It might be tempting to take my recent review of Book of Souls, copy and paste it with all the appropriate titles changed, because Senjutsu suffers from a lot of the same issues I had with that record. However, I think the difference is that the lows here are lower, and the highs are debatably higher than anything on that 2015 offering. Keep in mind that this is still a legendary band, capable of legendary metal tracks, with much of its classic roster in place, taking its sweet time between new studio offerings, yet unable to really compose on the level of their younger selves, with all that money, and all that time. Don't get me wrong, they have EARNED such breaks, unquestionably, because of their incessant touring and advanced ages. Iron Maiden has nothing to prove, with a stellar, classic backlog, loads of popular merchandising, and tours that do their damnedest to give you your money's worth. The band has given me so much that I cannot really ask more of them...
Still, I'm baffled why a band with such an enormous resource pool can no longer create the sort of top shelf tuneage which put them on the map. On its surface, Senjutsu does look cool...I dig the stark simplicity of the artwork (as with Book of Souls), and Samurai Eddie is surely a thing. The 81-82 minutes of this might have easily been quashed onto a single CD, but once more the band has opted for the double-album, with a number of lengthy tracks, although nothing as long as on the prior disc. We're talking several pieces that are 9-12 minutes, and the odds of Maiden being able to fill all that bulk with the quality of a "Powerslave" or "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" seem bleak. The first single I heard off this, "The Writing on the Wall", had a decent animated video, and a folky feel to it which felt fresh for the band, although it's ultimately a pretty dull track without a memorable chorus. "Stratego" had me more excited, the flow on that one brought me back to the Maiden I loved of that mid-to-late 80s period, but with a slightly fresh mood to it (and another animated video). That's still one of my favorite songs on this album, but if you're asking me to put together a collection of a few dozen tracks for a road trip, it's not going anywhere NEAR that list.
Most of the lengthier tunes here feel rather empty, not that they lack emotion or melody, because Bruce still delivers as one of the high points of Senjutsu; but I almost never feel like there is any positive payoff to spending all that time within the music. There are tracks like "Lost in a Lost World" which feel like pure callbacks to some of my favorite Maiden material, but then there's nothing new or remotely refreshing about them. The shorter tracks here ("Stratego", "Days of Future Past") are much more engaging, while cuts like "Death of the Celts" and "The Parchment" seem to be building to something impressive, and then the work crews up and retire for a lunchbreak and never return. "Hell on Earth" is more successful at grabbing me, but again all the good stuff could have been condensed to a track half the length and I would have missed nothing.
Now that I've covered my disappointments, I will say that I don't quite dislike the album, this is not Nostradamus by a long shot; it doesn't suck at all, and it once again squeaks by on some of its positive factors. The production feels a lot more natural and resonant to me than The Book of Souls' smoother, cleaner mix, and as a result the historical, windy, epic nature of the lyrical matter seems better suited to the sound of the actual instruments. It's just as pleasant to put on in the background as its predecessor, because hey, that's Iron Maiden back there. But compare for a moment what this band is churning out compared to some of its peers...the last two Saxon albums kick ass in their traditional blue collar heavy metal. The most recent Judas Priest album was the most charged up they've been in almost 30 years. The last four Satan albums, since the reunion, leave Iron Maiden and every other NWOBHM or NWOBHM-adjacent band in the fucking dust. Bruce and the boys just sound bored and exhausted by comparison, and I hope that with these last two double albums, they've shaken off these 'epic' urges, and can fire off a few more concise efforts like Piece of Mind or Number of the Beast before we have to inevitably say goodbye to one of our favorite bands. Senjutsu is decent enough, but could have been so. much. more.
Verdict: Win [7/10]
https://www.ironmaiden.com/
Showing posts with label iron maiden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iron maiden. Show all posts
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Iron Maiden - Senjutsu (2021)
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls (2015)
Iron Maiden's first double-album arrived at an era in which the band would be highly unlikely to fill 90 minutes with the sort of immortal, quality material that marked their ascent through the 80s, but the hope is that you can pick through all of its bloated carcass and find a few bits of tasty meat within, which you can then carve away from the fat. After years of trying, I can't seem to find enough of that choice protein. The Book of Souls is no hit machine, but rather the sort of record one grows to appreciate merely because of its experiential qualities. A good 90% of the material present on these two discs is harvested from similar and superior songwriting from across the band's past, but reconfigured just enough to feel like it still might be relevant, and the result is a pretty pleasant chunk of Iron Maiden lite that is well suited to background aural radiation...but you see, it's still Iron Fucking Maiden, and that matters.
I enjoyed this one for what it was when it first dropped, but admittedly had it shelved for years before deciding to finally draft up some thoughts on it. Listening now, it's much as I felt back then, professionally and competently executed Maiden with all the trademarks: mid to slow, plodding, majestic rhythms that occasionally stir an emotional response, Bruce Dickinson's distinct pipes sounding as well oiled as they've been in the 21st century, and a lot of interesting subject matter to inspire its lyrics. Toss in a production so clean that you could sniff Eddie's mummy dust off its surface without contamination, and add to that a rather simplistic but effective cover with the mascot looking his creepy best. Being an hour and a half of content with 11 tracks, there are bound to be a lot of overstuffed songs, and few of them really warrant the riffing and arrangement to justify that; but even if you take "The Red and the Black" at its 13 minute whole, there is still enough of the dreamy escapist quality to their classic material circa Somewhere in Time or Seventh Son of a Seventh Son or even Brave New World to not hit the Skip button. "Empire of the Clouds" at 18 minutes seems a little more adventurous, akin to a "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", sans the excellent payoffs and narrative quality of that track.
When they do occasionally manage to pick up the pace for chunks of "When the River Runs Deep" or "Death or Glory", you immediately perk up, because it just stands out from the more gleaming, polished melancholy that comprises so much of the remainder. Both of these tunes are worth hearing extracted from The Book of Souls as a whole, but even then if I were to compare them to the classics of yore, they still tend to come up short in terms of having legendary choruses. The leads throughout the album are serviceable, but again you rarely get anything past 'just alright', and Iron Maiden is never a band that should settle for 'just alright', or anything less than excellence. I've seen other refer to this album as Iron Maiden 'covering' themselves, and I don't know that I agree with that, it all seems genuine enough, only played too safely, like the well of ambition behind these legends has run dry, and they've sealed it off rather than wait for that rainfall of ingenuity to arrive again. The Book of Souls gives them something more to tour on, to rally around, to churn out a bunch of non-challenging, acceptable tunes, but I'd much rather they tried to kick us all in the proverbial balls again (in a good way, not a Virtua XI way) and fail, then summon up another lukewarm offering like this one.
This album does manage to squeak by on my scale, hitting all the superficial chords I expect, with decent lyrics and production, but there's just no "Wicker Man" here. No "Can I Play With Madness?". No "Powerslave". And hearing how obviously competent the band remains, I think they could still pull such glories off, it's just going to require a little more pickiness in the writing phase, and a long look in the mirror without the shave.
Verdict: Win [7/10]
https://www.ironmaiden.com/
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier (2010)
To be fair, The Final Frontier is in no way a bad or negative album, at least no further than the fact it just doesn't live up to my hopes of one day hearing this band produce an 80s level masterpiece before they fall to arthritis, old age or whatever inevitable horror awaits these brave, tireless men as they parade across stages decades beyond when most bands have cashed in their chips and retired. The boys embrace the far off concepts of their lyrics just as they once did, skirting across both the unknown and historical significance of events past, present and future with the best of intentions. The drawback is simply a failure to deliver on all the fronts necessary to ingrain this music deep into the memory. There are some fairly good stabs at the light here, and the individual musicians are in fine form, in particular Bruce Dickinson. You know what to expect from this man by now, and he does not let you down, offering another of his balanced performances, but the melodies simply do not rise above the din of recent year releases, and the album is ultimately rationed out between the quality of the last two.
"Satellite 15...The Final Frontier" is certainly a tempting intro to the record, opening with a Hawkwind like space rock ministration of guitar feedback and steel wrought NWOBHM chords over pulsing, disappearing synthesizer lines, slowly developing into a melodic charge. It's a fine set-up for the record, but doesn't really capitalize with anything catchy, just an urgent build towards the latter, "Final Frontier" half of the track, a pretty standard melodic rocker without an enormously catchy chorus. "El Dorado" follows in a cloud of Nicko mangling his kit alongside some throwaway guitar noise, before the click and the triplets arrive for another pretty average chord selection that brings to bear the good old feel of a band like Saxon. Once again, though, the big surprise melody never arrives to catapult the song beyond its steady clime. The guitars sound huge, and Bruce is positively diabolic with his sneer, but when he explodes into the higher register, there's just no memorable line to connect the synapses to the steel.
"Mother of Mercy" sounds like any random song from the last album, using some clean guitars and bluesy melodic spikes in the intro, while a calm Dickinson steers the band towards a raging, mid-paced trot. The chorus is yet again lackluster; though the first repetition of the title's track might seem like its going to deliver. "Coming Home" fares slightly better than the previous songs due to the warmth of the descending guitar melody, the flow of Harris' chords, but the rest of the song is sub-standard, with little interesting transpiring outside of that opening guitar line. "The Alchemist" (not the same as the Bruce Dickinson solo track) is one of the better pieces here, a classic Maiden rocker reminiscent of "Be Quick or Be Dead" with a pretty if basic melody in the chorus. Yet, even this is far from the band at their best, and its merely a standout among so many other, drab colors on this canvas.
The latter half of the record sees Maiden lurch into 'epic mode', with the shortest track here being nearly 8 minutes in length. You can hear a few glints of "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" influence in "Isle of Avalon", and the extensive clean guitars cede well into the more progressive, jamming segments, but its ultimately incoherent and soon forgotten. "Starblind" has grown on me slightly in a few listens, a desperately melodic track with semi-inspirational leads and some of the better lyrics on The Final Frontier. Easily one of the best new tracks for 2010, but still not delivering the nuclear payload I anticipated. "The Talisman" features about 2-3 minutes of raging awesome against 9 minutes of planning, and "The Man Who Would Be King" has some brush strokes of brilliance amidst its roiling, endless sea of painted momentum, but the bloated finale "When the Wild Wind Blows" delivers nothing beyond an average series of vocal melodies which sound very familiar to the last three records.
The Final Frontier is not an unpleasant experience to sit through, and certainly superior to anything the band released in the Blaze years, or Dance of Death, but I can't claim its on par with the band's one truly enjoyable post-reunion record, Brave New World, because there are just no loaded, emotionally charged singles like a "Wicker Man". This is a case of fine ideas, and the band's typically high class production standards colliding with composition that is merely average. The songs never capitalize on their strengths, the chords lapse into unconsciousness, and you really hope this is not the band's 'final frontier', because there must be something deep inside their spirits that we still need to hear, a muse that has not yet been satisfied. Considering how much value this band has offered me through the years (into the early 90s), the least I can do is cross my fingers and hope for the best next time, and probably the next after that. This time, we've been rationed out a passable effort, neither repugnant nor inspirational, but there in lies the quandary. 'Passable' and 'average' should not be acceptable outcomes for an Iron Maiden record. They never have been. They never will be.
Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time (1986)
Congratulations, you've got two testicles in a vice. Be careful with them. With great power comes great responsibility. 666 may be The Number of the Beast, but 6th is the album I hold before me, my personal favorite of the band's entire career, ever so slightly edging out the also-flawless Powerslave. And I'll come clean, it's largely due to the particular nostalgia I have always felt for Somewhere in Time. My go-to album. My desert island affair. And one of the most outstanding pieces of recorded music I have the privilege to own. The most 'classic' lineup of the band: Harris, Dickinson, Murray, Smith, McBrain, all out in finest form, reaching deep into their collective imagination to produce a masterwork of poise and polish, a progressive half-step between the swashbuckling fortitude of its predecessor and the gleaming psychological vistas eschewed by the following Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
It honestly surprises me at times that I fancy this album so, because when I usually think of the aggressive, classic Maiden, the first sounds that come to mind are always those staples of other albums like Piece of Mind or Killers, "Aces High" or "2 Minutes to Midnight". And while Somewhere in Time does wear some related footwear to those last two, there is some subtle nuance to the writing here which ever compels me into its dreaming, reflective vistas of expression. This is the best album when it pertains to a complete experience. There is no other which feels as right to play for 51 minutes straight, track 1 all the way to 8. Some might argue that it lacks the power or emotion of several other Iron Maiden offerings, but what better emotion could be evinced from a work of metal music than an all-expense-paid immersion into the future and past, 'A Christmas Carol' with Eddie at the helm in place of a trio of cautionary phantasms.
A cheesy yet extraordinary synth serves as an aegis to the carefully construed melodies of "Caught Somewhere in Time", soon to disappear under the momentum of the band's triplet charging madness, and Dickinson's crystalline, wavering tones that spin a yarn of two travelers in time, the one goading the other through an infinity of windows and adventures. Sure, the chorus is as daft and obvious as the song title, like you'll find in about 95% of all music, but it delivers. The bridge work here is phenomenal, with gorgeous melodic lines cascading about the mid-paced thrust of the bass and rhythm guitars. It doesn't hurt that the band is about to follow with what might be one of their single best songs in history. I refer of course to the tantalizing, signature volley of notes that introduces "Wasted Years", a song with a surprisingly blue-collar, rocking ethic to the verses that feels not unlike other hard rockers of the 80s, Saxon or Def Leppard, albeit with Bruce at the helm. But the chorus is beyond unforgettable, with the layered vocals shifting over some of the most simplest and life affirming chords in all metaldom.
If only we could bottle up the emotional resonance of that song, and take it with us, to drink all our days and forget the ravages of mundane existence. Oh, it's called an .mp3 player? "Sea of Madness", one of the lesser known tracks of this album (shocking, I know) emerges next from the phlogiston, with a nice interplay between the cheesy synth and guitar in the verse, and another siren-like, inescapable chorus that turns us over to the bump and trot of the 2nd verse. There's also a pretty lowdown and moody passage that cycles through the center of the track, if only to bring back the powerful reverb of the guitars once more. "Heaven Can Wait", like "Wasted Years" is one of the most accessible, or radio-friendly pieces on the album. Surprisingly, did not rate a video or single back in those days, but the scorching chorus of vocals, ringing melodic guitars and lightly seasoned backup synth will surely create a sensation of warmth through your being long after the fire of the solo has died and the bass swerves us out.
The second half of Somewhere in Time is all the more pensive, beginning with "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner", a psychological study of the film and book of the same name, and the very act of extreme athleticism which they involve. But this is no "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", and though the lyrics might ponder, the music races along with the band's usual index of melodies and forceful rhythms, including the epic lead break at 3:30 which every goddamn power metal band since just wishes they could have written first. "Stranger in a Strange Land" is sadly only a reference to the Robert A Heinlein novel in name. However, the story of an arctic explorer finding a frozen body is deep enough to satisfy, especially when one can put yourself in the fictional skin of the character and think of the lyrics from a first person perspective. There is a nice, proggish blues moment in the chorus where the guitars paddle along through the timestream, and the bass accompanying the solo break is a delight.
"Déjà Vu" leads down further paths of flight, wonderful harmonies erupting one of the more powerful verse rhythms of the album, with Bruce dishing out some of the more venomous tones as he careens towards his glittering chorus 'Feel like I've been here before'. I can assure you, no, Iron Maiden has not been here before. The marching drums and hammering guitar of the bridge leads into another soothing triple melody with the guitars and synth. The album ends with the 8 and a half-minute historical epic "Alexander the Great", and the riffing represents various elements of the man's life. War, politics, ambition, and glory can all be felt through the guitar patterns, yet the lyrics are played pretty straight, a simple narrative of the figure's acclaimed destiny. Before 4:00 the track goes a little awol into prog rock territory, you may feel a little 80s Rush or Yes in this, which of course serves as an omen of their next album. After that, some great, moody percussion and slowly wound leadwork arrives like a soldier on an elephant, and it all ends like the closure of some mighty procession.
If you can't tell the forest for the trees, Somewhere in Time is mandatory listening, whether you dabble in Maiden on a regular basis or you're some curious child, or perhaps you've been doing missionary work in some exotic land for the past 24 years and hadn't had any access to this particular treasure vault. It's neither the heaviest of the band's efforts nor the most remembered by the howling masses at their live gigs, who seem to content themselves with just a hit by hit track-ography of all their classic albums, but damn, what I would pay to see the band perform this in its entirety. This is actually the last of the band's 'crucial' discography. Seventh Son is a Seventh Son and Brave New World are both great, don't get me wrong, but if I was forced to choose sides and sharpen the band's career to the very finest edge, it would begin with Killers and end on the final notes of "Alexander the Great".
Hope you've enjoyed my Iron Maiden discography!
Highlights: 24 years worth across 51 minutes.
Verdict: Epic Win [10/10] (just let yourself go)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (1980)
Iron Maiden is notable as the only album in which the original lineup is over 50% different than the current roster, and to think...the band had a fair number of vocalists, guitarists and drummers before this one even took shape. Paul Di'anno and Clive Burr would go on to the sophomore album Killers, and Burr to The Number of the Beast, but this is the only studio album to feature Dennis Stratton on guitar alongside Dave Murray and Steve Harris (the two remaining 'original' members today). This is also perhaps the album which most matches the 'NWOBHM' motif that many of the band's peers were exploring, a very 70s vibe which comes as no surprise since some of the songs were written in that timeframe. It's not entirely heavy (none of their albums are), and several tracks maintain a somewhat psychedelic vibe, but that's actually one of the things I enjoy most about the album.
"Prowler" is the first at bat, a steady rocker that belongs at the heart of any Western 80s metropolis, as the ladies of the night and their admirers stalk the seedy city streets and the hard bite of the chords shuffles on, erupted by the forceful melodies that pick up the pace. Perhaps the best part of the song is the wild bridge at 1:47, where the guitars burn off like a brand against the mind and the solo explodes like a supernova. "Remember Tomorrow" feels like the Iron Maiden answer to "White Rabbit", with a psychedelic slur to the bass and a gently bouncing rhythm that bristles at the edges with its slight guitar shudders, only to transform at the 2:00 mark into a powerful stretch of chords that mirror other NWOBHM bands like Angel Witch. When all and said is done, this is one of my favorite tracks on the album, memorable and covering a wide spread of emotional impact. But "Running Free" is one of the most recognizable, due to the steady splash of the drums and the wonderfully delivered chorus line. There's a reason this song has been a live standard ever since...it's the type of sentiment that can seek out relation far wider than the band's core metalhead, hard rocker fanbase.
"Phantom of the Opera" is the 'epic' of this debut album, at about 7 minutes long, so not quite as involved as some of their sprawling, later tracks. It's tightly controlled, with mesmerizing, spry, memorable acrobatics on the guitars and a fantastic bridge laden in even further melodic musings, before returning to its savage final verse. The instrumental "Transilvania" features some killer speed metal before the drum beat enters to marry the slower, thundering pace of the pre-verse, which feels half like a pirate shanty. Another of the timeless classics of this album, it features the most intense guitar exchanges and Steve Harris losing his mind on tape. "Strange World" is by far the most psychedelically charged song in the Iron Maiden discography, like the band were jamming to some lost Pink Floyd cycle but incorporating the shimmering melodies of the metal guitars.
I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of "Charlotte the Harlot", it's not that the ballsy blues metal atmosphere bothers me, simply that the riffs do very little for me. But regardless, it's got some intensive drumming and a shuffle to it that feels similar to several of the tracks the band would later release on Killers. The band's namesake "Iron Maiden" stands alongside "Running Free" as one of the tracks here that the band will simply not forsake, having played it in their regular live set for 30 years. It's not my personal favorite, but certainly infectious, with fun little melodies that launch out of the chorus and delightful bridge melodies. I should also mention "Sanctuary", which may not have been included on the original release of the album, but has been a part of so many subsequent re-issues that it deserves a spot here, a fun and firm fusion of Maiden heresy and Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" with some wailing solos and busy bass.
Clearly the start of something beautiful, much of Iron Maiden holds up well to this day, though not so much as the crushing followup Killers. There are fans out there who still rank this as the band's finest hour. But, the rose-tinted goggles of nostalgia aside, it does not fully represent to me the characteristics of the band's best work, which would arrive in spades over the next 5 full-length efforts. I don't often find myself going out for a "Charlotte the Harlot" or "Sanctuary", and though "Strange World" is peachy, it feels to me like some other band. Still, the performance of the original members Stratton and Burr is strong here, and Di'anno's tones sound natural with the more 70s hard rock and psychedelic foundation that permeates about half the album. It's an important album, and a very good album, critical in helping to usher on the onslaught of 80s metal evolution and its many hydra-headed revolutions and sub-genres, but I honestly feel the band has surpassed this many times over.
Highlights: Remember Tomorrow, Running Free, Phantom of the Opera, Transilvania
Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (now all the boys are after me)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Iron Maiden - Virtual XI (1998)
Perhaps the best way to describe this album's sound is to create a hypothetical situation. Let's imagine for a moment that a group of fresh young Iron Maiden fans who had only just learned to play their instruments because they were inspired by The X Factor. Let's assume that all of these kids had a jamspace within driving distance of a venue where the band was touring, in which you could find their cheap instruments, a couple carpets for muffling, a basic PA, and two Iron Maiden CDs: The X Factor, and some greatest hits compilation which the band rarely listens to since they are so obsessed with the former. Now let's say one of these blokes has a van, and that somehow, after a Maiden gig, they've gotten Blaze very drunk and 'kidnapped' the poor man to their jamspace. Once they arrive, they keep getting Blaze even more hammered, sit him on a stool, hand him the microphone, and have him ad lib over some shitty songs they wrote...inspired by The X Factor. Then they record the session an 8 track or 16 track or whatever they've got lying around.
Virtual XI is actually WORSE than the result of what such an outlandish meeting might produce...
The flaws are myriad with this album. From its dulled down, absolutely uninspiring production values which mirror those of the previous album, to the dreadful songwriting which cannot have taken more than a beer or two to produce. Yes, this album sounds like it was released rather haphazardly, and I'm curious how EMI Records even let it slip past them. At the very best, and I'm talking the rare moments of this album that do not immediately induce vomit or other symptoms of malaise, the songs sound like a shallow redundancy of things we've already heard through the band's career, recycled just to get a passing score and the disc to the pressing factory. Although I like the guy, and hate to admit it, Blaze Bayley sounds terrible, like a drunk at a karaoke bar. He hits his usual, sombering range here, but let's be honest...even if the guy was suddenly channeling Andrea Bocelli here, the music is so bland and dreary that the effort would have been wasted.
There are guitar melodies, there are plodding basslines, and there are all the signature staples of Iron Maiden's past written across Virtual XI, except one: good, or even passable songs. The material on this album ranges from the truly embarassing ("Como Estais Amigos", in which Blaze Bayley tries to wax emotional over a crappy, repetitious sequence of notes that even the atmospheric keyboard cannot save) to the just bad ("The Clansman", which has one or two decent lines in which the repeated vocal melody creates a nice theme to which any Scot might want to tip his mug, but not for 9 fucking minutes...oh no). "The Angel and the Gambler" is stupefyingly mundane...like if you took a handful of old Maiden riffs, dulled them down to drunken laxness, tossed on an organ and strings, and took a giant squat all over the resulting mess. I mean, just listen to it...
Actually, belay that order. Do not listen to this. You'll only hate me more than you already do. "The Educated Fool", "When Worlds Collide", and "Futureal" sound like poor outtakes from The X Factor. None are any good, but perhaps if the latter and "The Clansman" had only been thrown onto that album instead of "Sign of the Cross", that one could have been somewhat easier to stomach. One of the riffs in "Futureal" sounds as if the band later salvaged it for "The Wicker Man", and the melodic guitars aren't the worst thing on the album, but that is saying very little. "Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger" is abysmal, with horrid lyrics that eschew the same string of cliches you'll find everywhere on this disc. "Lightning Strikes Twice" has a fair, moodiness to its initial minute, but as the power chords hammer in, it sounds incredibly goofy due to Blaze's vocals, and the way the track cuts to and fro sounds pitiful, like the band actually needed to randomly string it together from sequences that might have belonged in other tracks. The chorus vocal pattern at the end is too little and too late.
Kill it with fire! Melt it into slag, whatever it takes to rid yourself of the stagnation and foul memory of exposure to this monument to mediocrity...for Virtual XI worships at the foot of such an altar, stretches its arms, begging to be accepted as even a plain old, forgettable album. But what has manifested upon this release is something much worse...awful music that feels contrived and conceived simply to fill a void, to meet a quota, to pay the bills. When reading that several of Brave New World's tracks might have been written for this album, one has to wonder why they are not present here, for even with Bayley's uninspired barroom browbeating they might have been the stick hanging out over the quicksand's edge...the one saving grace through which the album could have pulled its tired carcass out of its inevitable fate. But no....
Glurg. Glurg. Grasping hand, with no one to take hold of it. Bubble. Bubble. Dying Gasp. The End.
Highlights: Yeah. That'll be the day!
Verdict: Epic Fail [1.75/10] (blind in the haze)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Iron Maiden - Killers (1981)
And it is one badass album. Where later Maiden efforts howl at you through the winds of history, the realms of the imagination or the shimmering neon streets of the future, Killers takes you from the shadows of the back alley of the sprawling 80s metropolis, lunging at you with a rusted cleaver, cackling with glee. That's not to infer that it ignores the band's old penchant for lyrics based in science fiction, horror and history. But compared to an album Somewhere in Time, Killers is just low down, dirty and mean, without totally lacking that melodic kick in the pants that made this band a household name on planet Earth. I can't blame Di'Anno for any of the drug problems he may have succumbed to while helping to conceive or tour off this album, because I honestly feel like taking a snort or two myself and tracing it with a draft of something dark and lethal proof when I listen to these songs.
Don't let the short-lived majesty of "The Ides of March" deceive you, because "Wrathchild" comes storming out like Jack the Ripper posteuring as a Hendrix or Page. The riffs groove and stomp while Di'Anno weaves his old catlike sorcery like a dirty man that knows he's about to score with every whore in the pub. Mind you, I mean this only with the sincerest of compliments, because if anything, Killers is the most 'sexy' Iron Maiden album. Denim and leather, spikes and booze, this is heavy metal music and it is not ashamed. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" devours you with terse seconds of tranquility, before the sparse chords ring out. I'd almost call the fast paced verse of the song 'uplifting', considering the Edgar Allen Poe story it was based on, but regardless, it is one of the best fucking songs this band has ever played, and I've got a lawn that wants you to kindly step off if you don't agree! Flighty, fun solos and an unflinching, dark boogie to the chorus assure that this is likely a standard on every Jukebox in Hell. Do you seriously think the Devil listens to Deicide or Akercocke? Because he doesn't. He listens to this.
Reminding you that metal is in fact just a more abusive form of rock and roll is the wailing bluesy taint that intros "Another Life", a hammering joint that features a nice echoing spin to Di'anno' vocals, and a stream of bleeding melodies over the plunking pumpkin bass of 'Arry. I was only about seven years when this damn thing came out, but even then I was jealous of what high schoolers must have done with their sweeties behind closed doors when this thing was playing, because it's hot like melted wax. "Genghis Khan" is a ripping instrumental with some savage, pumping guitar rhythms that easily transport you to the fields of conquest that its titular figure once grazed upon. And at 1:00 minute, the song becomes GO TIME, as in bang your unworthy head you sodden fuck! "Innocent Exile" finds an amazing medium between the band's hard rock blues grooves and titillating sense for raucous metal melody. Combined with the badass, on the run from the law lyrics, I cannot help but envy the outlaw, the trucker, the motorcycle man, or any other marginalized stereotype the song evokes within me.
And lo, though the album had by this point long since earned its keep, it is far from finished with you. "Killers" introduces the unforgettable, solemn and steady bass line bristling with quiet guitars before the forward trot below the harmonic debauchery, and then the chorus which is like a mighty punch in the groin that would fell a hundred Goliaths. This functions better than "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor as a psyche-up for a fight, sportlike or to the death. After this, "Prodigal Son" surprises with its river rolling, homely clean guitar tones and Di'Anno vocals that cut through the night like a a radio in a lone trucker's cab beneath some twilight, open desert. Might not be as heavy as the rest of the album, but it still kicks a severe amount of tail. "Purgatory" is a nice early speed/power metal number with a fierce and unforgettable chorus that sails across the abyss like a beautiful hell-kite, aglow with subterranean lightning, and "Drifter" features that sick, descending guitar line intro, though as much as I enjoy the song, it might be the one thing here I don't find entirely captivating or perfect.
Of course, being that I had the US release, I was also entreated to the delightful "Twilight Zone" in between "Killers" and "Prodigal Son", and what can I say...it's a perfect track with more of Di'Anno's, excellent echoed wailing, and one of my overall favorites on the disc, with guitars that burn straight past your defenses into your metal soul.
Killers is certainly a strong case for the original Maiden being every bit the contender that its next incarnation would prove to be. Proof that this is one of the few bands to easily weather periods of two distinct, excellent vocalists (but not three, sadly). But beyond that, it is one of the very best of the early 80s heavy metal offerings, with songs and production that have survived, intact, through almost three decades. I don't appreciate every waking second of the album with equivocal lust, but it's fantastic, and easily one of the band's better efforts. If by some anomaly you have yet to avail yourself of its charms, I suggest you make it so, lest you feel the burn of eternal shame as the rest of us avert our eyes from you, avoiding you like a bearer of plague.
Highlights: Perhaps the heaviest album of all time to feature the word 'cuddle'?
Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (bound to destroy)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Iron Maiden - Dance of Death (2003)
Now, mind you, despite the flaws, Dance of Death is not as miserable an album as the two the band put out with Blaze Bayley. There is plenty to be bored with here, but the album never hinges on any brand of audio torture that will have you questioning the existence of whatever God you pray to. The songs are somewhat busy, even if they don't often imprint themselves upon your memory. The lyrics are a lot like the previous album, a mixture of historically based musings and self-reflection, so it's unfortunately not a complete return to the subject matter of their 80s albums. But perhaps with age the band's fire for such pulp has died, and the band simply wants to say something more...poignant? I can't exactly fault the band for this, but the end result is that it's just not the same amount of fun...and that cannot be denied.
Dance of Death at least follows Brave New World's example of putting its best feet forward. In this case, most of the better songs occur very early on in the record, beginning with the count off to the mildly catchy "Wildest Dreams", which is an uplifting track in the vein of "The Wicker Man" but with more backing vocal melody to the chorus, which also features a swath of biting chords that mark the climax. The lead is fair, but the riff the band breaks into directly after that is an entirely generic sequence of notes that no band should be considering in the 21st century. "Rainmaker" is far better, and in truth one of the few tracks I actually still listen to on a normal basis. It's a pretty memorable rocker with a memorable impact to the verse and chorus, due not only to Dickinson's performance, but some nice, choppy melodic guitars that bust into solid, driving chords. "No More Lies", however, is 7+ minutes of mediocrity, from yet another of the band's soft spoken intro sequences up to the bland payoff of the chorus. About the only thing that stood out here were the post-chorus guitar melodies, which reminded me a little of Amorphis' "On Rich and Poor" sans the power.
The album returns to compelling, though, with "Montségur", one of several songs that take inspiration from historical battles, in particular the sack of the Cathar's final keep at the hands of the Catholic Albigensian Crusade in the 13th century. There is a nice, impulsive anger here delivered through the vocals and the careful intensity of the building guitars, and the two entwined through the chorus are probably the single most glorious point of the entire album. "Dance of Death" is another slow moving piece, over 8 minutes, which works best whenever the orchestra gets involved, but is otherwise quite dull, with nary a moment of memorable writing aside from the fact that the core band is 'not alone'. Dickinson does build up some aggression here, similar to the previous track. It's not entirely flaccid, but even then I am hard pressed to remember a note of it. "Gates of Tomorrow" has revisits one of those old, tremolo guitar riffs which make you feel that ZZ Top, Van Halen or Dire Straits are about to rock your socks off, and while I don't care for much aside from the chorus, at least that part is graceful enough to hang it by a thread above the mundane.
The rest of the album is where I generally draw blanks when I try to think back about it's strong points. "New Frontier" is aggressive and melodic, and in fact seems like the track here that I'd like the most on any given day, yet I just don't find any solace in the melodies or any desire to revisit it. "Paschendale" is another of the historic battle themes (God Dethroned also wrote an album about it a few years later), and it does build a little fire as the verse starts to rollick, with some well-timed symphonic swells, but so much of the 8:30 minutes could simply be clipped to get to the good bits, that it's a tough sell. "Face in the Sand" reminded me of "Blood Brothers" from the last album, but perhaps diving into a little more of a serious, atmospheric bridge. "Age of Innocence" has some nice, Bond-like digs in its surging melodies, and it was probably my favorite track on the latter half of the album, especially when it launches those insane melodies before 4:00, and "Journeyman" at least has that one catchy line in the verse, but again, I could have done without at least 2-3 minutes of the song. Not that there's anything wrong with a longer song, and Maiden have executed them successfully a number of times, but it seems for every memorable moment on this album there are 2-3 that just don't register.
From a technical standpoint, Dance of Death delivers yet another massive, wafting sound, as if you were witnessing the album live, in crystal clarity, and its melodies and tones were rising up to the rafters on the wings of skull-headed angels. There is a certain maturity and refinement to the songs that one might expect of any old metal or prog rock band of Maiden's status, but like so many of the band's peers (or even older rock bands that are still alive and kicking out hugely professional, big budget albums), the full body, the completeness of nearly 70 minutes of 'okay' material just doesn't add up to the primal vitality of their better years. I don't have a hate on for the album, because it's like picking cherries. The juices start flowing with anticipation in your mouth, but after a few bites...the romance is ended. But I'm sure there is some obsessive cherry lover out there who would disagree, and now I'll shut up.
Highlights: Rainmaker, Montségur, Age of Innocence
Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (but I cut the threads)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Monday, March 1, 2010
Iron Maiden - Brave New World (2000)
So Bruce and Adrian Smith joined back up, and the band decided to keep Janick Gers for the three guitar attack. To be fair, the guy put in enough work to deserve it, and having seen them live in this incarnation, I can honestly say the three guitars do not hurt. As the result of all this kissing and making up, Maiden released Brave New World right about the turn of the century, and oh my was it glorious. Not in the jaw dropping, new masterpiece sense, but by the simple virtue that one of your favorite heavy metal albums had released their best album in over a decade (since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son), and gone were the grim memories of the tired and spent Iron Maiden of the 90s. Brave New World is not a perfect album, but it's a damn good effort, and as there have been no more brave new worlds since, well...I'll take it.
I will say that the band wasted no time in placing the best track on the album in the opening slot, and "Wicker Man" had me parading about the streets when I first heard it, wearing a denim jacket far too small for me, reeking of old alcohol and grunge, but absolutely no regret! No, sir. The song reminded me of everything I had always loved about this band...solid old heavy metal rhythm guitars, brazen vocal melodies and a solo that has more to offer than some showboat's flatulence. Granted, this is a happier song than most of the band's past glories, but it certainly has an emotional impact, as any track with Bruce Dickinson pointing at you and screaming 'Your time will come!' is likely to have towards any fan, on so many levels. Quite an exhilarating song, and the rest of Brave New World had its work cut out for it...
And to my surprise, I was not disappointed. "Ghost of the Navigator" has a spacious, airy feel to the driving guitars, and a powerful, soaring chorus that shows Dickinson has not skipped a beat since his earlier years with the band. "Brave New World" trots along like one of those desperate old tracks like "Quest for Fire", with a nice segment around 3:00 where Bruce highlights the guitar melody, and a crisp, emotional dual lead near the final chorus. "Blood Brothers" is hard not to enjoy for its folksy swagger, though it does take a few minutes to really pick up into its string section. But for that final, sailing chorus, it is entirely worthwhile. "The Mercenary" is one of the tracks that was originally written for Virtual XI but ended up here. It's not the best song on this album, but I have to wonder, why the HELL was this not included on the predecessor since it clobbers anything on that album many times over.
Ditto for "Dream of Mirrors", which is supposedly co-written by Blaze Bayley. Not a great track, and certainly not enough good riffs to support its bloated 9+ minute bulk, but still would have amped up Virtual XI a little, and I can even mentally hear Blaze's vocals. "The Fallen Angel" has a killer lead-in riff which brings me back to a song like "Be Quick or Be Dead", but then surges into a solid mid-paced majestic rhythm which makes you want to swill your mug and then smash it off someone's head. The vocal hook in the pre-chorus is extremely cool, and the chorus does not disappoint as the guitar melody begins to dance below it. "The Nomad" is another track from a few years before, and while it has some great atmosphere, mystic leads and vocal climaxing courtesy of Bruce's weathered throat, we have another case where the 9 minutes isn't entirely justified through the actual music. "Out of the Silent Planet" is based loosely on some pulp sci-fi stories (like the C.S. Lewis novel of the same name, and the classic film Forbidden Planet), and features some great speed metal licks when it picks up the pace from its sobering, psychedelic intro. The chorus here is yet another killer, though obvious. "The Thin Line Between Love and Hate" is probably the only longer track here does itself justice, with a slow escalation towards the climactic chorus, where the standard rhythm falls out for some thrusting drums and emotional screaming. The song serves as a pseudo-biography for the band's separation in the 90s.
Brave New World has a very bold production which also separates it from the band's prior recordings, but I have mixed feelings on this as I loved the old 80s sound. It's got a punchier edge to the guitars and feels more 'digital', but the melodies carry through gracefully and it certainly delivers if you've got good listening equipment. Style-wise, the writing does pick up where Fear of the Dark left off, ignoring the blandness of the two albums in between, and I do get confused that the 1992 album gets so much grief when this does not, but I do think this is the better of the two, so with Dickinson and Smith back in the fold they had tagged the clouds once more and were off, writing in the sky.
Highlights: The Wicker Man, The Fallen Angel, Out of the Silent Planet, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (say goodbye to gravity)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind (1983)
Just about anything I've ever loved in Iron Maiden's music is here in spades. Wonderful lyrics that reflect upon religion, war, history, science fiction and mythology, drawing on a number of classic sources. More guitar hooks than a bait & tackle shop, and an excellent, crisp tone to boot. An excellent performance out of Dickinson, who had really meshed into the band's landscape by this point. And a production which does not sound to me as if it has aged a single day in 27 years. Add to that the dark atmosphere of emergent NWOBHM gone 'eavy as all hell, and a great if simple cover image featuring the most recognizable mascot in metal music. We have a winner.
"Where Eagles Dare" is a sturdy track to open the album, with a lot of shuffle in its step. Twin guitars rambling out a passionate if somewhat predictable rhythm, and lyrics based on the 1967 novel of the same name, which was itself adapted to a film in '68 featuring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. The airy nature of the melodies in the bridge makes for a fine if elegaic tribute to the story and the war in which it was fought. "Revelations" features one of the most simple and unforgettable verse rhythms of the 80s, with the perfectly placed little bass steps and the beautiful, simmering melodies that transform the tempo into a fist flying rager, and then down into a thoughtful tranquility. The song feels compelling and timeless, as if it could have been written and recorded in the late 60s or 70s and wound up much the same. "Flight of Icarus" tells the tale of its titular, tragic Greek character, and was also used a single for this album. It's more of a narrative than the previous tracks, with the riffs structured about the story. And who would ever forget Dickinson's shining chorus vocal?
Fly, on your way, like an eagle, fly as high as the sun
On your way, like an eagle, fly and touch the sun
At this point, the hammer drops and the balls fly out of their zippers as Maiden crushes through two of their more pronounced exclamations, beginning with "Die With Your Boots On", a self-determination anthem, and a nice little deconstruction of omens and the prophetic bullshit that fuels so much religious nonsense throughout our history. Smith and Harris have some swanky little backup vocals here, and the chorus is just the type of manly expression that makes you want to leap onto a motorcycle, or a horse, or something. A jet ski if you've got it. But people might look at you strangely if you're wearing boots on a jet ski. Speaking of boots, "The Trooper" follows, ready to plant both of them, leather and steel, straight up your arse. Basically the ultimate war metal song before there was 'war metal', maybe not as good as "Disposable Heroes" but it came first. How many metal fans out there learned their first guitar or bass riff from this song? How many people who don't even like metal music remember this song? How many have covered it? It's an indispensable classic, and just as brilliant as the pageantry requires. Trotting, equestrian guitar rhythms and spiky vocal latitudes, excellent popping bass beneath the lead, and the lead itself...gorgeous.
The rest of the album is the half that I feel is sadly the more forgotten, but it's no less rapt or impressive. "Still Life" has a great melody that charges below the vocals, and Dickinson even has a robotic like tinge to the 'piece of mind' lyric. The dual guitars are brilliant here, especially as they quaff off into the slamming leads, and "Quest for Fire" follows suit with an epic hymn about early man and his travails against nature and beast, and the advent of the one thing that would raise them from beasts themselves into a more potent force. Many have pointed out to me that this is a bit of a silly track, but fuck, I'll take Iron Maiden singing about cannibals and dinosaurs any day over Dethklok or 3 Inches of Blood inhaling and exhaling their stale irony. Once again, there are some killer leads here, and a very pulp adventure feeling that is simply too rare in metal.
"Sun and Steel" is a hooky melodic samurai tribute with various literary references to the famous swordsman Musashi, and it's another of the tracks here which could easily have fit the decade prior, due to the soaring vocal harmony which could have just as well been Freddy Mercury of Queen. It's an amazing track, one of my favorites even among this lofty crew, and it's a goddamn shame that this didn't take off like "The Trooper". I'd kill to hear this one live, and if you've seen them do it...well, don't tell me about it. I've got enough in the world already to envy. "To Tame a Land" caps off the album, a morose, wandering epic based on the classic science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert. The tiny arabesque rhythms and edgy, warlike atmosphere of the track really fit the contested desert world of Arakkis, and certainly it has to be one of the best tributes (and one of the ONLY tributes) done to this literary masterpiece in all of rock or metal music. The bass and leads are unsurprisingly exquisite here, and though its the longest track here at over 7 minutes, I hardly noticed. Though I consider it my least favorite track on this album, it's still pretty close to perfect.
Piece of Mind is both a hallmark album and a wave of beautiful nostalgia. Old, indeed, but far from irrelevant, as its another essential fragment of the band's Golden Age (1982-1988) which catapulted them to the very top the pack. 1983 was the year of two of the greatest debut albums in all of metal history (Metallica's Kill 'Em All and Slayer's Show No Mercy), but even against those monstrosities, this album still holds its own, and I have a feeling it always will...
Highlights: All of them, but with To Tame a Land at the rear of the marching order.
Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (oh, we'll drown together)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death (2006)
I had felt Dance of Death might function more realistically under the title 'Dance of Dragged Feet', but that album had come and gone without much offense, simply a dull endeavor rather than an outrage. At 72 minutes, this was going to be the longest Maiden album yet, surpassing the numbing duration of The X Factor, and no Derek Riggs cover in sight, instead adorned with a decent piece by comics illustrator Tim Bradstreet. The album has a nice, bright sound to it which I felt was lacking on its predecessor, and this is in part due to the lack of a final 'mastering'. Iron Maiden wanted to stick it straight to your gut, and so they did. It sounds great. But what of the songs?
Once I finished listening through the first track to this 14th album, "Different World", I had at least the impression that they were going to wring out some late inspirational tears as they did with Brave New World. For this track reminds me quite a lot of "Wicker Man", with the same emotional ballast and accessible hooks. It's not as powerful, but it will suffice, especially if the rest of the album can carry the torch. I was eager to listen to "These Colours Don't Run", partially inspired by the entire Ozzfest/Sharon Osbourne vs. Iron Maiden with hardcore kids and eggs debacle, but blown into a far broader meaning here through the lyrics. Great song title, but the song is little more than average, with a chorus that feels redundant. "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" is a solid enough tune, with some cool guitar melodies that arch beyond Bruce's verses, but I didn't find much in the way of payoff lying in ambush in the nearly 9 minutes of time it took to finish.
"The Pilgrim" has one of the band's traipsing folk-like memories shorn off at the neck towards a thrusting rhythm, then morphing into an acceptable, atmospheric chorus with some nice backing vocals. "The Longest Day" is powerful and emotional, but riff-wise it's simply not all that meaty, playing its best moments through the chorus guitar melody. "Out of the Shadows" is a gently flowing ballad with a few minutes where the chords erupt or the lead shines, but I'll be honest, unless it's being blared right before my ears, I tend to entirely forget its existence. "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" was the first single to this album, and again, a couple of minutes of ballad with clean guitars before you get to the metal bits, and those are at least somewhat catchy for the dirty groove of the guitars that spawns the chords. But it doesn't support the 7+ minute length.
And from there out, all the songs are pretty long. "For the Greater Good of God" is over 9 minutes, and has its highs and lows, though everything aside from the stunning melodic chorus feels redundant with tracks that the band has written in the past. I was excited to see a track called "Lord of Light", as this is one of my favorite science fiction novels, from the acclaimed Roger Zelazny. Of course, like "Childhood's End" on Fear of the Dark, the song has little in common with the book except for the title, though some of the fiery images in the lyrics might remind one of the characters. Unfortunate! As for the song itself, it slowly escalates into a fairly powerful groove, with Dickinson going off at every opportunity. "The Legacy" is another track to start off with acoustic guitars and slowly climb itself up to the actual metal, a tactic the band has used far too many times since their heyday in the 80s. But there is some eventual payoff here, and it's probably one of the better songs overall on the album, like a Maiden prog-rock opus once more over 9 minutes.
Overall, A Matter of Life and Death is not really a matter of life or death...but it damn well sounds good, with perhaps the best production to mine ears since the band's 80s albums that I so fawn over. I feel this another album where much fat could be trimmed down about the actual pork, in particular the excess use of mellow intros which the band needs to just kick in the nuts. Even the better songs don't exactly scream out with replay value here, but there are many pleasant melodies scattered throughout and the performance of Dickinson is nothing to scoff at.
Highlights: Different World, For the Greater Good of God, The Legacy
Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (for the memories, for the money)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Iron Maiden - The X Factor (1995)
Obviously the band would be after someone with a professional pedigree, and that person wound up being Blaze Bayley, frontman for the band Wolfsbane who had released a few albums at that point; the first of which, Live Fast Die Fast, was quite a rollicking romp of fist fighting pub speed metal that generated some buzz at the end of the previous decade. The man had a good voice, at least one which fit his band's down to earth, brawling excess, but it was really nothing like Bruce Dickinson, so the decision felt quite controversial. Still, an admirer of his previous band, I took the bus from University after classes the week this was released, and enthusiastically picked up my copy of The X Factor...yes, a not so clever title for the band's 10th full-length album...curious about the use of the model on the cover in place of another Derek Rigg illustration.
What I was greeted with when I first played the album, was, well...shock. Not shock that the new singer sucked, or that the band had somehow changed their direction. Shock that even after No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark, both good but not great albums, the band could not rally up an acceptable set of songs to debut their new singer. Slowly, the latter half of the album started to grow on me, but the first half is almost inaccessibly boring. I'm all for another Maiden epic, but the 11+ minute "Sign of the Cross" is simply not a sufficient track to break in this full-length, and from there you've still got numerous tracks to pore through before you arrive at anything bordering on catchy.
That is correct. I am not blaming this one on Blaze Bayley, who seems to give it all he can, but simply cannot succeed when the music he is fronting is so crushingly mediocre. He's stretching himself out here, taking a more mellow approach than the Wolfsbane material I enjoyed, and his voice does seem to hold together, but it simply incapable of all the peaks and valleys of a Bruce Dickinson. Yet, he's the man with the job.
"Sign of the Cross" is not the epic I was looking for, having expected a possibly harder hitting Iron Maiden that would make the proper use of their new hire. It's plodding and dull, all of its best moments arriving when the band either makes the slight, sluggish lean towards warp drive, or provides Dominican-like chanting or some other nuance to distract the listener from how sterile the central riffing is. Why this song has been included in the band's set list for years is far beyond my ability to comprehend, when so many others never made it there. Even this very album has better songs which have gone long ignored. Unfortunately, "Lord of the Flies" did not smack the taste out of my mouth, another of the band's Dire Straits-like intro rhythms descending into bland verse riffs that even the pumping of Harris' bass cannot salve. "Man On the Edge" doesn't really work either, though it feels a lot more flighty and Maiden, and has that one ascending line in the verse that has you praying for more. Just how do you fuck up a song about a great book/movie like Falling Down and then look yourself in the mirror the following morning?
Sadly, the center of the Tootsie Roll is still a few good licks away. "Fortunes of War" is another insipid bore, especially the first few minutes while you wait for the stagnant morass to develop into something more...only to be greeted with a slug-a-long that must have taken this band under 30 seconds to compose. After that, "Look for the Truth" wastes another few minutes in morose, wasteful balladry before it starts to bare its fangs, and the riffs barely carry it to the level of average. "The Aftermath" is a little better, but honestly, even these riffs feel stretched out and completely lacking in any inspirational melody, just a simple hard rock rhythm which sounds nearly as neutered as anything prior, with a slightly better written vocal hook. It wasn't until "Judgement of Heaven" that I got a song which didn't outright leaden my eyelids and pass me into a dull dreaming. It's not perfect, mind you, but at least the vocals, riffs and leads perk up the attention span, like the sad little melody after 3:30.
From here on, the album slowly tries to redeem itself like a slowly evolving beast that exchanges its fins for webbed feet to travel quick along the banks of mud at the edge of the primordial swamp. "Blood On the World's Hands" has some decent jamming moments, and a passable atmosphere resounding beneath some of Blaze's more powerful intonations. "The Edge of Darkness" feels largely like a classic Maiden track, though you've once again gotta get past a boring and predictable escalation to get to the meat. "2 A.M." again assumes we want the dull intro with the clean guitars, like almost every song on this album, but builds into Bayley's catchiest vocal hook on the album, the 'Here I am again' sequence, and another cute little lead at around 3:00. "The Unbeliever" is the other 'epic' track here, just over 8 minutes, but it's vastly more memorable than "Sign of the Cross", not as long or torturous.
Is it too little, too late? Yes it is. Thanks to the CD technology, it's not so hard...and in this case, always tempting to just click >>| >>| >>| up until about track 7, in order to save nearly 40 minutes of my life from the sucking drain that grants one entrance to this 70+ minute monstrosity of stagnant sewage. And for all I might sing in favor of some of the album's later tracks, there are still none I would find worthy of any 'greatest hits' list when shuffling tracks about an .mp3 player or making a mix for an aspiring Maiden-head. It's almost as if the fan's negative, precognitive reaction to hearing a new album without their lord and master Bruce Dickinson not only psychically willed this album the chart lower than many of its predecessors, but also sapped the life energy directly from the band.
Oddly enough, then, that this is NOT the worst Iron Maiden album...
Highlights: turn over enough rocks and you might found two or three, later in the search.
Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (time's a perfect healer)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Iron Maiden - No Prayer for the Dying (1990)
But the advent of Viagra aside, just how many bands could 'keep it up' as long as Maiden did in the 80s? I think it's asking a little much, but since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son was so loved, expectations were huge for this, and honestly it just wasn't bound for success in a metal scene that was producing efforts like Painkiller or Rust in Peace in the very same year. Though I have my doubts that it might have turned out much differently, this is the first album on which Janick Gers (White Spirit) had joined the band, being asked to replace the departing Adrian Smith, after he had worked with Dickinson on his first solo album. I honestly didn't notice a different, though clearly Gers and Dave Murray in tandem had a more driving rhythm than past (and future) Maiden albums.
"Tailgunner" is a strong opener to the album, in part because it's one of those soaring rhythmic tracks that feels like a natural spiritul sequel to something like "Aces High", "2 Minutes to Midnight" or "Where Eagles Dare". The bridge is quite good, with crashing grooves beneath the racing dual melodies, and it's honestly one of Maiden's heavier tracks of the 90s. I'm not entirely fond of "Holy Smoke", though its got a more barroom brawl mentality than many of the band's other songs, and there are still a few worthwhile melodies in there, plus a filthy delivery courtesy of Dickinson. The title track only skirts on being memorable, due to the light synth melody that slowly builds to the climax. It's the type that you'll remember as you're listening, but simply not wish to listen to independently of its environs. I really enjoy the little guitar melody right around the minute mark of "Public Enema Number One", and the entire song delivers more than several others you'll find here, with a little choppy guitar harmony section that introduces the fairly scathing lead guitar.
A million network slaves, in an Advertising new age
I don't need a crystal ball to sell ya
Your children have more brains, than your drug infested remains
California dreaming as the Earth dies screaming
"Fates Warning" is not a song I think much about, partly because the guitar rhythm reminds me much of "Chains of Misery" from the following album Fear of the Dark, and I liked that one a little more. However, the vocal performance is pretty passionate, and it's not unpleasant to sit through by any means. Though "The Assassin" is plucky and keeps a busy rhythm due to the little guitars that grind off to counter the central rhythm, the chorus is somewhat underwhelming and it's not a favorite here. Ditto for "Run Silent Run Deep", though it has a nice savage pace and a song about submarines was probably inevitable for Iron Maiden.
As mixed as my feelings may be for much of the album thus far, I actually really enjoyed the final three tracks on No Prayer for the Dying, all of which stand out the most to me after two decades. "Hooks in You" is pure kickass rock & roll, with a nice jangling rhythm around the verse, and a really killer chorus that you simply can't ignore...for both Dick's fun delivery and the actual lyrics themselves:
Hooks in you, hooks in me, hooks in the ceiling for that well hung feeling
No big deal, no big sin, strung up on love I got the hooks screwed in
I appreciate the duality here, between the smutty S&M and the wider implications of any relationship. I also love the ringing, old school guitar on the bridge over Dickinson's moodier vocals, took me right back to Somewhere in Time. "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter" needs little introduction, as it wound up the most successful song on the album, worming its way into the hearts of fans and a staple in Maiden's live rotation for many years. And for good reason...the vocals are extremely infectious, as is the moody, Billy Idol-like gothic rock atmosphere of the verse, and the big R&B-gone metal chorus. It's like the next best thing to "White Wedding". And though it's the most 'far out' track on the album, "Mother Russia" does much to evoke the natural, hammer and sickle rhythms of that territory, and it's great that Dickinson and crew aren't trying to totally take the piss out of the formerly 'feared' capital nation of Soviet Union, but celebrating the chance it now had to return to its roots.
As you can see, No Prayer for the Dying does deliver...it's just that the milkman has brought you skim since they were all out of whole milk. Tasty, refreshing and light, but it's not going to fill your belly or satisfy that craving alongside those chocolate chip cookies. There's no reason to dwell on it or direct much dissatisfaction when there are such staggering disappointments on the late 90s horizon.
Highlights: Tailgunner, Hooks in You, Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter, Mother Russia
Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (assume an attitude)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark (1992)
This was the last album before Bruce Dickinson would split from the band and be replaced by Blaze Bayley for Maiden's most miserable albums, but this possibility was not set in stone at the time, so there is no sense of emergency or desperation here. It's just business as usual, with the same penchant for catchy guitar melodies, carefully crafted leads that never hinge on excess, busy bass that feels central to so many of their compositions, and a top shelf performance from Dickinson. And in 1992, a year in which death and black metal were still taking off, and 'alternative music' and grunge rock were the orders of the day, Fear of the Dark feels somewhat like refreshment, from a band that many people were probably tiring of as they turned towards the next shiny audio bauble. Among such shifts in trend, the album often feels like a statement that the guard will NOT be changing via metal's highly successful dignitaries...oh, what sweet irony!
"Be Quick or Be Dead" is a fine opener to the album, a fast and memorable track which recalls the uncouth power and ribaldry of something like "The Trooper" or "Aces High". Dickinson spits some of his nastier vocals, with a clipped pitch to his voice that sounds like he had just dialed the Beast's number again and was feeling slightly possessed. I enjoy the riffs, I enjoy the way the vocal echoes off in the chorus, and the verse rhythm is pure old 80s barbarity. It's followed "From Here to Eternity", which feels a little like a Dire Straits or ZZ Top track at first, with a decent hard rock kick to the verse and then another obvious chorus with backup vocals that felt a little like AC/DC. This wound up being one of the more popular tracks from the album, at least so much that Maiden would include it on live shows and albums, and I have to say that I'm somewhat less impressed by this than numerous other pieces on the album. Another of the staples is "Afraid to Shoot Strangers", which is a cooler tune with a morose intro section laden in subtle synths and flowing, catchy clean guitar melodies. It feels like a lullaby about the Gulf War gone wrong, but the chorus remains quite atmospheric due to the guitar line that weaves through it, and the track does pick up for some solid driving metal.
"Fear is the Key" has a thundering step to it that feels a lot like a rambling Zeppelin rhythm, but I personally enjoy the vocals here and the message of lost rebellion and youth. The mystical wall of melody that opens and recurs through the track is also quite nice. "Childhood's End" sadly doesn't seem based upon the fantastic Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel, instead a lament for the poor and suffering of the world. However, it's probably my favorite track on this album, with glorious, cascading melodies that storm behind Dickinson's highly memorable chorus line (though the lyrics are rather weak). Very surprised this song did not take off and become a single or a live standard. Had "Wasting Love" come out a few years earlier, it might have run headlong against popular hard rock power ballads like "I'll Remember You", "Heaven" or "Fly to the Angels", but here it feels a little cheesy until the chords crash in.
The latter half of the album begins with "The Fugitive", an average song with some of the similar, simple and expressive chords that Maiden used to make a name for themselves in the decade prior. Not sure if the lyrics were inspired by the book or film, but alas, they're pretty weak, though the progression of the song does seem to build an urgency that might be shared by one on a run from whatever institution is narrowing in on him, and there's a cool groove buried after 3:30 where the solo begins. I found "Chains of Misery" rather amusing, for all its swagger, vocal hooks and the little guitar fills in the pre-verse and chorus. "The Apparition" seems a little too light hearted, or playful, but the riffs aren't all that bad and it has a nicely wailing solo with some melodies catapulting beneath it, alongside the bass.
"Judas Be My Guide" is a hidden gem, with excellent, flowing guitar melodies that recall the same fire that I loved about so much earlier NWOBHM, simple and blues-based and scurrying off into the night. The chorus is fantastic, not unlike something from an early Queensryche album. "Weekend Warriors" is one of the most loathed tracks on the album, an homage to football hooligans which I also felt could be about corporate paintball matches...but either way, it's acoustic opening makes it sound like a Traveling Wilbury's song, and then it rocks out like mid-80s party Priest. In fact if I close my eyes I could almost envision Halford sharing the vocals here just they did on "The One You Love to Hate". Maybe they should try it some time! The chorus is really not all that bad, and in fact this is not one of the least memorable tracks on the album, so I believe the negativity leveled at it is slightly blown out of proportion. Though believe me, the last thing I want is an Iron Maiden that sings about sporting events. The 7+ title track serves as the finale to the album, and though it's not bad either, it simply isn't one of the most striking tracks in my opinion, so naturally it becomes the one Maiden plays most in their sets and live albums. Go figure.
Fear of the Dark is nowhere near as lousy as the fans and media of the day tried to spin it, they will simply too busy with their tongues and noses up Kurt Cobain's rear to realize that it's just another Maiden album, with a bunch of good songs that, while not about to set the record straight, have a lot of appeal for me even after nearly two decades. The lyrics are among the band's weakest, and there are a few songs that could be clipped. But this is certainly stronger than No Prayer for the Dying, the humdrum X Factor or the abominable Virtual XI, and I listen with anticipation to at least half the songs every time I hearken back to it.
Highlights: Be Quick or Be Dead, Childhood's End, Chains of Misery, Judas Be My Guide
Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (whispers in the night)
http://www.ironmaiden.com/
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