Sun and Steel is the sixth and final studio album released by Iron Butterfly in 1975. It explores a wider variety of styles than any other Iron Butterfly album, yet always remains within the contemporary conventions of hard rock. Tracks from this album are usually left out of Iron Butterfly compilations/greatest hit collections. It is also the band's only album to fail to chart on the Billboard 200. In Canada it made an appearance at number 89, December 27, 1975.[2]
Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine delivered a negative review of Sun and Steel, rating it one out of five stars. He said it "was an outright disastrous attempt at reshaping the band's signature sound to '70s hard rock conventions, lacking even the curiosity value of Scorching Beauty."[3]
George Starostin's Only Solitaire page gave a positive review of the album, rating it eleven out of fifteen. He said that "This is the best Iron Butterfly album I've heard so far" and that "as I'm not a fan of the 'heavy soul' genre, I have to admit the band worked some mini-wonders on here", singling out "Scorching Beauty" as the best track.
