Return Of The Iron Tyrant

RAM have been one of those bands that I've enjoyed over the past few years, but one that I've never really spent much time with. I remember getting excited about them when I first saw their video for Flame Of The Tyrants, from their Death LP, back in 2011/2012. When I first heard that song, I was sure that the album was going to rocket to the top of Best of 2012 list, but in the end, I guess I wasn't feeling it as much as I initially thought...or I was too focused on Fire & Ice and Boston Strangler records to really spend much time with it, and RAM never got much attention.

When I heard they were releasing a new album this year, and dudes over at the Bravewords board started complementing it by stating that it was Judas Priest worship, I knew that I had to check it out the first single, Eyes Of The Night. Yeah, I can hear the Priest influence, but at times it also reminds me of the first Sanctuary album.

Of course, Metal Blade distribution for vinyl releases sucks balls in the States, and I had to find an overseas distributor. Surprisingly, there was a European distro that offered free shipping to the US, so I considered myself lucky, and I grabbed a copy.

It feels good to finally have a piece of RAM vinyl in my collection, and this is a solid Metal album. Traditional Metal is killing it in 2015.

I love seeing the old school Metal Blade logo on this release. I was never a fan of that newer skull logo, so it was good to see the old one make a comeback.