Iron Mask release Crimson Prophecy on 29 January through Frontiers, their eighth album, with Mark Boals singing every song on it.
Boals is the name that moves this. He sang for Yngwie Malmsteen in the 1980s and has been in and out of this band for years, and Dushan Petrossi's neoclassical writing is the closest thing left to the school both men came out of.
Petrossi explained the first single in ordinary terms. "No Greener Lands is a song about something I think we can all relate to: always looking for something better somewhere else, without realizing the value of what we already have," he said, adding that he wanted it carried by vocal melodies and an epic atmosphere rather than by the guitar.
On the record as a whole he claims variety. "Each song has its own personality, mood and story, but they all share the same passion for melody, epic arrangements, heavy metal with strong choruses and the neoclassical guitar work that has always defined my sound."
Vassili Moltchanov plays bass, Franky De Mangelaere keyboards and Kjell De Raes drums. Eleven tracks, from God Unbless You to the title track.