Originally released last year to limited acclaim, Forged In Fire finds itself front and centre in the metal consciousness, thanks obviously to us here at Sentinel Daily but also to the fine people at Metalapolis Records who thought the album – from German hopefuls Iron Echo – was worth, as we say in Australia, another throw at the stumps.

And they were right because, a couple of plodders aside, FIF is brimful of punchy metal anthems, all delivered with the sort of Teutonic abandon we here at SD find hard to resist. Tracks like the bruising Ready to Rumble and Last Man Standing will hit your square in the metal feels, all visceral thrills and spills, and even at their most sophisticated – Streets on Fire or classy closer Seven Sins, f’rinstance, the band display the sort of immediacy that has you thinking ‘yes, I’ve heard this somewhere before – but who cares?!’

Singer Johnny Vox (nominative determinism at it’s best!) keeps things tight and sensibly opts not to overdo things, staying in his pleasantly gritty mid range for the most part and leaving the showing off to the guitarists Timo and Zottel. Iron Echo are clearly a solid, efficient unit, keeping flash to a minimum, especially in the engine room where BJ and Lois power things forward with grim faced zeal.

That said, Forged In Fire is hardly a dour album and there’s plenty here to get your teeth into if you enjoy German heavy metal in it’s classic, classy form. Accept, Gamma Ray and Primal Fear all loom large at points, but never to the point where things become uncomfortable. Iron Echo clearly love these bands, but Seven Sins especially shows that they are more than capable of moulding the template to their own capabilities. If you missed out on this album last year, don’t make the same mistake this time around!

Forged in Fire re-emerges on June 27th