Inspired by growing up listening to epic metal legends such as Iron Maiden, Savatage, Helloween, and Judas Priest, multi-instrumentalist Andrew D'Cagna formed IRONFLAME in late-2016 as an outlet for crafting soaring, melodic heavy/power metal of his own. After the immensely positive response toward IRONFLAME's Divebomb Records debut, Lightning Strikes the Crown, motivation for a follow-up surfaced rather quickly. Utilizing the tried-and-true formula of "if it's not broken, don't fix it," the entire process remained largely the same-as fast and improvisational as before. Rather than release another full-length album, the original concept was to compose a lyrically ambiguous five-song EP nodding to Greco-Roman mythology. The initial tracks paid homage to Nemesis (Goddess of Revenge), Prometheus (God of Fire), Ares (God of War), Theia (Goddess of Shining Light), and Orpheus (God of Music). Lyrics were penned and the ideas were presented to contributing lead guitarist Jim Dofka (Psycho Scream, Leather, Dofka), who loved the theme, but felt that Andrew should continue writing and flesh out another full-length after all. Heeding Jim's advice, D'Cagna returned to the studio and decided to shift gears for the remaining compositions, which dwell largely upon the human condition through shared experiences such as temptation, seduction, betrayal, rage, and vengeance. Album closer, "Our Great Defender," is the one exception: an allegorical tribute to the late, great heavy metal icon Ronnie James Dio. Considering the gamut of emotions contained within this new volume of music, a title was chosen appropriately: Tales of Splendor and Sorrow. The resulting 10-song, 52-minute journey should appeal to any fan of quintessential heavy metal-further cementing IRONFLAME's status as champions for classic metal of the highest order along the way!
