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After waiting all weekend after release date to receive my Amazon pre-order of this deluxe edition, I’ve been listening to it regularly and my review is pure and simple:
Last night I tried out a new (2016), Limited Edition beer created by Iron Maiden. Naturally, it’s called Trooper Red ‘N’ Black. It’s a porter, not to be confused with a stout. Or is it easily confused? Let’s get Wiki to do the talking:
Folks, we need to talk about James. My KMA brother, and long-time friend. He’s amazing. He’s the one who brings quality while I bring quantity. And already he’s blushing ‘cos he’s a modest dude. But seriously. James is the man.
James went to the show in Calgary on March 4, and sent me the show-only CD, wouldn’t take money for it. Said Happy Birthday! My birthday is in July.
I thought the extremely limited edition Iron Maiden ‘Empire Of The Clouds’ 12” single would be awesome to get, but couldn’t get one here. Mike tried for me in his town, but it was one per person. I figured it would be online after the fact… then James texts me, still want the Maiden? His store was getting a late RSD shipment. They even held one for him. It arrived here yesterday. James would not take money for it. He said Merry Christmas. In April.
Metallica were amabassadors for RSD this year, and put out their limited edition Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité Bataclan 2003 live CD. This would also be awesome to get. James got that too, and said Happy Your Son’s Birthday (in April). Seriously. At this point, he’s gotta be just making this shit up, or maybe he realized Saying Happy Birthday 2017 was stretching too far?
Off to the venue. “Tickets” were a swipe of his credit card away – no more paper tickets! Except the credit card machine at the gate wouldn’t read buddy’s card, so off we went to the box office. Turns out his credit card had expired between ticket purchase and concert date, so the new card had the same number just a different expiry number, but it was enough to cough up this hairball. They actually asked him if he still had his old card. Haha what? Who keeps an expired card? And we live 3 hours away, so let me just pop home to have a look! We wondered if we’d get in, for a bit, there. Anyway, he sorted it out and they printed us old school rectangular tickets, which I’m happy to have as a keepsake!
Back to the gate and in we go, reservations under our name and holy fuck our seats were front row of the restaurant, right at the railing, overlooking the whole floor from the 200 level, directly across from the stage! We had highback leather chairs, waitress service, and the restaurant’s own super-clean bathroom where there was never a line-up, and no fighting through crowds to get there. What a set-up!
Opening act The Raven Age hit the stage to less than half the crowd Maiden would have. They played ably, no real missteps. The band is solid enough (and it was the drummer’s birthday! Plus, he’s a monster on the kit, great stuff), and George Harris on guitar did well. But I’d say the singer, Michael Burrough… he was good, and he worked hard to get people into it, but I dunno. Maybe more time is needed? They were good, but not great. Probably they suffered by comparison with what we all knew was coming up next… Anyway, they got out of the way quickly enough after a decent set.
Anyway, the roadies set to work while more beer was consumed, and we all talked a lot about how friggin’ great these seats were. I took pictures, but they don’t do justice to what our eyes actually saw.
Soon it was U.F.O.’s ‘Doctor Doctor’ and the place started going nuts. Folks, I’ve seen a lot of shows, and rarely have I felt the energy in a building of almost 15,000 people like I did last night. It was palpable, the air thick with shouts and pot smoke. And then there was Bruce, up at the back on the riser, with the intro to If Eternity Should Fail. The entire building collectively lost its minds. Unreal. Game fucking on!
I just… words don’t really work, here. I tried writing this section three times. I tried to get out what it was like to be stomped by The Trooper, Bruce waving his flags around, and frickin’ Hallowed Be Thy Name, or lifted by The Red And The Black and Death Or Glory… seeing Eddie come out and stomp around stage, attacking band members (mostly Janick) and then being attacked (Bruce ripped his heart out and threw it to the crowd)… and then there was the big Eddie head… but I just couldn’t get the right words. Adjectives have honestly failed me. So I can sum it up thusly:
Pretty much every song had its own backdrop curtain, and Bruce had several props (his flags and red jacket for Trooper, a noose for Hallowed, and even a lucha mask and leather vest for Powerslave. Anyway, they spared no expense on the pyros and lights either. And the sound was great. Where we were sitting, we were under the awning of the upper deck, and some said they got a bit of bounce-back especially on the vocals. I didn’t really notice. I was too busy rockin’ out!
Wilf wasn’t too keen on hearing Tears Of A Clown, not his fave track off the album, but I thought it went over great. I was worried about Wasted Years, I don’t dig the album track all that much. But in concert, it fit perfectly. Much, much better live!
The setlist was stellar. Our seats kicked serious ass. The food was delicious.
IN SUM:
—For those of you keeping score (because I know you all are), I took Mike’s advice and played Seventh Son again. It’s a cool record, but I cannot get into the vocals on most tracks. It’s like he was trying to do his operatic thing while someone was shaking him by the shoulders. Ugh.—
So, now we get to No Prayer For The Dying. I’ll write this up before I read Mike’s take on it.
Tailgunner is a great riff, and I like the gutteral, raw vocals here. It’s like he took up smoking and drinking straight bourbon between records, or something. The growl goes well with the guitar assault. A strong album opener, and my fears of a repeat of Seventh’s howls aren’t immediately realized. Holy Smoke is a fun guitar riff. Fun?!?! Yeah! Same vocals too. Could it be? Has he left the warble at home? And this is interesting to note: for Maiden, this is two mid-tempo tracks in a row. I’m talking AC/DC-like tempos instead of their typical 100 mph blasts. And to that end, these two tracks would sound GREAT in a bar. The title track is a sort of compromise. He strains it a bit there, but the growl is still predominant. And bits of this are pretty slow, for these guys! Is that an actual string section or faked? AH! 2:16, here they go at the usual speed! Woo! Cool slinky riff on that one.
Public Enema Number One Gives us the tempo right from the gates, and another killer riff. Dickinson’s OK ’til he gets to the chorus, then no thanks. Still, a strong enough track that fits with the rest. Fates Warning fits the Maiden template we’ve come to expect, but it’s not one of the stronger songs here. It’s one of those ones that, for another contemporary band it would have been a hit single, but for Maiden it’s just good. The Assassin isn’t as menacing as it tries to be. “Better watch out?” Haha, sure. You know who I could hear singing this song? Dio. He’d have given it the proper mix of gravity and hilarity.
Run Silent Run Deep is a great tune, another chugging stomper, but the vocals kill it. Sorry, I just can’t take that wobble seriously. I know I couldn’t do it myself, but I don’t think I’d want to. Especially that ending. Ugh. If he’d tone that down, this could have been a hits-disc track. Hooks In You is one of the most straight-on rawk tunes they’ve done, in chord changes in structure. There’s a raft of 80s metal bands that could have done this song. And man, by the end of this one, he sounds rough. Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter is one I’ve heard before. That bit around 3:20 just cracks me up. WTF. The rest is just like this album: great rock song with a singer that’s trying too hard. And finally, Mother Russia, well… I could take it or leave it. I know what they were going for, here. Playing on the sounds of Russian traditional songs, and trying to be atmospheric about it. And all deference, that guitar solo work is incredible. But as an album closer? No, not really. Maybe a b-side. I’m willing to bet there was a better song that ended up as a b-side, and swapping them would have made a huge difference.
In all, a cool Maiden record, but if I had to compare it to some of the others I’d say it’s only mediocre. I like that they’re all different. Reflections of the times and their interests, of course. This one lays back a bit, doesn’t do everything at breakneck speed. Fine by me.
* And I promise I won’t bitch about the vocals from here on out. Maybe I’ll contain it to one line, or something, for future reviews (because Mike tells me it doesn’t improve). It’s just that, for this one on the heels of Seventh, I wanted to see if things improved. They sort-of did, here.
And now here’s a real review. Take it, Mike: http://mikeladano.com/2012/10/18/review-iron-maiden-no-prayer-for-the-dying-1990-1996-bonus-disc/
