Some people believe that there is a time and a place for subtlety.

For Korean power metal band Ironbard, no such time or place exists.

That said, this diabolically theatrical quartet exercise their vigor for overkill with aplomb. On their 2012 song "Skyland," Ironbard declare war on subtlety and emerge the victors. The song's steadfast commitment to the excessive is its winning attribute.

"Skyland" is clearly an important song for Ironbard.

It was first released as a single in 2009, and it later came to us from on the band's 2012 "Wing of Icarus" EP. It has also been revisited on the band's more recent full-length, "Recreate on the Earth," released in October of 2014.

The band members are clearly devoted foot soldiers in the genre of power metal, a fantasy sidecar to the heavy metal mainstream. Power metal bands embrace the kitsch, artifice and flamboyant glory that classic British heavy metal bands like Judas Priest or Iron Maiden hinted at, but never fully embodied.

The music is typified by florid, baroque-style melodies, screeching falsettos and an overall indulgence in major-key pomp and circumstance.

"Indulgence" is a key word here. Ironbard hit all the marks for power metal on "Skyland" because of their refusal to be anything but full-tilt. Without an insistence on going beyond the limits of good taste, this music fails to make an impact.

Fortunately, Ironbard have no qualms with going for that epic brass ring.

"Skyland" is a continual ramp skyward, always moving towards glory. When this music plays, one feels a somewhat primordial need to pump their fist.

The song begins with a dizzying fit of counterpoint, with electric guitar, phony harpsichord and synthesized strings wrapping one another in gilded arcs of melody. When the band fully kicks in, it revs up with a halftime groove that seems akin to a runner's crouch before kicking into a sprint.

"Skyland" packs ornamentation in like a Christmas stocking stuffed to its limits.

Cheesy pinch harmonics and symphonic fills run amok, along with unending vocal overdubs, wailing and screeching in harmony. As I've written about previously, this type of music is nothing without this sort of commitment.

On "Skyland" Ironbard are pristinely recorded, expertly performing their parts with a seriousness of intent that this session is clearly as important as anything in their lives has ever been.

As opposed to other, more self-serious styles of metal music, the band doesn't shy away from melody on "Skyland." To the contrary, the song is fully loaded in that regard, emphasizing the power that can be found when catchy material is bolstered by righteous amplitude.

The untamed power of "Skyland" doesn't let up until its final 30 seconds, when the band drops back into a halftime in order to highlight a wild guitar solo, accompanied by more of that harpsichord and some martial drum fills.

The song's end is its only curious point.

Rather than rewarding the listener with a glorious return to the song's tonal center, it finishes unresolved, as if to indicate a cliffhanger, not a conclusion. This is an obvious nod to power metal's flair for the theatrical.

Ironbard seem to be urging those swept up in their tidal wave of triumph to stick around for the next chapter of their story.

Check out Ironbard's "Skyland" RIGHT HERE

Jeff Tobias is a composer, musician and writer currently living in Brooklyn, New York. As of late, he has been working on a new string quartet and trying to master Texas Hold 'Em poker.