American metallers Ironflame have been carrying the torch for nearly a decade now, and they are one of those rare bands on whom you can rely upon to deliver time and again with no missteps.

New album Kingdom Torn Asunder is no exception; Five albums in, the band continues to refine it’s style but their commitment to true metal remains undiluted. This fact alone would be worthy of praise, but, when you add to this the news that KTA might well be their best, most well-rounded effort yet, well – it’s happy days all round!

Band mainman Andrew D’Cagna continues to be the fulcrum around which everything revolves; once again he writes, sings and plays everything apart from the guitar solos (which are handled more than admirably by Quinn Lukas and Jesse Scott), and on tracks like Majesty of Steel and Riding The Dragons he’s quite frankly never sounded better. In the past I’ve likened Ironflame to a variety of the big names of US Metal, in part to reflect the diversity of the band’s sound but also as a signifier that perhaps they still hadn’t quite found themselves stylistically. On Kingdom Torn Asunder no such doubts remain. Standing Tall and Blood and Honour are tracks that show a band zeroing in on it’s ‘wheelhouse’, and consequently everything here is far more satisfying, and more convincing, than ever before.

On the basis of the evidence presented, you’d have to say that the future looks very bright indeed for Ironflame and Andrew D’Cagna; They’ve got the tunes, they’ve got the sound, they’ve got the talent. Throw in that all important final factor – a bit of luck – and the sky really could be the limit!

Kingdom Torn Asunder releases on July 26th.