Iron Savior - Burning Heart

Teetering on the tightrope between heavy metal and power metal like two equally round children on either end of a seesaw, German titans Iron Savior have been dominating the space in between the two genres since 1996. Formed by ex-producer Piet Sielck (which I thankfully only have to type and not try to pronounce), they weren’t far off being a fully fledged supergroup at the time, featuring past and current members of bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian. Their work is an effortless blend of the foot-stomping elements of bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest with the technical flair and grand theme of Helloween (obviously) and it has just enough of both to be a perfect middle ground.

Not to be confused with the excellent Burning Heart by fictional boxing background music legends Survivor (although we haven’t covered that one yet, so watch this space unless you are lactose intolerant or simply allergic to a damn good earworm), our pick from Iron Savior’s mighty back catalogue this week is also named Burning Heart, and also feels like it should have been released about 35 years ago. This one is a fast-paced thriller, four minutes of thumping rock goodness that wouldn’t be out of place on a Queensryche album and certainly shouldn’t be out of place on your stereo/turntable/phonograph, so get it hooked up to your central nervous system via your lugholes, post-haste.

As a personal note, I implore that you watch the video for this one as well as enjoying the song. While it isn’t an “official” video as such, more of an officially sanctioned piss about behind the scenes released by the record label, it fills me with an unreasonable amount of joy every time I watch it. From the band goofing around doing silly dances to some seriously heavy metal to the lead singer just sat in a parked car performing the vocals (channelling serious Hank Schrader from Breaking Bad vibes) it’s a darn good time and well worth the watch despite its amateurish qualities.