IRON DUKE

[2 - 2,5 stars] Here is yet another band from the middle 70's which apparently tried to make as dull and typical progressive rock record as possible. Iron Duke's "First Salvo" consists of mildly pleasant, unadventurous prog rock with strong scents of Yes and Jethro Tull. While not awfully bad, this record is extremely predictible and unadventurous, to the point of being boring. It doesn't provide anything new to the genre, nor does it surprise an experienced listener in any way.

The songwriting is weak at worst to mediocre at best, very repetitive, straightforward, and simply way too similar to other bands (for example, listen to the intro to "Beast of Prey" - isn't it a straight rip-off of "Yours Is No Disgrace"?). Most of the themes are just mediocre, and the songs never really progress into anything unusual or interesting. Even the closer, 15 minutes mini-epic doesn't grab attention like it should (although it is probably the highlight of the record). To make things worse, the whole album is OOZING with Minimoogs (in fact, three out of four band members use it). Don't get me wrong, I love analog synths as much as the next guy (even more than the next guy), but in this case it ends up sounding like a one big progressive cliche - a parody, if you will.

Recommended only for those who wish Yes and Jethro Tull had made a hundred more albums in the 70's.