Band:	FireForce
Album:	March On
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	March 25, 2011
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Coastal Battery
02. The Only Way
03. Firestorm
04. Horus (Bringer Of Order)
05. Remaining
06. 1302 - Battle For Freedom
07. Remaining
08. Moonlight Lady
09. Annihilation
10. Fly Arrow Fly (Crécy 1346)
11. Mona Lisa
12. Hold Your Ground
13. Born To Play Metal
14. Metal Rages On

Well, it's comforting to know that at least some people are making an effort to keep the "metal" in power metal. To be fair, this isn't much of a mind-blower in terms of originality or ingenuity, it's just a satisfying melodic metal release.

What makes this album so "metal" in comparison to so much out there is the strong emphasis put on the rhythm section. For better or worse, it seems power metal has become an entirely melody based form of music, a good, heavy rhythm seems secondary, if not completely ignored nowadays. Fireforce on the other hand have seemed to build things from the bottom up - give you something to bang your head to, then lay the melodies on top. The result is a much heavier sound than your typical method of creating some melodic leads then slapping a completely forgettable rhythm section underneath. The vocals match the music very well. The vocalist is far from what you'd consider a virtuoso, yet doesn't soften the delivery of the riffs - he's caught somewhere between Rolf of Running Wild fame and Sodom's Tom Angelripper.

Heaviness is nice, not going overboard on cheesy melodies is nice, so what's wrong with this album? Well, aside from being a fairly unexciting middle-of-the-road heavy power metal album (despite the avoidance of horrible cliches - instrument wise), the lyrics are utterly embarrassing. Yes, yes, metal is music, first and foremost, not poetry. Overlooking horrid lyrics has it's limits though, if lines like "Metal headbangers/Raise your fists/make sure we exist" don't make you cringe, then you'll probably enjoy this a lot more thoroughly than I have. This is just one example, judging by the thick accent, I doubt this guy has any idea how god-awful his lyrics actually are. No human with a halfway decent grasp on English would write anything nearly as bad as what's found on this album.

Worth checking out for those who walk on the heavy side of the heavy/power hybrid fence. Enjoyable, but altogether just another "ok" album to add to the pile.