Iron Kingdom recently shared their single, “In the Grip of Nightmares”
Canada’s NWOTHM outfit Iron Kingdom is releasing their fifth studio album, The Blood Of Creation, this fall, and in advance, have the melodic new single “In The Grip Of Nightmares” ready for your consumption.
The album is not a concept album, but they exhibit a passion for fantasy themes and pays homage to tales woven by acclaimed authors. The single is about the sword Stormbringer from the Michael Moorcock books Elric of Melnibonè Series. Bound together by fate, Elric consumes the souls of those he slays with Stormbringer, and this dramatic relationship is conveyed through progressive traditional heavy metal in the vein of Helloween and Fates Warning. Fast and driving, it is also melodic with plenty of solos and focuses on the leads.
The band explains the track further,
“We started writing this song during the ‘On The Hunt’ sessions back in 2019, however, the song had a different energy than the rest of the album so we decided it would be best to come back to it at a later date. In late 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown, we took a second look at what was to become “In The Grip Of Nightmares.” We rewrote the tune to be what it is today. It tells the tale of the legendary sentient sword ‘Stormbringer’ and its relationship to Elric. The sword ‘consumes’ the souls of those who it strikes down and feeds the energy into Elric, who needs it to survive. The two are bound together by fate. A fate that twists Chaos and Law, and leaves Elric in the grip of nightmares.”
Iron Kingdom set out to create music in a style of metal that seemed to have been forgotten when they were kids. Since no one else seemed to be doing it, they decided to play metal the way it used to be played in the 70s and 80s while transporting listeners into unique, fantastic worlds. Since their conception, they have toured worldwide, keeping old-school vibes alive.
Listen to “In the Grip of Nightmares” below, and learn more about Iron Kingdom via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Leighton Holmes, and I am the bassist and primary lyricist for the Trad Metal band IRON KINGDOM.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
Our most recent release is titled The Blood of Creation. We’ve been working on this record since early 2020 and are happy to finally release it. This album is shaping up to be my personal favourite. The songs range from the speedier “Sheathe the Sword” to more mid-tempo rockers like “Queen of the Crystal Throne” to the fantastically epic title track “The Blood of Creation.” It’s the first album we’ve done with Max Friesen on drums and our second with Megan, and I say with all confidence, this is the best lineup we’ve ever had with the band!
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
Lyrically I pull a lot of inspiration from myths and legends and fantasy books, and musically when we are writing, I like to listen to classical music. It doesn’t show through all that much in the music, but it does put me in a mental state that is beneficial to jamming. We all bring something different to the table in terms of writing and it adds up to something awesome.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
We have already finished what touring we had planned for this year, but we have the album release party coming up on November 4, 2022, at the Wise Hall in Vancouver. It’s going to be a kickass show. We are playing with some of our friends in the scene. We are really looking forward to finally sharing this music with everyone.
What’s your goal for 2022?
Our goal for 2022, as it stands now, is to release this album and then gear up for domination in 2023. We hope to tour a fair bit in 2023 and spread the word and see people we haven’t been able to see for the last couple of years, both in North America and Europe.
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