Brave New World (Album General Thoughts) - Some great material here but perhaps a bit inconsistent. However, the band I love is back and in strong form. The production is much improved from Fear of the Dark and No Prayer. Overall, this is as good as you can reasonably expect from a band over a decade removed from their glory years. I would strongly suggest those that gave up on the band after Somewhere in Time or 7th Son to give this one a shot. I find it very enjoyable. I also must add: The cover is pretty cool and menacing. The Wicker Man – Driving guitars, epic chorus. (I love the little muted guitar riff in the chorus) Nice gallop after the 2nd chorus. This song embodies much of what I love in Maiden. It’s nearly impossible to listen to this without mouthing the chorus and banging my head a little. Maiden makes me feel young. No band is more fun to listen to. A little awkward transition in getting to the "Whoa" part and perhaps the chant goes on a round too long, but that’s nitpicking. Another classic Maiden opener. 4.5 stars out of 5.
The Wicker Man I like this one, but when I heard it at first, I wasn’t like,”Maiden is back!” It seemed a bit like Maiden By Numbers. It’s good though. I like that little riff that repeats. You know the one.
Riggs did the Eddie. The lower half, the city, is by someone else - Steve Stone. Edit: @The Hud set me straight, this is now corrected.
Off the topic of BNW for one second, but I wanted to share my grief. I finally received the 2-CD version of Best of the Beast that I ordered from Switzerland. Both discs are scratched to hell! Aaaargh!! I ripped them to iTunes, so I’m crossing my fingers that there’s no skips or anything. Ugh. I don’t want to send it back. Also, what is the source of the weird Eddie on the far left of the cover? With the hook hand?
BRAVE NEW WORLD Finally, it happened. I had skipped Virtual XI, but bought this one the first day. And boy, was I glad. I remember the reaction of some friends: In a bored voice "sounds exactly like the old days...", but I was glad just because of that. The energy was back, and, most important to me, the overall epic, unifying album-feel was back. I still think (and I guess nothing will change that) EVERY IM-album since 1990 would be much, much better regarded if we we were still in vinyl days: Two sides to generate another kind of overall flow, and of course the physical time limit by which two or three songs would have to be dropped. Quality always suffers when you're forced to bring more quantity in the same amount of time. Those were the early days of Napster, and I, being a user, had heard two or three songs in advance in "unproduced" form (maybe demos, I don't remember). I must say, at that moment I didn't like the material. I remember well one of them was Ghost Of The Navigator, and how I thought it was boring. But when the album came out, that one turned into one of my highlights. I know I'm walking ahead - I just wanted to say I was quite stunned by how a production could change so much, and I learned to appreciate a good producer's value - paired with the question how good those 90ties albums could have been with another person at the desk... The Wicker Man: Like some said before, I agree those "whoas" are ususally lame. But in this case, I took it as it was. Iron Maiden got me back. Great opener and a perfect choice for a single!
I see we didn't cover Paul Di'anno's "As Hard As Iron" album nor the True Brits supergroup. That's fine, since I see most of you couldn't care less about that style anyway. I'll just briefly state my opinion about As Hard As Iron. While not quite as good as The World's First Iron Man, it's still a very good hard rock album, and the two go well together. It's the same kind of stuff, Lea Hart songs, fist-banging, sometimes melodic, sometimes poppy 80s style hard rock. My favourite song: "You're Only History". I'd like to see the two albums reissued as a double. As for True Brits, I haven't yet listened to but a short clip, but it looks like it's the original versions of songs from the Di'anno albums, apparently originally made for the Japanese market. Should be worth checking out for those who dig that stuff. Plus Clive Burr's in it. General thoughts about the post-reunion Maiden albums: A few months ago I had a project of listening to all of these albums. Before that I'd only heard a song here and there. I borrowed them all on CD from the nearby libraries over a period of a few months. The overall perception was that the songs are often very long, very serious, and not very memorable. Most often they didn't leave a positive impression. Some of the songs I liked best were on the Dance of Death and the Book of Souls albums. I don't think I'll be ready to listen through all those albums again. I guess from now on, I'll just chime in occasionally on selected songs.
Ok. So here it begins, my little catching up with the thread.. Wolfsbane, Live Fast, Die Fast: Wicked Tales Of Booze, Birds and Bad Language: Ok, I think I haven't heard this one before and actually I haven't much at all heard them, maybe few songs here and there through the years. Like I said earlier, this thread is great as we get to revisit some albums/songs for for the umpteeth time and some that we're discovering for the first time. Think I did read some interview and stuff from the magazines back then (Metal Hammer etc.) but never really got too familiar with their work. So, as I've now listened to the album in full, here's my few words of how I felt it: I would say that Wolfsbane's debut is one entertaining package of album that they started with, showing the pure enthuasiasm and freshness. This is some sort of fitting mixture between hard rock, AOR and heavy metal (plus even punk) with that slight flavor and edge of rock 'n' roll. As this album calls back to the times of late 70's NWOBHM-movement, I think it could have been regarded and noticed more if it had come out then. Blaze sounds good here and it's solid performance from him, there's even a hint of him channeling his inner David Lee Roth here on couple songs (I wasn't ecpecting such). They surely have sense of humor, just by looking the titles and reading the lyrics, and yes it's always welcome to have some little fun there. Solid and decent album, with better production and marketing maybe they could have been more known name. I've been told that they were much better live. All in all, interesting release and it proved to be actually bit better than I had hoped it to be. I think Im gonna revisit this one later. Next up "The Chemical Wedding", will have to listen to it few times and add some comments. So, to be continued and I will post it later when it's ready.
Wow. I just gotta chime in on a past album. I finally heard the whole Accident of Birth album this morning. And I'm really surprised by how much I liked it. Much more nuanced than the first two tracks led me to believe, much more mature than I first thought. Still not superhappy about the production but I'm more about the music anyway. Chemical Wedding is next.
Okay, so onto Brave New World... I loved the Bruce solo stuff throughout the 1990's - as you can tell by my posts here! - but when it was announced that he and 'H' were back with Maiden, I was taken aback but genuinely elated... this is going to kick ASS, I thought; they've learned their lessons from mistakes of the past, Bruce and Adrian are creatively firing on all cylinders, and they'll bring a fresh (and much needed) new perspective back to the stagnating Maiden. Heard 'The Wicker Man' and was genuinely impressed, it doesn't reinvent the Maiden wheel, but it made sense to get a 'classic' Maiden rocker out there as the first single... liked it then, still do, although the repetitive chorus and the lack of potential given the triple-guitar attack gave me one or two thoughts, but the album will be much bigger, broader, and better... I just know it. Album arrives, the reviews are all near-universally glowing, I'm excited, and I pick it up on first week of release... love the cover artwork; not as elaborate, as multi-dimensional, or as transcendent as the best Maiden covers of the past, but it's a new decade and they're moving ahead whilst not forgetting the past... all well and good. Listened to the whole album in one sitting, and... that was it, that's the best you guys could come up with... that??? Honestly, I was disappointed, crushed, deflated... it has precisely three genuinely great tracks on it - 'The Wicker Man', the title track (despite the overly repetitive chorus), and the genuinely moving 'Blood Brothers' (with it's lovely little Irish jig!) - but the rest sounded... well rote, same old same old, with all the same problems that plagued them post-1988, plus they sounded like they could have fit right onto it's Blaze-fronted predecessor... and of course, we know why; because four tracks (out of 10 in total on BNW) are holdovers from that very album... and Blaze claims he partially wrote lyrics to 'Dream of Mirrors' but never got a credit. If there was ever a time that Maiden should have started a new album from scratch, it was Brave New World; to start completely fresh, with a new perspective, gather new ideas, and take their sweet time in putting together what was undoubtedly their most important release since The Number of the Beast eighteen years prior! But nope, the only thing that appeared to be different (other than the returning two band members) was a new producer, and that was only because Bruce absolutely insisted on it as a non-negotiable stipulation for returning (that and recording in a proper, professional outside studio, not 'Arry's barn!)... and even then, they chose someone who seemingly has no sense of sonic dynamics, everything is at the same volume, there's none of the experience or talent or grasp of actual producing that made Martin Birch so great at his job... Kevin Shirley is a glorified engineer not a producer, and whether it be Maiden or the Zeppelin live releases he mixed, he crushes all dynamics under heavy compression to the point that it can barely breathe, and the drums on his albums always sound like someone hitting a dustbin (which is not AT ALL how John Bonham wanted his drums to ever sound like)!!! And as for the much-heralded triple guitars in the mix... is there, I certainly don't hear it on the record!? As you can tell, I was bitterly disappointed with Brave New World, and my opinion hasn't changed in the interim; it could... nay, SHOULD have been not just a magnificent return to form, but just plain magnificent in it's own right... a stone-cold, cast-iron, certified classic... what I got instead was a yawn, a meh, and a feeling of profound deflation afterwards. One listen to either Accident of Birth and/or The Chemical Wedding shows me 1) how to do it right, and 2) how it should have been done, alas... Thanks to my experience with BNW, my enthusiasm for all things Maiden pretty much died right there... I lost track of both them and music in general for about 13 years, so when I started listening to some of the other material on the subsequent albums a year or two back... well, frankly, it has the same problems; overlong (songs and albums), choruses repeated ad nauseum, solos that go on for weeks, a lack of editing ability, mediocre album covers, and a production that lacks dynamics whilst sounding like fingernails down a blackboard to my ears... maybe the material would sound better with a better producer, or maybe 'Arry just wouldn't let that happen; he's too rich, too successful, too set in his ways to make any major changes, or feel the need to push either himself or his band out of their comfort zone and really aim for the stars... why bother, if it ain't broken, why fix it, right Steve? And there's evidently no-one in the Maiden inner circle that will tell him when something isn't a good idea, to confront him on it and not back down over it until it's right... these arguments happened all the time throughout the 1980's and it produced great albums... I know for a fact that Bruce and Adrian are not at all happy with some of 'Arry's questionable decisions sometimes, but they let it go for the sake of band unity and the greater good... more's the pity! Whether that's an accurate reading of the situation or not isn't as important as that's how it seemed to me from an outside perspective... regardless, it irrevocably killed my Maiden phase stone-dead... they've passed my way a few times on tour and I don't even have the remotest notion of wanting to go see 'em, oh well... c'est la vie... good luck and God bless 'em though. And with that, I take my leave of this particular thread... I'm neither familiar nor enthusiastic enough about the reunion era to make any worthwhile comments about it, but I will be lurking occasionally, popping in to see what the gist is, and where we are on the reviews. It's been great contributing to this thread - best ever on this forum, and I mean it! - everyone's been a treat, learned a few things along the way, and y'all have been exceedingly patient with my spouting my usual waffle... thanks to @Musicman1998 for starting the thread (and to everyone who contributes to it)... bet you didn't think it would go this far or be this much fun, dude! Ladies, fish, and gentlemen... I bid you adieu.
To me this was Maiden back in the game, with no disrespect meant to Blaze, I just didn't like the albums with him on them. As I had stated earlier, Maiden lost me at No Prayer, so it was never always Blaze's fault (or Harris's if we want to look at it that way). To me this album was a true rebirth for one of the favourite bands of my youth. A bunch of great songs, played well, with the guy singing who should have been. I don't actually agree with the seemingly popular argument that the modern era albums don't sit up with the 80's stuff. To me there is a maturity in the albums that is hard to ignore. Yet this maturity, to me, doesn't equal stale.
I really dig BNW, especially the first 4 tracks. Such a great freakin' band. For me, Ghost Of The Navigator stands out as my favorite track on the album, and the version on the "Rock In Rio" live album is phenomenal.
I have read just about every page of this thread with not one contribution. Just enjoying hearing other opinions really. But I felt the need to compliment The Hermit on his post. His sentiments regarding the reunified Maiden sum up mine to a tee. Infact I would say that from my perspective it applies to every album from FOTD onwards. Not to say there have not been some great moments in there but there is one word which sums up the past 30 years as far as Maiden are concerned and that is bloat. Funnily enough, I think the bloody CD age did for Maiden as it did for many. They were able to lay down 8 or so killer tracks on a 45 minute slab of vinyl - quite literally, all killer, no filler. Give them a 78 minute disc and that statistic is reversed. Give them 2 CDs - oh boy... I was listening to Where Eagles Dare the other day and it was such a thrilling listen. No bullsh1t, just a good, solid pummeling of the ears. Starts and ends right where it needs to. I thought to myself if Maiden released this now it would probably be about 12 minutes long and most of that would be some piddly intro before getting to the main event which would be dragged on twice as long as necessary. A Brave New World would be one where someone has the balls to tell Steve Harris - No, enough already. Sadly, don't ever see that coming now.
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding (1998) This is one powerful and very important follow-up to the album that already setting the mark as one of their milestone-albums in the catalogue and overall Bruce's solo-career had now found next gear with the great lineup. So, what to think of this mammoth piece, on the first listening back in 1998 when I bought the album from my local record store I was amazed how damn heavy it did sound. I think it's got some seriously heavy guitars (can't recall where I read it many, many years ago but) on "King In Crimson" I think the guitars use actually bass strings and tune is way lower than normal, it's tuned down to A instead of the usual tuning E. No wonder, if they use bass strings that it sounds so heavy. Don't count on me on that string thing, but I suppose somewhere it was mentioned. Even my wife, who's heard this album number of times, was amazed how heavy it sounded and once again this was talked as I bought Bruce's Anyways, as I was amazed by the sound also the albums artwork proved some really interesting facts and visions for me to stare as I listened to the album. I cannot simply think anything other than if someone makes concept album dealing with alchemy and mixes William Blake's poetry to the set, it's totally unique and interesting take. I really like and dig the way Bruce changed some of course and direction, went into more poetic, thoughtful side on the lyrics. Luckily the whole thing proved to be masterpiece also. One of my favorite albums. After 20 years still album still rocks and rules! I dig it, I love it and hope you too. "King in Crimson", what a great and impressive way to start the album with. It's still amazing how greatly this song opens the album and sets it on fire. I cannot enough praise the mix and the huge heavy sound of the guitars. This must have sounded great there in the studio, while they were recording but also listening to the finished takes and actual result that is there on the album. Bruce's perfect voice suits the mood and moment here, it's precisely what that start set and needed here. Like I said, it might be possible that guitars use bass strings (there's other ways such as effects to get lower tunings but I think it's the strings) and surely it brings totally new darkness to the sound that the song needs. I really dig the guitars and we great solo from Adrian, that's so him and Im used to getting the best. Possibly the best opener ever for any Bruce-album. Others aswell should have taken notice how well it's executed here. "Chemical Wedding", with that heavy guitar setting the mood, we are taken in to the world of the title-track here. I said it earlier, but I mention it again that I really like and dig the lyrics, how Bruce changed a bit of the direction and course, went into more poetic, thoughtful side on the lyrics. It's very effective and impressive work on the concept-albums, I've always loved and appreciated that kind of deeper approach. Awesome, impressive chorus. It's surely got good melody and I love how passionate Bruce sounds on this one. Great, beautiful solo from Roy Z. There's great sense of feeling and drama present in the song, as the light and dark, soft and heavy are all there. I really dig this one. 2nd song on the album and it's another gem. "The Tower", it seems that this cool funky bass-intro that starts the song, comes really out of nowhere then adding the guitars to the soup. Groove goes nicely and the rhythm section provides it like it should be. Great chorus again, I really dig how Bruce handles it and put it's all there, that's like the hightlight here. I really dig the lyrics and really on this album there's all sort of meanings and interpretations. I like the little added another vocal dub there in the background, which can be heard for few times here and there in the song. Cool instrumental-section and solos on this one. Another home-run and guaranteed gem. "Killing Floor", this is some riffing galore and groove all the way from the start. Interesting as this was the only single released from the album, as they could have easily picked another or even few more than only one, I think that already tells you about the quality of the songwriting here. I like the build-up from the more soft pre-chorus into the actual chorus, which is great again. I like how this song goes, but also keeps you tightly in it's grip as it doesn't exactly follow the usual route and conentional structure. I like the changes in the tempo and mood. That little soft interlude around the middle of the song, comes out of nowhere. So, this is definitely great song and another gem on the album. "Book of Thel", great intro with the soft guitar setting the atmosphere. Monster riffing and the busy groove is what keeps you excited for the whole 8 minute ride, it just doesn't even feel like that long and it just keeps you following anxiously of what's going to happen next. I like the vocal-effect that is heard just before the first verse starts. Stellar song and all of the dudes here do their work really greatly, Bruce sounds great here and absolutely fantastic on the choruses. This is among my favorite performances and songs on the album. The piano and the Blake-poetry at the end if brialliant addition. Just only the 5th song on the album and it's so great going so far. I really dig this one. "Gates of Urizen", after that 8 minutes of exciting and heavy groovy piece of mammoth, it's now actually first time that we need little change of mood and pace here. This is somewhat little lesser feeling song, but it works for the purpse. Bruce delivers fine vocals and just sounds so great here. I dig the sound of the distorted guitar. Adrian again delivers magnificent, melodic solo. Stellar performances, but maybe this song just is meant to be little pause after what we had gone through those busy songs before it. "Jerusalem", now this is truly great song. I dig the medieval feeling and the Blake's poetry. I think this is among the finest moments in Bruce solo-career and I think I found this song a bit later. Around the first listens back in the day, it served as another song among other, but now in the last 10 years or so, I've found this song and it's become one that I go back, especially if I want to take myself to the feelings of this album but not actually feel like listening to the whole album through. I like the build-up on the song going, little by little adding things and stuff there. Great solos and sections. I think Bruce's voice is just perfect on this song, and I didn't think of this in advance but as I read some comments before writing this, I cannot do anything else than wholeheartedly agree with @Cheevyjames . The way Bruce sings combined with the epic-feeling music. It's amazing. This is incredible song, that almost everytime gets to my feeling and leaves me wonder really. Dare I even say it, I think this is among my alltime favorite songs by anyone ever. This is pure brilliance, the highlight of the album for me. I love it and I dig it. If you ever had any doubts about Bruce's solo-career, please, please listen to this song and I almost can guarantee that it will be amazing song for you. "Trumpets of Jericho", ok after that epic song we're taken back to the more usual sounding stuff on the album previously. I like the verses, but once that chorus kicks in Bruce's let free to his soaring high. After the solo comes that middle-part, it's interesting and I really get the feeling that it must have worked well in live setting, as Bruce gets to show some of his voice. After the middle-part I think it sorts of doesn't anymore go anywhere else really. Not bad song, but maybe this just feels for me now. Maybe, I just have to give it some thought and see if it later feels different. "Machine Men", powerful riffing and this is indeed melodic metal song. Perhaps a bit lesser song. I think I read that yellow-pages thing somewhere long time ago, but thanks for mentioning it here @Cheevyjames it's pretty clever thing to sing from those pages. One wouldn't necessarily believe but Bruce can and should do anything that he likes. I think this is another little lost song for me, I guess I have to give it some revisits. "The Alchemist", last song on the original album. I think this song serves as good closer for the album and it's also sort of bringing closure to the story/concept. I think that this resembles a bit on the feelings that were present on the previous albums closing track ("Arc Of Space"). I think the second half of the song is brilliant, because it reprises the title-tracks melody and makes it as great memorable way to end the album. Bonus-songs: "Return of the King", rocking metal song that could have been found from "Accident Of Birth". Great solos and solid song. Maybe it's once again case where, the song just lacks something, that ingredient, "it" to be really stand out enough from the rest. "Real World", Ok rocking song that showcases Bruce upper range. Maybe this also lacks that particular to stand out. I get feeling that these songs were left as b-sides for reason. "Confeos", so story of getting drunk in Japan. Very Deep Purple feeling in the song and Bruce lets that great Gillan-esque scream at the start. Good solos and not bad song by performances, but surely b-side for reason. ========================================================== Wow, that's it and Im getting a bit closer to the catching up with the rest of you here.
Couple quick reviews and so Im getting bit closer to you here.. Wolfsbane - All Hell's Breaking Loose Down at Little Kathy Wilson's Place: Based on the few songs I listened of this, some good, some so-so, some bad. I think that's it really. But maybe I will give this EP revisit someday in the meantime I guess the debut-album was better for me. Battlezone, Feel My Pain: Ok, so Paul went for groove metal on this one and Im glad that he's anyways done few albums consisting of original material. So, that's always more interesting than recycling and re-recording any of those old Maiden-songs (which are the versions that don't need to be updated). Paul's got good and amazing voice, but when he uses it correctly and on material deserving it. But on this album, the material doensn't really benefit from his voice. This is listenable and ok groove metal, but it could have been much better. I think I might give this one further inspection as I only listened to songs here and there.
Bruce Dickinson - Scream for Me Brazil (1999) Great live-album which I think is another fine example and proof of the fact how energetic performer Bruce is and how on fire the band were. They played really well together. I think while their performances must have been as fine as this one, on the other dates of the tour aswell, but for sure we can agree why Brazilian-shows were picked. It's the audience. The audience is always there so energetic, singing and living to the music and moments. I remember that when I first heard the show (from original cd when it came) I was amazed by the loud but very enthusiastic crowd. It's great really and Im proud of how well they participate. Plenty of good moments, but during Tears Of The Dragon they just so loudly sing along but also I really dig Bruce's "Scream For Me"-shout. Still getting goosebumps over the many great moments there. Wish someday Bruce's live-albums got also their deserved vinyl-reissues. Later I bought the 3cd "Alive" box to my collection, and of course I have that Bruce Dickinson Anthology 3dvd-set which I shall today watch after work. I think they could release the further songs from the shows at somep point still, but atleast it was nice addition to get "Jerusalem" on the "Best of 2cd" which is great compilation in my opinion. I have some audio and video recording of Bruce's shows, so I got atleast some missing songs. All in all, this live-album proved many points, was indeed important essential document of their live-shows on that tour.
Im gonna write and start discussing mighty "Brave New World"-album and it's gigantic opener "The Wicker Man" with you later today. Soon going to get off from work and have some nice real life activities and stuff during the weekend. So, I will join you later today.
