Ravening Iron is the second full-length from true metal band Eternal Champion. I'd heard great things about them (check out the reviews of their early works here at The Metal Crypt) so I was stoked to have this one show up for review, but I was a little let down when the opening track, "A Face in the Glare", was finished. This isn't a bad song but it's mid-tempo and restrained performances weren't what I was hoping for. Fear not, "A Face in the Glare" is merely a warm-up as the band really gets going with "Ravening Iron" an epic cut with a lyrical hook ("Thousands of swords, no one can take them away from me") that you'll be singing instantly. The band alternately gallops through headbanging songs like "Worms of the Earth" and pounding the earth with monstrous riffs on songs like "Skullseeker." After the opener, Ravening Iron is a trove of ancient metallic gold that combines the epic goodness of early Manowar, the driving urgency of Iron Maiden and the cryptic arcana of Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road. If you like metal, just damn good metal, Ravening Iron should be in your collection.
