Reviewed by David Pearce

Artist – Blacksmith
Album – Strike While the Irons Hot
Label – Heaven and Hell Records
Year – 2011

Track Listing

1. The Bone March/Tower of London
2. Rock Hard
3. Louder Than Hell
4. The Blacksmith
5. The Beast
6. House
7. Louder Than Hell
8. A Taste of Darkness
9. The Bone March/Tower of London
10. Theatres Des Vampires
11. Hell to Pay
12. Fug it
13. Black Attack

Blacksmith a straight forward U.S. power metal outfit from New York led by guitarist and main man David Smith. And although Blacksmith’s history was short lived the band managed to leave a mark on the metal world.

This album is split into two sections tracks 1 – 5 are taken from Blacksmith 1986 Ep with Heidi Black on vocals. Then 6 – 13 are taken from the Fire Within Album 1989. So the album starts with The Bone March/Tower of London it starts with the eerie sound of thunder and a single church bell chiming then it bursts into life with a cracking little riff which sound like they were heavily influence by Iron Maiden. The vocals from Heidi are raw but work well the style of the song, there are some really good solos in here aswell. Rock Hard starts off where last song finished with some powerful riffs, pounding drums and quality catchy vocals and again some stunning solos. Louder Than Hell starts with the cymbals of the drums with a guitar riff playing along side then comes in the vocals this song is a true rock ‘n’ roll song I am guessing the title was influenced by the mighty Motorhead. They did this song justice with some great guitar work with the riffs and solos and the quality of the vocals. The Blacksmith starts off with a Blacksmith pounding out some steel then the vocals come in telling the story of the job that a Blacksmith does. It has some catchy vocals and some great guitar riffs that would keep any rocker happy. The Beast starts with some low eerie sounds then it bursts into life with another cracking riff and some pounding drum beats this really gets my head banging I just feel like getting up and rocking round the room. Then comes in the vocals which are clean and precise, for me the guitar and drum work on the song is outstanding and it has a barn storming solo aswell which is done very well indeed. House starts off with the drums and bass the drum is pounding a real heavy beat and the bass line follows with perfection then the guitars riff slides into place with ease with it galloping riff. This song has a very early Metallica feel to it with the style of the guitar riffs and the vocals which is not a bad thing I can also hear a bit of Anthrax and other bands including early Megadeth there aswell. Louder Than Hell this is the same song, as earlier in the album but with Malcolm (mania) Lovegrove on the vocals I actually like this version better taking nothing away from Heidi’s vocals but I think Malcolm’s vocals fit this song better. It’s just that Malcolm has a better range of vocals than Heidi. The song has the same quality riffs, solos and pounding drums. A Taste of Darkness starts off the sound of swirling winds then breaks into a good heavy riff which you can tell has been heavily influenced by the bands of the late 80’s early 90’s. Again the vocals are clean and precise whit some added screams which make all the difference to the song it just shows how versatile he is with his vocal range and I think that made the songs more punchy. Later in the song comes another quality galloping riff with another quality solo. But I have one major disappointment with it at the end of the song halfway through the solo the song cuts off and goes into the next song. This in my eyes is very bad production of the tracks they didn’t even blend it together if they I would have not minded but they did not they just cut it dead. The Bone March/Tower of London again this song was earlier on the album, but with Heidi Black on vocals again it has the same quality guitar riffs which sound like they were heavily influence by Iron Maiden, pounding drums and stunning solos. But again I think that Malcolm (mania) Lovegroves vocals are better suited on this song. Theatres Des Vampires starts with some talking about vampires then the guitars come in with a slow but good eerie riff which then bursts into life with a heavy quality riff, the vocals tells the story of the vampires perfectly. The song also has the same pounding drumbeat and the stunning guitar solos. Hell to Pay starts off with a quality riff then a sensational solo comes in which blew me away. The vocals on this song are a higher pitch than other songs on this album but the solo work on this song is sensational. Together with the heavy riffs makes the song just fantastic. Fug it is a very fast riff that only last twenty five seconds but it was well done. Black Attack starts off with a heavy riff in, which gets my head banging instantly this song has a quicker pace to it but it has the same quality vocals, drumbeats, guitar riffs and stunning solos.

Overall

With the exception of some bad production *) on one song it still is a really good heavy album. I personal opinion is that the vocal work from Malcolm (mania) Lovegrove is better suited to the music than Heidi’s just because of the range of his singing, but Heidi’s was a very talented singer and I could see why she was the front person for the band. The music on the album was just brilliant it has it all great heavy riffs pounding drumbeats and stunning solos it is an album I could listen to when I want to chill with a nice cold beer.

7/10

Members

David Smith – guitar
Heidi Black – vocals
Michael J. Marino – bass
Tommy Roy – drums 84 -85, 86 – 87
George Fortune Snyder – drums 85 – 86

BLACKSMITH II 1987 – 1991

David Smith – guitar
Chris Madsen – bass
Malcolm (mania) Lovegrove – vocals
Chris Caglione – drums

*) Note from the label:  “the production issue is actually not on the album and was a digital downloading cliche“