Ironbird was a new name to me until my recent trip to KL. The Lavatory guitarist MKD brought me to Varmt Stål Hell Records, where we met Eko Nurdin and some friends having dinner before heading upstairs. A week later, MKD passed me a copy of ‘High Speed Evil’, which became my first proper introduction to the band.
Ironbird were formed in Klang in 2015 and have been quietly building their name within the Malaysian underground ever since. Ash Rajis and Eko Nurdin have been there from the beginning, with Rul Hairul and Mat Fadhzly joining the lineup in 2016. Eko has also been involved with other Malaysian bands including As Sahar, Santau and Rusty Rabak, while Rul and Mat have connections with Thrashit and other projects.
Before this album there was the ‘Heavy Metal Evil’ demo in 2016 and the ‘Into The Evil’ EP in 2018. That EP already showed where Ironbird were heading, combining Heavy Metal and Speed Metal with plenty of melodic guitar work, solos and a strong affection for the 1980s. It was recorded at Metalhead Pot in Kajang and released on Evil Attack Records, with a limited 500-copy CD pressing.
‘High Speed Evil’ is the band’s first full-length, released in August 2025. Nine tracks make up the album, with Eko responsible for all the music except ‘Speed Wild’, which was written by the whole band. Iwan Uchida adds guitar solos to ‘High Speed Evil’, ‘Iron Meets Steel’ and ‘Speed Wild’, while the rest of the arrangements remain firmly in Ironbird’s hands.
And this is where Eko’s influence really comes through. His guitar work gives ‘High Speed Evil’ that classic Heavy Metal character that runs through the whole record. The riffs aren’t written around speed for the sake of speed. There is a strong sense of melody in the guitars, plenty of traditional lead work and an obvious affection for the classic Heavy Metal sound. You can hear that old school influence without the album becoming a straight exercise in nostalgia.
The Speed Metal side is there as well, especially when the pace picks up, but the guitars keep bringing the songs back to that traditional Heavy Metal foundation. That balance is probably what caught my attention most on the first few listens. There is enough aggression to keep things moving, but the melodic guitar work gives the songs their identity.
Ash Rajis handles the vocals, while Rul Hairul and Mat Fadhzly provide the rhythm section behind Eko’s guitars. The lineup has been together in its present form for years, and that familiarity shows in the way the songs come together. There is no feeling of musicians fighting for space. Everything has its place.
The album also makes more sense after going back to the earlier material. ‘Into The Evil’ already showed a band becoming more confident with its Heavy and Speed Metal direction, particularly in the guitar harmonies and solos. ‘High Speed Evil’ takes that foundation into a full-length without abandoning what made the earlier material recognisable as Ironbird.
For a band I only discovered this year, ‘High Speed Evil’ has been a pretty interesting introduction. I met Eko first, got the CD afterwards and only then started looking into the history behind Ironbird. That led me back to the earlier releases and gave me a better picture of where this album came from.
There is nothing complicated about what Ironbird are doing. They play Heavy Metal, they bring in the speed when they want it, and Eko’s guitar work keeps that classic Metal spirit running through the album. ‘High Speed Evil’ is a proper full-length statement from a band that has been around the Malaysian underground for more than a decade, and for me it was one of those unexpected discoveries that came from simply being in the right place at the right time.
