Iron Angel - Hellish Crossfire (1985)

Artist: Iron Angel

Release Title: Hellish Crossfire

Release Type: Full Length Album

Release Year: 1985

Artist Genre: Speed/Thrash Metal

Artist Origin: Germany

Track Listing:
1. The Metallian 2. Sinner 666 3. Black Mass 4. The Church Of Lost Souls 5. Hunter In Chains 6. Rush Of Power 7. Legions Of Evil 8. Wife Of The Devil 9. Nightmare 10. Heavy Metal Soldiers
Total playing time 41:19

Iron Angel were a nifty little outfit who emerged from the mid 80's speed metal and thrash groundswell in Germany. That movement was wrestling with the American scene to be the king of these styles of metal. This debut album from the band was loosely in the vein of Venom, murky satanic speed metal. However there is a good dollop of influence from teutonic thrash like Destruction in the guitar tone, overt drumming and some "help!! mommy!!" thrash riff breaks. Couple that with some competent vocals which range from a deep voiced bark to a crazy shriek. When you throw in some solid catchy songwriting you have a model album to give someone who doesn't know what underground 80's German metal had to offer. You can hear the track "legions of evil" above which from an uploaded mp3 that is on youtube.

The breathtaking moments on here include the main riff and thrash break in "Hunter In Chains", "The Metallian", the zippy "Sinner 666" and "Legions Of Evil". All the album tracks are enjoyable enough and the album is mandatory if you're a fan of Venom, Destruction, Slayer or any dark thrash and speed metal in general. Check out mp3 copies of the highlights I've mentioned and if they float your boat buy the album from amazon.