The Landing is album #7 for Iron Savior, the one-time side project of ubiquitous Power Metal guru Piet Sielck and Gamma Ray's Kai Hansen. Hansen is long gone but Sielck soldiers on with Iron Savior in addition to his other activities like producing, engineering and playing on countless other albums.
If there is one thing Piet has learned from being so deeply immersed in the genre it is how to write a damn catchy song, and The Landing is full of them. Try not to get swept up in the soaring, majestic chorus of "Starlight," I dare you. Piet's voice, bolstered by choirs of backing vocals and huge major chords on the guitars will have you throwing your fists in the air. "March of Doom" and "Moment in Time," with its pulsing bass riff, are excellent as well. Of course, Piet knows how to layer on the cheese, too. "Heavy Metal Never Dies" and "R. U. Ready," the lyrics of which are based around classic Hard Rock band names (similar to Sabaton's "Metal Crue" but with older subject matter) are rife with clichés. Still, a Power Metal fan needs to at least look past this kind of tomfoolery, if not wholeheartedly embrace it. The sound on The Landing is fantastic, not that you would expect much less from an album produced by Piet Sielck. The band is spot on and the backing vocals are some of the best in the business.
Cheesy clichés notwithstanding, The Landing kicks ass from start to finish. It is a Power Metal fan's dream.
