With the flurry of Maiden re-releases that have been slowly drip fed to their adorning fan base since the release of the picture discs package in October, one can only assume that there is an element of these Heavy Metal heavyweights exorcising their right to perform a cash grab while they are taking some well deserved down time!
However, you will be mistaken, as the Maiden boys are simply delving into the vaults of their rich and very impressive 30 year career to reward their fans with what Overdrive can only describe as, essential, well packaged, crystal audio recordings of the bands legendary and mind boggling recording history.
Iron Maiden don’t do things by half, in fact the Maiden camp break down the boundaries of the regular methods of touring, stage production, album design and packaging to bring an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.
Just ask the millions of fans around the world who have decorated their skin with the bands infamous hell raising mascot “Eddie” and travelled from primitive villages in the most far reaching parts of the globe to witness their hero’s perform, which can be seen in the bands previously released “Flight 666” documentary. So we can clarify, that when Iron Maiden put something out for public consumption, it’s just got to be killer, right?
Well, Overdrive has been blasting out the shiny new remastered audio recording of the bands now infamous “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son” tour for a straight three weeks now and to be honest, we can’t find a god damn thing wrong with this!
Straight in “no kissing” the band rip through “Moonchild” with the frenzied crowd chanting along to every word that passes through Bruce’s lips. There is by no means a super clean flawless display of pitch perfect notes on this recording, no sir, this is live and certainly adds to the increased edgy and hungry sound as opposed to that of other artists “Live Recordings” in which adding in a caned audience over studio recordings was deemed live.
Steve Harris’s bass can be heard galloping furiously throughout classics such as “The Evil That Men Do”, “Die With Your Boots On” and “Can I Play With Madness” as well as fine dual guitars attack from (pre-Janick era) Dave and Adrian.
The pace of this recording does not let up with a powder keg of classics exploding one after the other from “The Prisoner”, “Infinitate Dreams”, “Heaven Can Wait” to old school numbers like “Still Life”, “The Number of the Beast” and truck loads more, all smashing out of your stereo speakers in crystal clear high definition re-mastered sound.
So, to sum up this is a must have for any Iron Maiden fan and essential listening for any burgeoning young pup who want’s to know how things are done correctly in the world of Rock & Metal music.
With Iron Maiden bringing the “Maiden England” tour to the UK for Download Festival on Saturday June 15th, this will be the perfect gift for any self respected Metal fan to treat themselves too, before dusting off the sleeveless patched denim jacket and breaking out the skin tight stone washed cut off shorts for what is being considered as the Heavy Metal event of the year.
“Maiden England” will be released on March 22nd via EMI Music
Overdrive 5/5
