Review Of The First Full-Length Album "Welcome To The War" From Achilles Steel.
Band Name: Achilles Steel
Album Title: Welcome To The War
Tracklist:
Welcome To The War
Achilles Steel
Stand Up (The Fallen)
Battlefield
(Rise) The Unknown Soldier
Sins Of The Father
Children Born Of War
Feel The Steel
Running Time: 44:03
Release Date: February 23, 2026
Label: Stormspell Records
Rating: 8.5/10
Version Reviewed: Jewel Case CD
Band Members:
Steve Kelley - Bass, Lead Vocals
Dave Chamberlain - Guitar
John Kelley - Guitar
Doug Stevens - Drums
Additional Album Info:
Studio Guitars Recorded By Steve Kelley
Recorded, Mixed And Mastered At Mechanix Studios In Little Elm, Texas
Achilles Steel is a band from Iowa I had never heard of before I bought their debut album “Welcome To The War” from Stormspell Records. They were around in the 80’s and released one demo and then there was nothing until this new full length. I’ve never been to Iowa, but my cousin Mike lived out there for a while when he went there from Michigan to go to music school there. I love coming across great young bands like this as it shows me that heavy metal will actually never die. Speaking of dying…
“Welcome To War” is an album totally inspired by war, death and dying. Battle sounds and battle dialog permeates the entire album. The music is traditional melodic heavy metal and really reminds me a lot of no other band. Maybe a bit of old Ozzy, old Priest and old Iron Maiden, but 80% of their sound is totally original, just rooted in the 80’s. There are some keyboards, but the album is not oversaturated with them at all. All of the musicians are great at what they do and there are some great guitar solos and leads that will shred your earholes. The vocals are totally traditional 80’s heavy metal in style and when the vocals are soaring, he reminds me a bit of Eric Adams and at times when there’s more of the band members singing in unison it has an almost 80’s pop/prog vocal sound. It works really well! All the lyrics are easy to understand, and you don’t really need to resort to reading the lyrics in the booklet. The lyrics are about the Roman Empire, Troy, killing, war, fighting on battlefields, and death in general. “Welcome To The War” also uses quite a few sound samples and movie-like dialog and that is something I have always liked on albums. It’s more immersive for the listener to me. “Rise Of The Unknown Soldier” is a ballad that ranks up there with the ballads any Metal band has produced. It starts out kind of acoustic and slowly builds and is emotional as hell. Here’s a cool tidbit of info: All of the drums were recorded live in the studio, and they are amazing! I just bought a bass and an amp because I've been finding myself really loving the bass on albums and the bass on here thumps! It will rattle your fucking walls!
The cover art is a war scene involving ancient Roman Centurions. It’s highly detailed, clean looking and fits the theme of the album well. Inside of the eight-page booklet you will find all of the lyrics, band and album info and a bit of a thanks list. The back of the booklet has a band photo of them dressed as Roman warriors playing their respective instruments. Metal can be silly at times, and I love it partly because of that!
Pick up "Welcome To The War” is you are a fan of the 80’s styled traditional U.S. heavy metal. Hell, you may just learn a bit of history if you do!
As always, I like to ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists by purchasing the physical copies of the albums you love or by visiting their Bandcamp pages and websites and supporting them there.
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