Review | Stormzone – Immortal Beloved

Escape Music

I think it was about some five years ago that I reviewed the last album of the Northern-Irish outfit Stormzone, entitled ‘Ignite The Machine’. The review by yours truly was not very positive, as the group around singer John ‘Harv’ Harbinson never managed to ignite the machine with their mix of classic and power metal. The album featured just mediocre songs and ditto performances. I am surprised by the fact that the group has managed to get a deal with quality UK-label Escape Music. Does this mean that Stormzone has managed to get their act together and has become an outfit that is ready for promotion to the top league?

BACK TO THE START

In a way for Stormzone signing with Escape is something like back to the start as their first record ‘Caught In The Act’ was released by Escape almost two decades ago. Since then, the band has been through several records-labels, the last one being Metalopolis. Since that ‘Ignite The Machine’-album Stormzone has gone through a heavy change in line-up. Harbinson and guitarist Dave Shields made the cut (both founding members) and are now assisted by guitarist Shaun Nelson-Frame (who also produced and mixed the new album) plus Peto Uhrin (drums) and Jan Uhrin (bass).

GOOD START

With a bit of scepsis I started the latest Stormzone-effort and was pleasantly surprised by the first two tracks ,,Steel Meets Ice’’ and ,,Tyrannosaur’’, both up-tempo and quite good as well. A very good start of Stormzone with robust sounding metal with a big sound and some decent vocals by Harbinson.  But then with the title-track is become the same old song. The band loses momentum and for the rest of the album they only flare up a few times (,,Stand In Line’’). The album is basically being saved by a very good overall sound but lacks the necessary variety. Listening to the whole album it is very one-dimensional at times.

STORMZONE – THE CONCLUSION

Fair is fair, Stormzone sounds a lot better in 2026 compared to ‘Ignite The Machine’, so some progress has been made for sure. But in my humble opinion that is not enough to really get noticed by a big audience. The band needs a bit more than just playing the same tempo and style of heavy metal for thirteen songs in a row. People that like their metal rough, ready and relentless I guess ‘Immortal Beloved’ certainly has its charm, but it is just for the happy few.

Release date: 30 January 2026