Iron Angel's "Hellish Crossfire" is an album in the great German tradition that sounded a lot heavier and faster back in the day then it does today, but it has not lost its nostalgic touch. The fact is that while Iron Angel were loaded with Satanic imagery and song titles, their music was more in line with the Running Wild/Rage and Grave Digger school than with the Sodom/Kreator/Destruction one. It's a great debut from a capable, excited and powerful outfit. What's best here are the songs themselves, the amount of strong cuts on hand being pretty damn high for a debut. "Legions Of Evil" is a great, threatening cut with a nice slow refrain, but it's the fast tunes that have the most punch and drama, especially "The Metallian," "Sinner 666," "Wife Of The Devil" (this one come closest to providing serious overkill) and "Rush Of Power." A capably heavy sound job is also present, again without the sonic blast of underground metal of the day, but worthy all the same. If you are into that German mid 80's Metal sound, then this Iron Angel album has to be in your collection, period.
