in Japan until the Covid-19 pandemic drove him back home. He’s been with us now for 2 years.

5. ‘The Blood Of Creation’ is not a concept album, but it does have a trilogy about the creation myth from the ancient Mesopotamians. Telling the tale of Tiamat and Marduk and the creation of the heavens, the earth, and mankind. This story is known as being one of the oldest, if not the oldest known story from mankind.

Discography:
2022 – The Blood Of Creation
2019 – On The Hunt
2015 – Ride For Glory
2015 – Unleashed At The Kraken (Live in Seattle) [Live EP]
2013 – Gates Of Eternity
2011 – Curse Of The Voodoo Queen