IRON MAIDEN

One of Iron Maiden's greatest moments of popularity came with the release of "Powerslave" in 1984 and reached its peak with their subsequent marathon support tour 'World Slavery Tour'. And nothing better than the live double album "Live After Death" (1985) to capture the vital onstage energy of a band in a state of grace. An unbeatable setlist in which the Englishmen play the most representative songs of those golden years (first half of the 80's), reaffirming their position as one of the flagship bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

From their impetuous opening section with the warlike and corrosive "Aces High", "2 Minutes to Midnight", and "The Tropper", the pieces flow revitalised by the adrenaline that the band transmits live, intensifying even more with the mythological and epic "Revelations", "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (impeccable Steve Harris with his attacking bass and the galloping guitars of the Dave Murray/Adrian Smith duo), "Powerslave", and "Phantom of the Opera" (again unbeatable Murray and Smith in a huge guitar duel giving a new life to the ghostly theme of their debut album), the demonic and controversial "The Number of the Beast", the damning "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (one of the best songs of the metal genre) and "Children of the Damned". And the powerful and operatic voice of Bruce Dickinson, as a colophon, proposes to participate to a subdued audience that accompanies euphorically in the direct "Iron Maiden" and the participative "Running Free".

"Live After Death", one of the best live albums in heavy metal, if not the best, marks a turning point in the band's career, after which they would begin a period with new textures and nuances added from the unthinkable contribution of synthesizers.

4/4.5 stars

This first album begins the progressive metal genre where the on purpose instrumentals without any lyrics setting the founding elements towards the modern progressive metal artist.

The album overall is not as progressive metal as its preview suggests as it has the edgy and hard to even shocking lyrical choices that are typical of what became the modern hard edged mature content orientated sound. The album puts the parental advisory for mature content long before there were labels which makes it controversial to the mainstay of musical listening experiences and to as of which as time progresses can still be viewed as an album that sets the pace into providing the first shocking lyrics even by today's modern standards but once again can be viewed as a musical direction entirely lacking. The album cover is one- of -a kind Artistry and in this regard collectors worthy reflecting the modern shift. The album is an influence towards the inclined musician not the casual listener as even an enthusiast would have a hard time to discern why they are actually listening to it voluntarily.

The last song on the album in having long drawn out instrumentals returns to the progressive metal founding aspect of the album which suggests it would and should continue into this avenue of progressive metal instrumentals to on purposely create songs with instrumentals and without many vocals on purposely towards providing a listening experience but far and between as it actually turns out. Presently speaking since albeit they are not dead yet or returned into the spirit but have willingly departed from the progressive founding elements of their progressive metal on very many occasions. Iron Maiden decidedly went into the direction of becoming a performance giant in the making from a following where large audiences are more than welcome towards the modern entertainment into the sort of large arena's where people cheer throughout and in this regard losing the ways of traditional/classical music with its expected conduct and responsibility.

The use of synthesised guitars and bass on "Somewhere in Time" generated controversy regarding the sonic limits that heavy metal sympathisers were willing to accept, but once again Iron Maiden decided that experimentation was a necessary fuel for their creative process, and with the release of "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" (1988), their seventh album, they took their proposal along those paths, developing a conceptual work that incorporated new sonic layers from the keyboards.

From the surrealist cover where a disintegrated Eddie from the waist down holds an encapsulated baby (or something like that.... ) in an aseptic and icy setting, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" thematically recreates the eternal dispute between Good and Evil with the seer and chosen 'Alvin Maker' as the protagonist, starting from his birth and the course of his life, fighting against evil powers and his own inner demons in a story inspired by the fantasy novel "Seventh Son" (1987) by the American playwright Orson Scott Card.

And even though the tone and power of the guitars drop a few decibels in "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", the band does not renounce to them in songs of great effect like "Can I Play with Madness" and its catchy chorus, the energetic "The Evil That Men Do", or the galloping "The Clairvoyant", intertwining them with songs of greater structural complexity like "Moonchild" and its initial acoustic guitars and meandering keyboards decorating the flowing instrumental base, "Infinity Dreams" with Bruce Dickinson's powerful vocal register and stupendous middle section, and what is surely one of Iron Maiden's greatest intersections with progressive rock, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", a mixture of guitar riffs and solos from the Dave Murray/Adrian Smith tandem, middle sections and shifting time signatures from Steve Harris' incredible bass and Nicko McBrian's percussion, and atmospheric synthesizers. Finally, "Only the Good Die Young' rounds off the conceptual character of the album with the same acoustic sonorities of its beginning.

"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" was the pinnacle of the Englishmen's experimentation, and moved the band's central axis a few degrees, not to get out of their seminal genre, but to extend its limits.

Excellent.

4/4.5 stars

The success and recognition garnered by "Piece of Mind" could have been the ultimate aspiration for any band of the effervescent eighties heavy metal, but not for Iron Maiden, who were not satisfied with the enormous popularity generated by their fourth album. Far from pigeonholing themselves in the short structures of machine- gun guitars and demanding vocal registers typical of the exalted genre, the Englishmen challenge themselves by incorporating new epic elements that enrich the musical and aesthetic proposal of their next work, "Powerslave" (1984), starting with the iconic cover where a pharaonic and omnipresent Egyptian Eddie dominates the setting and which would lead one to suppose a concept album (but which is not...).

"Powerslave" flows with enormous energy and an unusual forcefulness, between the most aggressive "Maiden" sonorities, like the powerful and direct "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight", obligatory pieces in the live performances of the band, the suffocating urgency of "Flash of the Blade"' and the rawness of the early years in "Back in the Village", combined with the more elaborate metal of the instrumental "Losfer Words (Big "Orra)" and "The Duellists", a piece inspired by a knightly fight in the Napoleonic era that was made into a film by Ridley Scott in 1977.

However, the album's highlight clearly shines towards its final stretch, with the primal progressive metal emanating from the robust and mythic "Powerslave" (the solos and guitar duel between Dave Murray and Adrian Smith are formidable), and the stellar progressive exploration of the immeasurable "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", a vigorous sea epic inspired by the 1798 poem of the same name by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and masterfully sustained by Steve Harris' piercing bass, especially in the gloomy middle section accompanied by the plaintive creak of a ghostly ship, and topped off by the blast of the galloping guitars of the Murray/Smith duo supporting Bruce Dickinson's excellent vocal performance, in an unbeatable close.

"Powerslave" elevated Iron Maiden to worldwide megastar status, leading to the mammoth "World Slavery Tour" between August 1984 and July 1985, with almost two hundred shows in Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Oceania, and over 3.5 million people in attendance.

Excellent.

4/4.5 stars

'Visions of the Beast' is a pretty extensive compilation of videos by British heavy metal icons Iron Maiden. Featuring over 30 music videos, as well as alternative, animated versions, and a number of interesting extras, there's plenty of material here for fans to sink their teeth into.

Of course, the problem with such DVD's is that they become outdated, with pretty much all of the material here being available on YouTube. But there's no denying the quality of the music. I mean, at the end of the day, it's Iron Maiden! One of the greatest metal bands of all time.

Featuring some classic metal anthems, such as 'Run to the Hills', 'Aces High', 'The Trooper', 'Fear of the Dark', 'The Number of the Beast', 'Can I Play With Madness', and countless others, despite being outdated, this is no-doubt a worthy addition to the collection.

'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son', the seventh studio album by metal legends Iron Maiden, has been on my playlist for well over a year by now. Not sure what to score it, it's been an album I've constantly come back to over and over. It's good. Sometimes it's really good. But sometimes it's regarded as one of Iron Maiden's best releases, and I think that's where it hasn't quite met my expectations.

It's famously referred to as the album where Maiden went more progressive and experimental, not only in song structure but by the use of keyboards. But for me, I don't know. I just can't get into this as easily as I could 'Powerslave' or 'Somewhere in Time'. The commonly referenced keyboards are really nothing more than some backing chords over the guitar harmonies.

Regardless of that however, the musicianship is still of a high standard, and as always, praise goes to Bruce Dickinson's soaring vocals. Despite my thoughts on the album as a whole, there are still some bangers here. In particular, 'Infinite Dreams', 'The Clairvoyant', 'The Evil That Men Do' and closing track 'Only the Good Die Young' are all classic Maiden tracks.

And at barely 45 minutes in length, it's an easy enough album to listen to in one sitting. It's just really not the album I'd choose to listen to in the first place. Sorry Maiden fans. I love the band, and I DO like this album, just not as much as I feel I'm supposed to.

Iron Maiden provided their last strong album before a series of flops in the 90's with the "Seventh son of a seventh son". The commercial appeal of "Can I play with madness" and to a relative extent "The evil that men do" (the latter being an excellent track though) is weighted up by ambitious epics of the title track. This contains great mellow guitar playing, prog-inspired drumming and tons of inspired metal guitars, be it in the form of riffing or soloing. No wonder that this album became such an influential landmark in the development of prog-friendly power and heavy metal. What is more, it is often acknowledged by pure prog-metal aficionados.

I have loved Iron Maiden since the early 80s. If not purely a prog-metal band, they come close to it for sure! So, as such, I will sometimes watch videos of this wonderful band. As it turns out, this video is something unique in the catalog. In fact, I can't say I've ever seen another band do anything quite like this. In between the band's magnificent live performances, we have "Horror" Magician Simon Drake performing macabre and somewhat gruesome tricks. These include "dismembering Dave Murray's hands, and "Killing" Bruce Dickinson (especially symbolic, as he would leave the band--albeit temporarily-- shortly after this was filmed). Maybe not for the faint of heart, but an interesting watch, nonetheless.

This is apparently the end of a string of seven classic albums from one of the 1980s progenitors of the prog metal scene.

P.S. I know that a 1998 remaster and 2015 remix exist but I've made the effort, as always, to go back to the original version(s) when and where possible in order to be sure I'm reviewing the year-appropriate music (with its original production values).

1. "Moonchild" (5:39) the album intro sets the scene but also establishes the sound and performance commitment to the material. Some very RUSH like sounds to the opening, but things kick into gear in the second minute, a pretty cool gradual transition into full speed. Bruce Dickinson makes quite the theatric effort for the get go. It's pretty good (even if I dislike that 4/4 rock drum beat). (8.75/10)

2. "Infinite Dreams" (6:09) a HENDRIX-like blues-rock musical base over which Bruce does more of his iconic magic. He's so convincing! Musically, it's rather derivative (and boring) though the performances are all great--especially those of the bass and guitarists. (8.75/10)

3. "Can I Play With Madness" (3:31) machine gun guitar riffing over an AC/DC musical foundation shifts to boring standard chorus delivery. Bruce feels like he's phoning it with a Roger Daltry performance in on this one. (8.5/10)

4. "The Evil That Men Do" (4:34) straightforward Thin Lizzy style intro turns into a fast-paced rocker over which Bruce gives a top notch performance with plenty of impressive high notes and great dramatic Richard Burton-like allocutions in between. A top three song for me. (9/10)

5. "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" (9:53) opening with a fairly original intro weave, by the second half of the first minute the band falls into line within a repeating Led Zeppelin-like chugging bass-and-guitar riff while Bruce sings. At first Bruce's performance is a bit lackluster, but then the chorus comes with Bruce's repetition of the song title is quite impressive. Unfortunately, there is very little else remarkable about this over the course of the first half of this song other than Bruce's impressive wordless vocalise after each verse and chorus. At 3:55 occurs the first shift, and, after it, some of the album's more proggy music: Mellotron-like banked vocal chord play within quiet, delicate instrumental contributions from the rest of the band members. This cinematic space is then dispelled at 6:55 and then smashed to smithereens by a supercharged (and impressive) metal instrumental passage until the song's end. Quite impressive! (18.25/20)

6. "The Prophecy" (5:05) delicate electric guitar arpeggi with synth wash chords below in support are soon joined by two more electric guitars (more in the metal sound palette). But this is just the 45-second intro. A pause precedes the launch into the full-band power metal music over which Bruce Dickinson provides another great vocal performance (sounding, at times, quite a bit like 1970s vocalist . Very impressive skills put on display from the band in the lightning- fast instrumental passage and the delicate acoustic finish. (9/10)

7. "The Clairvoyant" (4:27) for this song the bass gets a brief solo intro (impressive!) before the rest of the band joins in to establish the fabric for the rest of the song. The bass continues to impress as the melodic guitar play over the top supports Bruce's subdued vocal. At 2:02 there is a shift into a "there's a time to live, and a time to die" section before returning to the original two-step for a brief guitar solo. The "time to live, ?" sections feel quite incongruous with the rest of the flow of the song: the motif being force-spliced in against the nature of the song. (8.667/10)

8. "Only The Good Die Young" (4:42) opens with a sound that seems to conjoin some Blue Öyster Cult and AC/DC sounds and ideas. The chorus is kind of let down, as if Bruce and the band only thought to put it in there as an afterthought, but it is followed by a nice instrumental passage. The lyrics may make this song a fan favorite, but the music is, to my ears, nothing to write home about. A bit of a let down; a disappointing way to end the album. (8.667/10)

Total Time: 43:57

I like the production of this album better than that of the Queensrÿche albums I've just listened to. Plus, Bruce Dickinson's vocal performances just feel more authentic, less play-acted than those of the uber-talented Geoff Tate.

Apparently this album gets (some of) its inspiration from Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son /Alvin Maker series--a fantasy series that I love and devoured back in the day. It's a connection that I fail to hear or feel.

B+/a high four stars and an excellent addition to any prog metal loving music collector's album collection. A metal band that actually convinces me that this should fall under the umbrella of "progressive rock music."

Review #29: Senjutsu

Despite the passage of time, Iron Maiden have shown me, and I guess many people, the potential they can still hold today. When I finished listening to this, the only thing my head could expire was the desire to applaud endlessly, because what Maiden has achieved with this is impressive. The passion, the vigour, the tempest that the songs possess.

The caverns of epicness that emanate from the melodies, the interludes, the sonority, this is the example of how to prevail despite age.

Hell On Earth' has been my favourite track. The divine air that the beginning of the song expels, and how that is diluted in the way of the metal song that it is.

Hats off to them, honestly. I've underestimated this album before listening to it because it's so recent.... And how ignorant I've been! No need to give it a chance, YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS!

I tend to be exaggerated or repetitive in my reviews, because lately life has taken a lot of turns in my current situation, but listening to this album was the impulse I needed to motivate me to think a lot of things. Considering that I haven't listened to good Metal like this for a long time. Thank you, Mr. Maiden!