Iron Hawk-To the point

Chrome
1983

Chicago's Iron Hawk formed in the late 1970's and were around until about 1986. Towards the middle of that time they knocked out their only release in the form of a four track EP. What an EP it is, I can't believe I never heard of these guys until just recently. A bit of a cross between early 80's U.S. metal and NWOBHM. Saxon and early Y and T come to mine first as comparisons. They have powerful melodies in the foreground, but the guitarists are cranking out some steady riffs as well. Plus the rhythm section are right in the thick of it all as well. Actually the production is quite impressive for a self-produced effort and considering when it was released. This is just real head nodding metal that's easy to get into. Having been released in early 1983 they were slightly ahead of the real explosion of U.S. metal because they next few years would see so many metal bands coming out of everywhere. It's a shame that these guys didn't get noticed on this album. They weren't just showing promise here, but rather they had it all together right away. I certainly would have been big onto them had I heard them back in the mid-80's. At least they left a fantastic EP for us to hear.

http://www.myspace.com/ironhawktheband