THE FERRYMEN
Iron Will
Frontiers Music Srl - 2025
Back in 2017, I reviewed the self-titled debut album from THE FERRYMEN. While I liked some of the music, I did find something lacking in the overall package. The songs kind of sounded the same from one track to the next with what I thought wasn't a whole lot of variety to make them stand apart from each other.
Now back with their fourth studio album Iron Will, I found myself really looking forward to seeing what the trio of singer Ronnie Romero, Magnus Karlsson (guitars, bass, keyboards) and drummer Mike Terrana had to offer this time around.
The artwork for the album is sensational, the kind of artwork you'd expect to find on a power metal kind of album or a fantasy novel cover.
The best thing for me was that despite a few songs being released ahead of the album itself, I'd avoided listening to any of them, so as I listened to the album for this review, it was the first time I was hearing any of the music.
And that was a good thing because it let me discover things with little, if any, preconceptions. The opening track "Chokehold" was an at times blitzing and melodically fueled table setter. Fast paced most of the time, there was a nice bit of urgency from Romero. And the guitar solo from Karlsson was flat out incredible.
For "Mother Unholy", there's kind of a gothic vibe to the intro complete with a backing chorus to deepen the intro's sound. Uptempo overall, there's a bit more of a measured delivery throughout. And that big backing chorale sound continues, particularly on the song's chorus. The power or maybe the passion that Ronnie Romero pours into the recitation of the song's title gave the song even more of a heavy thrust and feel.
The album's title track keeps up the more uptempo bonafides of THE FERRYMEN's musical nature. But I was a little less than enthralled with the way the song's title gets underplayed in the song's chorus. Of course, with the overall performance of everyone involved, that little nitpick of mine seems less and less important with each successive listen.
The way the track "Above It All" started out, I really thought it was going to be a power ballad, but THE FERRYMEN subverted that expectation pretty quickly. Once the song's intro faded out, the song ended up being a pretty rocking track.
The song "Adrenaline" lived up to its title. Fast moving from the first note to the end, this one really got my blood pumping! The lyrics pretty much sum up what I was feeling as the song played through. Definitely one of my favorite cuts on the album!
The intro for "Darkest Storm" is a quick moving flourish before the first lyrical verse hits the brakes and moves a bit slower. But the tempo rising back up for the bridge and chorus gives the impression of a rocket taking off. The song goes back and forth between that style throughout and it's pretty damn entertaining. I liked the way Karlsson's guitar solo here was way more subtle for the first half. It still had the same kind of power chord frenzy for the latter portion but it was just a great listen. One thing I noticed (and I have no idea if I I'm even remotely correct about this) is that the more uptempo portions of the song along with the song title itself seemed to tie in with the album's cover art.
If you are looking for a power ballad type track, you'll want to check out "Dreams And Destiny". Ronnie Romero's vocals get a bright bit of spotlight for the song's first 2 1/2 minutes with the musical instrumentation sparse and definitely serving as the background to his individual performance. After that mark in the song, the music kicks in more fully and becomes more power driven until the song's conclusion. Karlsson has a furious solo here. And I enjoyed the little touch of Celtic music influence that popped up in the song too. It's a pretty effective number and one that I really enjoyed a lot.
Something I liked a lot with that first album from THE FERRYMEN was the way Mike Terrana's drums played such a foundational part of the music. I've been remiss in not mentioning his work to this point in the review but he is once again sublimely incredible throughout the Iron Will album.
On "Dust To Dust", there's a nice riff that flows throughout the track. While there's a bit of restraint on the overall pacing of the song, it is still pretty rocking throughout.
When I was first looking at the album's track listing, I was drawn to the song "The Darkness That Divides". It just sounds like something that is going to be epic! When the song started playing there's a chant that lends credence to my initial thought. But that chant disappears rather quickly (though it returns later in the song) and the music becomes a full on rocker up until the lyrics kick in and then there's a more measured tone to the music. Oh, and I love the way Terrana's drums are utilized in this song A LOT! During the chorus, the song rocks out a lot harder and faster. The song may not be the kind of "epic" I envisioned when I saw the song title but I have to say that I really liked this track.
The background musical soundtrack for "Mind Games" feels a bit cinematic in scope. The more rocking vibe that comes in over the top of that gives the song a pretty cool edginess to the track as a whole.
The album closes out with the song "You're The Joker". Judging by the song's title, I wasn't sure where the song would be taking me, but I loved the musical intro a lot. Hard driving pace that only became more intriguing as the vocals kicked off, the opening of the song was just flat out killer. There's a brief little bit before the chorus that I thought detracted from the song. It kind of took me out of the moment. It is repeated for the second lead in to the song's chorus as well. But when you take that bit out, the song got my foot tapping throughout.
While there is a similar thematic sensibility to the material on Iron Will, it was nowhere near as pronounced as I thought it was on THE FERRYMEN's first album. And so, I definitely enjoyed Iron Will a lot more than I perhaps thought I was going to heading into my review. The performances are spot on, and there's plenty of great material so I would give a hearty recommendation for Iron Will!
4.5 Out Of 5.0
