I recently watched part of VH1’s “One Hit Wonders of the 1980’s” series. Alongside each video on the countdown they also presented a quick bio of the song and the artist. 99% of them started the same way. “Rocker X became huge after his video received MTV airplay …” In the early 80’s, that was THE method of becomming huge. You made a video, or you went nowhere. The 21st century version of that story involves the internet. In a few years, all the big bands on television will be saying, “we became huge after we were discovered on mp3.com/farmclub.com/garageband.com/whatever else is out there.” I know this, because every band’s bio now mentions how big they are/were on www.mp3.com, www.farmclub.com, or www.garageband.com.

Twenty second history lesson — Lollipop Lust Kill released a three song EP in ’97, won a local battle of the bands in ’98, were discovered in ’99 on mp3.com, self-released a full-length debut album in ’00, discovered by Artemis Records via AntiMTV.com, and has now released their second album (their first national release) entitled My So Called Knife. Cut to present, fade in.

For some reason, I had imagined Lollipop Lust Kill would sound like My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult — despite the fact that they only share the word “Kill” between the two bands. In retrospect, I suppose that could also mean the band might have also sounded like Killing Joke, Bikini Kill, Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa, Killer Dwarves, Dry Kill Logic, Gravity Kills, Killswitch Engage, Overkill, or even Kill Allen Wrench. But, they don’t sound like any of those people. Jesus Christ I’ve got to cut back on the coffee.

LLK (who changed their name from “The Candy Killers” because “it didn’t roll off the tongue well”) are on tour right now with Coal Chamber and American Head Charge, and I’m sure they fit in great there, kind of like a big muscle head hard rock sammich with mustard and lettuce and tomato and a slice of Lollipop Lust Kill in the middle. And white bread. Fuck all these places who try and give you wheat bread, wheat bread is so ghey, and double fuck these places who make tomato bread and jalapeno bread and cheese bread and whatever kind of friggin’ bread they’re trying to pass off on sandwiches these days. Fuckin’ bullshit man. WHITE BREAD, Wonderbread and Rainbo have it down pat, call them up if you don’t know how to do it right. Sheesh. (On my second cup of coffee now.)

So where was I? Oh yeah. Lollipop Lust Kill. Their second album, My So Called Knife, rocks pretty hard. Not in a Meshuggah kind of way, but in a “hey we’re almost Pantera but have keyboards” kind of way. Maybe not Pantera, but … Disturbed, or heavy Staind, or Union Underground, or … uh, I dunno, some heavy stuff that still sounds poppish. The vocals go all over the map, covering whispering, singing and screaming regularly. The guitars are perfect. The bass is perfect. Come to think of it, everything’s perfect. A little “too” perfect. It’s almost formula rock. It’s heavy, it’s got songs about murder and sex and creepy guys … and it’s been nicely packaged and placed on a shelf at a store near you.

When I sat down to write this review I couldn’t decide if I liked this album or not — I guess my true feelings just kind of crept out. There’s nothing bad about this album, in fact it’s very good, very melodic, very professional, very nu … and very polished. I’d like the chance to see them live and see if they can back this up with some sweat.

Final note: this band and coffee do not mix. I’m ready to kill.

Tracks:
01. Intro
02. Black All Over
03. Like a Disease
04. Father
05. Knee Deep in the Dead
06. Everything I
07. Sad Excuse for a Grip
08. Perfect Woman
09. Bury You
10. Personal Jesus
11. Can’t Get Away
12. Kill Greedy
13. Outro

Life of Agony is a band without a label. They’re funding their current tour out of their own pocket with no label support. Their last studio album was released seven years ago in 1997. There’s no logical reason that kids should be lined up outside the Diamond Ballroom in 20 degree weather an hour before the doors open, but they are. A few of them are patrolling the area between the tour bus and the rear entrance with posters and CDs in hand, hoping for an autograph. This is loyalty. This is what Life of Agony means to its fans. This is the Underground.

In 1998, shortly after lead singer Keith Caputo parted ways with the band, Life of Agony decided to call it quits. In January of 2003, the band performed two reunion shows (which sold out in 20 minutes!). Those shows were recorded and released on both CD and DVD late last year. Response has been overwhelming, and in February of 2004 the band launched their US tour.

Local metalheads Element kicked off Friday night’s show. Despite being broken up for the past two years, Element put together a decent set and began working the crowd early. Next up on the set were Apartment 26, followed by Flaw. Apartment 26’s sound varied between Faith No More and Jane’s Addiction, and didn’t do much for the crowd. Flaw’s nu-metal performance was louder and heavier, but there was no question that night who the crowd was there to see.

My press pass allowed me backstage/sidestage access for the first three songs. Although I was supposed to be taking pictures, when the band came out and kicked off the show with “River Runs Red”, I dropped the journalism act for a few minutes. It’s hard to take pictures while you’re singing at the top of your lungs with both hands in the air. By the beginning of “This Time” I had composed myself, and shot as many pictures as I could during both that song and “Bad Seed.”

Throughout the night, the band sounded tight. TIGHT. All night. This would be the fourth time I’ve seen the band live, and they’ve never sounded better. Every song played sounded as good, if not better, then their album counterparts. Life of Agony is hungry, passionate, and dedicated, and it showed throughout their set. The songs played reflected both the fans’ favorites and the band’s finest moments. “Weeds” was the only song to sneak in from Soul Searching Sun; the rest of the band’s hour+ long set list was composed of material from River Runs Red and Ugly. There were no cover tunes that night, no solos and no bullshit — just straight up metal the length of the show.

Near the end of the set, the band snuck in “Love To Let You Down,” an as-of-yet unrecorded track planned for LOA’s new album. If this song is any sign of what’s to come, Life of Agony is returning to the scene with a bang. The song has a thrashy bridge and verses that show of Caputo’s maturing voice. Can we go ahead and prepay now guys?

On February 13th 2004, Life of Agony was back in full force. This band has suffered, learned, and grown over the years, and it shows. While the band’s live DVD is a must have, it’s no replacement for catching the band live. Hopefully, we’ll get many more chances to do so over the years.

Life of Agony once sang, “if you won’t walk with me, I will walk alone.” On February 13th, 2004, they didn’t have to. Hundreds of kids are standing out in the cold, waiting for the Diamond Ballroom’s doors to open. My wife and I aren’t with them — we’re sitting in the rear of the Life of Agony tour bus, hanging out with Joey Z (guitar) and Alan Robert (bass). Here’s what the two of them had to say about the band, the tour, and their future.

ME: So when did you guys roll into town?

Joey: Yesterday. We had a day off here yesterday.

ME: Did you all do anything here?

Joey: We went to the mall. (Laughter — the Diamond Ballroom is located right next to Crossroads Mall).

ME: You guys have been here a few times. Have you ever been down to the bombing memorial or anything?

Alan: No, we don’t really do a lot of sightseeing …

Joey: We’ve got a lot of work to do, believe it or not, you know a lot of bands do a lot of stuff but we’re trying to work on a new album right now …

ME: Yeah, I read that you’re working on some new material.

Joey: Yeah, well, writing, we’re in the process of writing, and that takes up a lot of time. It’s very time consuming when you have ideas all over the place.

ME: So when you’re working on the album on the road do you have a way to record material?

Joey: Yeah we have numerous ways of recording out here with us. We have two home studio machines and we have Pro-Tools out here with us that we set up daily …

ME: Really!

Joey: Yeah, so we’re out here working hard, both individually and as a band, we’re working hard. We also try and keep the website updated for the fans.

ME: Yeah, we checked it before we left the house.

Alan: We just put up a new Tour Diary section yesterday, a whole new section. We did it from here.

ME: You do it from the road?

Joey: Alan does most of the artwork for the band, all the cool images you’re seeing like the border stuff and symbol stuff, that’s all Alan’s work. And colors, all the cartoon characters, that’s all Alan’s stuff.

ME: Yeah, I saw the new Instant Messanger Icons you put online …

Joey: And there’s new merchandise out, Alan did a new shirt that’s selling like crazy. The cartoon shirt, the same image that’s on the site.

ME: The one with Keith standing behind the three of you holding the mic stand?

Joey: Yeah, that shirt is selling like crazy.

ME: So tell us what the new album is going to sound like.

Alan: Well, we’ll be playin’ one song tonight off the new album.

Joey: We all really, really want to do this. We’re lookin’ … we’re hungry. The only word that comes to mind is hungry and aggressive. We’re not Slayer and everyone knows that, but at the same time, the band … we had some polite music on Soul Searching Sun, and I think we’re going to try and stay away from politeness and go with more dementia and hungry sound and aggressive.

ME: It seems like casual fans say Soul Searching Sun is their favorite album, but the more hardcore fans seem to like the albums best in the order they were released.

Joey: So far what we’ve been doing is taking the better qualities of the band and bringing them forward. You know, the aggression of some of the guitar riffs, the passion of the vocals, the realness of the vocals and where that’s coming from. That’s being brought up to the table, all the great qualities. You’ve got to pull some stuff out, like the politeness. It was never really Life of Agony, that polite sound.I don’t know, I think we got kind of distracted.

Alan: Sometimes you gotta go back to the masters, and see what really influenced you.

ME: It’s hard when your fans are used to a particular sound and then you change that sound …

Joey: We did drastically. If you listen to Soul Searching Sun it doesn’t sound like the same band. Literally, like if you put one record after the next.

Alan: It wasn’t done intentionally, that’s the thing. We just grew and grew. And we really didn’t have anybody telling us “well you can’t do that,” so we just went with it, whatever we felt like.

ME: Do you have anybody telling you that now?

Joey: No.

Alan: No. We tell ourselves now actually, we’re a little more conscious of it now.

ME: Are you aiming for radio play with the new album?

Joey: I don’t think we think about it.

Alan: I think … radio is at a certain state that I can’t even turn it on. So you know, if we get radio play doing something that we wanted to do, that’s a different story.

Joey: If it’s bad ass, and they can’t help but to play it ‘cuz so many people like it, then that’s cool.

ME: I’m curious to see if the new Headbanger’s Ball will sway the radio back towards heavy music. It’s different living in Jersey than living in Oklahoma, here you have limited outlets to see and hear new music. Kids are going to see stuff on Headbanger’s Ball.

Alan: Tomorrow night, Saturday night, they’re playing River Runs Red from the DVD at 11 o’clock eastern time.

ME: And where will you be tomorrow night at 11 o’clock?

Joey: In front a TV, hopefully! (Laughter) Actually, we will! ‘Cuz we’ll be playing with Sevendust and we’ll be going on early so we will be able to see it.

ME: Are you excited about that?

Joey: Yeah! They played “Through and Through” a few months back and gave it a grand introduction. Jamey from Hatebreed gave it such a cool introduction. “This band is classic, from 10 years ago, this is Life of Agony. They’re on tour again, this is ‘Through and Through’.” It was a real nice introduction.

ME: “Through and Through” was the first Life of Agony song I ever heard. I was at a party when it debuted on Headbanger’s Ball, and I literally made everyone at the party stop talking while it was on so I could hear it. I bought the album the very next day and have been a fan ever since.

Joey: Wow. Awesome man, that’s great.

ME: So talking about life on the road, is it wild or is it calm?

Alan: Calm.

Joey: It’s like, the wild days are all behind us.

ME: How old are you guys getitng to be now?

Joey: I’m 32

Alan: We’re both 32, Keith just turned 30 …

Joey: We’re both 32 but we feel young when we get up stage, and as a matter of fact I think we’re in the best playing condition we’ve ever been in. As far as the band sounding, if you don’t mind me saying, we sound fucking awesome right now. I mean, we’re sounding better than we’ve ever sounded. So as far as our playability, we’re in the prime of our game and we’re only getting better by the day, by the show.

ME: And how has the turnout been for these shows?

Joey: Great!

ME: Are you surpsied by that?

Joey: Unexpected, yes, very.

Alan: We didn’t know what the expect.

Joey: No album, no video, no radio song, nothing.

ME: But people are dying to hear what you have coming out, and they’ve been waiting a long time.

Joey: Yeah, and people want to hear those songs. They want to hear their favorite songs, they want to see the band play them, they want to see if we can play them live.

ME: I noticed a lot of people singing along with your songs on DVD, is that common at your shows now?

Joey: The other night in St. Louis, it was crazy. The place was jam packed.

Alan: It was the 14th anniversary of Life of Agony’s very first show … we had a nice toast on stage.

Joey: 14 years exact to the night, February 11th.

ME: It’s weird when you think like, almost half of your life has been dedicated to doing one thing. So tell us about your website, it’s constantly being updated.

Alan: People should check out our website and sign up for the message board. We have a whole mess load of people out there, a nice little community.

Joey: We interact, we answer questions as much as we can. Again we’re busy … I tend to go online a lot more when I’m at home.

ME: Do you get online at all when you’re on the road?

Joey: Occasionally. It’s very hard, kind of slim, for me like twice. Now Alan has his computer out and he’s dong a lot of work with the Tour Diary and keeping the website current which is very important.

ME: It’s very important. Like 10 years ago, we all got our information from magazines and the info was so dated, and now it’s like you can see what the band was doing last night …

Alan: To give you an idea, I posted the new Tour Diary section last night at 2:30 or 3am, posted it on the newsboard, and checked it 15 minutes later and there were already 4 or 5 messages … that’s in the middle of the night.

ME: It’s a totally different connection to the fans now.

Joey: And the problem with a lot of bands that aren’t running their own website I noticed, is you go out there and the last time it was updated was (six months ago), and it’s the same graphics, the same pictures, and it’s like, why should I come back here?

ME: You end up losing visitors and fans over it.

Joey: You discourage people, right!

Alan: Well a lot of times the label takes it over, that’s the problem. Then all the news filters through them and it’s when they get around to doing it …

ME: But you maintain control over your site, right?

Joey: Yeah. we’re doing all of this on our own. I thnk there’s something to be said about being out here with no tour support …

Alan: … No real label support, you know, obviously the DVD just came out but it’s just a one off for us. But we’re basically an unsigned band right now.

Korn is Korn is Korn is Korn is Korn. Despite slight adjustments to their sound over the years, Korn’s basic approach to music has been the same. Take a Look in the Mirror, the band’s latest effort, is yet another attempt to capture the raw energy and aggression presented to us on the band’s debut release. With lead singer Jonathon Davis acting as producer, this album suffers a bit from a lack of direction, but does slightly move the band away from radio friendly territory (even if only a few inches) and back towards the anger that originally propelled them into the spotlight.

The disc kicks off with “Right Now”, the band’s current single. Along with “Did My Time”, these two tracks carry much of the weight of the disc. Other songs on the album may be heavier, but none are as cohesive as these two.

“Break Some Off” shows a glimmer of hope for the band. The first half of the song is garbage, with Davis swapping back and forth between screaming and whispering — however, the guys turn it up a notch in the second half. Were it not for Fieldy’s signature bass sound, you might mistake the second half of “Break Some Off” as … oh I don’t know, someone else. But heavier.

Despite hanging on to their instantly identifiable (and somewhat nerve-grinding) bass tone, the guitars have progressed from 2002’s Untouchables. Long gone are the squealing and screeching noises that once imminated from the group’s guitarists. Most everything here is tuned-down open chords, creating big sheets of tone with bass slaps stabbing through.

There are good and bad reasons for producing your own record. Without a producer in the studio to guide bands, pop egos, and provide brutally honest feedback, songs often become unfocused. You can feel this a bit in “Here It Comes Again” and “Deep Inside”, two tracks that have good parts but eventually meander off the path. The good news is, without a producer, bands are often more likely to experiement and release something closer to their personal vision without the pressures of glossing everything over.

Take A Look In The Mirror unfortunately contains “Play Me”, yet another attempt to incorporate rap into Korn — this time with NAS on vocals. It just doesn’t work. It was a bad idea three albums ago when they did it with Ice Cube, and it’s still a bad idea now. Nobody wants to hear this. The only good thing about this entire track is it doesn’t contain 2Pac.

After “When Will This End”, one of the discs heavier tracks, comes Korn’s cover of Metallica’s “One”, first unveiled on MTV’s Icon: Metallica tribute. As my neice explained to me, “that’s one of their OLD songs.” Thanks, I needed that stab in the heart.

Overall, Korn has listened to their fans, dropped the thick production and returned to their roots with some aggressive, angry, and agressive songs. While Few of the songs hit the bullseye, most of them manage to at least stick in the dartboard somewhere. The radio singles and angrier songs are a step in the right direction, but the wimpy tracks have got to go.

01. Right Now – Dirty Version
02. Break Some Off
03. Counting On Me
04. Here It Comes Again
05. Deep Inside
06. Did My Time
07. Everything I’ve Known
08. Play Me (featuring Nas)
09. Alive
10. Let’s Do This Now
11. I’m Done
12. Ya’ll Want A Single
13. When Will This End
14. One

Black Like Sunday is a collection of long forgotten King’s X material that the band recently dug up and re-recorded. Black Like Sunday is also the reason that some things that are long forgotten should stay long forgotten. King’s X’s latest release has so many problems to discuss that it’s hard to decide where to start.

Fans of the band who have grown to love the trio’s unique sound of interesting guitar riffs, progressive basswork and Beatle-esque vocal harmonies will be confused from the word go. Musically, the songs on Black Like Sunday aren’t just bad, they’re boring and lacking any foresight or planning. There’s not a catchy riff or hook to be found anywhere.

Doug Pinnick, according to the band’s website, is 54 years old. That makes hearing songs like “Danger Zone” all the more embarassing. “Mom says she don’t understand, says I’m just a problem child, I’m always gettin’ into trouble, I hurt her all the time. But I don’t know who I am, and sometimes I don’t understand, we get in a lot of fights, then I’m on the street again.” Assuming Pinnick’s mother had him when she was 21, that would make Mrs. Pinnick 75 years old at this point — it’s time to throw the boy out, ma’am. “Rock Pile” reads like it was written by a bored junior high student in detention. “All of us rockers, keep pushing on. We rise, then we fall. No one stays on top forever, what goes up must come down.” Even “Dreams”, one of the heavier songs on the disc, has this earth shattering revelation; “Dreams do come true, yeaaaaaaah yeaaaaaah.” Thank you, Kermit.

The icing on the cake is the disc’s production. At best, it sounds like an old cassette tape. Much of the vocals have that “I’m singing through a cheap mic” effect. Maybe they were. The drums have no punch at all, and the guitars aren’t the wall of sound I’m used to hearing from the King’s.

A few of the songs on the disc, like “Bad Luck”, show minor hints of what was to come from the band. The rest of the song is a jumbled mess of bad songs with bad production. “Save Us”, the last song on the disc, and a punk influenced track that contains a solo so bad that I wondered if someone didn’t get injured while recording it. Instead of words of wisdom, the band leaves us with a minute of “Na na na na, hey hey hey hey.” Change that to “No no no no, way way way way,” and you’ve summed up my reaction.

Everytime I sit down to write my big “Rock is Dead” article that every journalist feels compelled to write once a year, a band comes along, kicks me in the teeth, and reminds me that rock is very much alive and well. I’d like to thank Killswitch Engage for that kick to the choppers. I’ve listened to this album twice in a row and I’m so excited that I’m dying to call all my friends and tell them about this disc. Unfortunately, it’s 2AM.

With nods toward Slayer, Pro-Pain, and Pantera, Killswitch Engage tears through Alive Or Just Breathing and takes no prisoners. When they’re not heavy, they’re heavy — when they are heavy, they’re heavier.

Killswitch Engage’s songs are built on semi-complex structures, with lots of tempo changes and very interesting and catchy rhythms. They’re no Meshuggah, but the overall sound is a lot more complex than most bands out there today. That’s not meant to make these guys sound like progressive metal, because they’re not — this is straight forward, balls to the wall rock. Punchy kick drums and crunchy palm-muted guitars make no mistake about this band’s intentions – THEY WILL ROCK YOU!

I’m sorry for all the cliches. I don’t quite know what to say, except that I’m pretty pissed off that no one has told me about this band sooner. Anyone who knows me and has heard this band should have said, “Flack, you’ve GOTTA check out Killswitch Engage!” Poop on you for not doing so.

The vocals on Alive Or Just Breathing are mostly gutteral screaming, although they are occasionally backed up by clean vox which just add to the fullness of this band. Guitars are a fairly equal blend of palm muted crunches mixed with open, melodic riffs. The bass is mixed in pretty close to the drums so it’s a bit tough to discern it as a seperate instrument, but that’s how this style of music is normally mixed. In “Self Revolution”, a guitarless moment confirms that the bass is indeed present and just as complex as the rest of the instruments. The drums, a significant ingredient in this style of music, are top notch. Beats stop and start on a dime, go from zero to 60 to zero several times, and often change from a groove to a blast beat seamlessly.

These guys mix it up in an old school Vision Of Disorder type of way. For example, “Self Revolution” begins with a pretty heavy groove. More guitars fall into the mix, more noise comes in, and just when you get the overall feel of the song … suddenly the bottom drops out, and the riff turns into almost an 80’s style thrash riff. The chorus brings in big, airy open guitar chords and some clean vocals, only to quickly morph into a Slayer-esque power crunch guitar assault with (singer) screaming over it. After another clean chorus, we’re back to the original, galloping riff, followed shortly by a double bass kick drum attack near the end of the tune. This all happens within three minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your arms and legs inside the coaster for the duration of the ride.

A few of the songs, “My Last Serenade” and “Just Barely Breathing” for example, begin softly to trick you — but AHA! the trick is on you, for the songs still rock! It just takes them a few moments to get rolling. Many of the songs have that whole “heavy verse/clean chorus” thing going on, but KSE do it better and more seamlessly than most bands are able to (see: Korn, Sevendust, etc). They also don’t do it exclusively like those bands — you might hear some screams in the chorus, or some clean vocals in the versus. I know, they’re just crazy like that.

I don’t know how many more positive things I can say about this CD without sounding like I have some Killswitch cock in my mouth so I’ll stop here. Needless to say, I liked the album. Killswitch Engage is just what I needed to hear after sifting through this pile of crap sitting on my desk and hard drive.

Rock is not dead. I recant.

01. Numbered Days
02. Self Revolution
03. Fixation On The Darkness
04. My Last Serenade
05. Life To Lifeless
06. Just Barely Breathing
07. To The Sons Of Man
08. Temple From The Within
09. The Element Of One
10. Vide Infra
11. Without A Name
12. Rise Inside

Iron Savior’s latest release, Condition Red, is probably the best album I’ve ever given a mediocre review to. It reminds me of the time I went to the Grand Canyon. Two days of driving, and when we finally got there, the only thing I said was, “it’s a hole”. And it was. A tremendous hole. A big hole. Probably the biggest hole on the Earth. One of the seven natural wonders of the world. And in two minutes, I was bored and ready to go to a mall.

In the power/speed metal genre, Iron Savior is definitely one of the best bands I have ever heard –maybe even on a Grand Canyon scale. “Titans Of Our Time”, the first track on the disc, kicks in with a rapid fire double bass attack that doesn’t stop until the song ends four minutes later. The guitarists employ every trick in the book, from amazingly complex and fast solos to sailing riffs and scales. The bass lies right where it’s supposed to and somehow manages to keep up with the frantic pace and hold this rocket ship together. The vocals are a “clean” style, but vocalist Sielck has just a hint of gravel in his voice to save it from sounding like an operatic performance.

The lyrics are … a cross between fantasy and sci-fi, and certainly goofy. There are songs about saving mankind from “something malicious”, the Protector, and of course the “battle cry being screamed on the way to the Galactic War”. Uh huh. Fans of the genre will probably not be surprised to hear songs about warriors, “Mindfeeders”, and “riding the wind on a thunderbird”, but outsiders will most likely just snicker (at least) at most of the lyrics.

Iron Savior is from Germany, and I hope there’s a bigger market over there for this kind of music than there is in the States. These guys should be given fuckin’ medals for how tight they perform, but even the best power metal band in the world is still only a power metal band. Make no mistake though, these guys could probably teach 99% of the bands out there something about their instruments. Except Lord K, of course.

Nu metal kids will be confused by the lack of a DJ. death metal and black metal fans may relate to the subject matter (ancient warriors) but will be repelled by the harmonies and musical talent. There’s no rapping — the disc containts a lot of what they used to call “singing”. As many of my reviews end, fans of 80s style Iron Maiden or Judas Priest will love this album. If you think wearing a leather vest with no shirt under it is “pretty cool” or wish that bullet belts and wristbands were back in style, you will probably build a friggin’ Iron Savior shrine in your house after hearing this disc. Even haters of the genre will not be able to dispute the sheer talent and musicianship of these guys.

01. Titans of Our Time
02. Protector
03. Ironbound
04. Condition Red
05. Warrior
06. Mindfeeder
07. Walls of Fire
08. Tales of the Bold
09. I Will Be There
10. No Heros
11. Paradies
12. Thunderbird
13. Crazy

I’ll throw it out — Edward the Great is the greatest Iron Maiden disc ever.

Why? Because this is the best of the best baby, the cream of the crop. And unlike some other bands’ half-assed “best of” discs, which are padded with rare demos or other filler pulled out from under the artist’s bed, here you have sixteen classic Maiden tunes which have been remastered and paraded in front of you like models at some sort of heavy metal fashion show. Although Edward the Great was released at the same time as Eddie’s Archive (the six-disc box set consisting of BBC Archives, Beast Over Hammersmith, and The Best Of The B-Sides), don’t let that mislead you. The two albums are two totally separate releases, with no common tracks between them.

If you’re not familiar with Iron Maiden then this is the CD for you, as it’s basically a crash-course in Maiden’s 25 year history. “Run to the Hills”, “The Number of the Beast”, “Flight of Icarus”, “The Trooper” … and those are just the first four tracks on the disc! I would never call myself a huge Maiden fan, but on the way to dinner last night, you can bet your ass I was belting out some choruses on the freeway. “RUUUN TOOO THAAA HILLSSSS … RUUUN FOOOR YOOOOUR LIIIIIIIIIIFE …”

But it doesn’t stop there. After leaving behind the sing-a-long “Wasted Years”, listeners are plunged headfirst into Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son era. “Can I Play with Madness,” “The Evil That Men Do,” and “The Clairvoyant” had me reliving my youth. I could hardly resist the temptation to pull out an ink pen and scrawl “Eddie Lives” on my pants, or head to the flea market to get an Iron Maiden patch for my jean jacket (in retrospect, I don’t think I even HAVE a jean jacket anymore).

Nu-metal fans will appreciate “Infinite Dreams”, since this is where Papa Roach stole the guitar riff for “Last Resort” from. After hearing this track though, there will be no doubt as to who the true innovators were. After banging out two more semi-classics Maiden tracks, the album takes a brief nose dive into the “Blaze Bayley” years — yes, those unfortunate years when Dickinson left the band, handing the vocal duties over to Bayley (formerly of Wolfsbane). Bayley does what he can to carry the group along, but I ended up skipping those two tracks anyway. Bayley’s okay, but let’s face it, he’s no Bruce Dickinson (and who is?). It’s not like saying you like the Sammy Hagar Van Halen era; it’s like saying the Gary Cherone years were your favorite. (Incidentally, Paul Di’Anno, the original vocalist for Iron Maiden, doesn’t even make an appearance on the disc.) Fortunately, the disc swings back and ends on a bang with “Fear of the Dark” from their 2001 Rock In Rio show. The last track proves that, yes, there are still SOME bands that sound as good live as they do in the studio.

The CD comes with a very nice booklet, complete with a few pictures of the band, complete lyrics for all the tracks, and an introduction by Steve Harris. The theme of “Edward the Great” is carried throughout the booklet with black and gold pages, and a killer new picture of Eddie. Sitting in his throne with royal scepter in hand and wrapped in king’s robes, Eddie is surrounded by some mean lookin’ dogs, complete with growling teeth and glowing red eyes. The entire painting is a throwback to the old days of rock.

I remember being slightly frustrated with Motley Crue’s Decade of Decadence, because it teased me just enough with the old songs to make me want to break out all the old albums again. In that respect, long time fans of the band may grow tired of this disc quickly as they surely already know and love all these songs. I will, however, strongly recommend this CD to people who are either non-Maiden fans, or casual Maiden fans. If you’ve been curious about Iron Maiden, but didn’t know where to start listening, this disc is the answer. Casual Maiden fans (such as myself) will recognize the majority of these tracks from MTV. With such a wide selection of songs from different eras, you can use this CD as a sort of “time line” to determine which era of Maiden tunes you like the best, and hone in on those albums if you want more.

And, oh yes, after hearing this, you WILL want more. All hail Eddie!

01. Run To The Hills
02. The Number Of The Beast
03. Flight Of Icarus
04. The Trooper
05. 2 Minutes to Midnight
06. Wasted Years
07. Can I Play with Madness
08. The Evil That Men Do
09. The Clairvoyant
10. Infinite Dreams
11. Holy Smoke
12. Bring Your Daughterto The Slaughter
13. Man On The Edge
14. Futureal
15. The Wicker Man
16. Fear Of The Dark (Live in Rio)

The fact that Iron Maiden has been together for twenty-five years now is astounding. That’s older than half of the staff members here at Review to a Kill. Hell, the same year Iron Maiden formed, Jimmy Carter became president. Star Wars was released. Elvis died. Convicted murdered Gary Gilmore was executed in Utah… by a firing squad. 1977 was a long time ago folks, which explains why the track listing to this box set is longer than some of our reviews.

Eddie’s Archive is just that – a volume of collectibles to complete true Iron Maiden fans’ collections. From live performances to rare B-sides, this would truly be the icing on your Iron Maiden cake, whatever an “Iron Maiden cake” means.

This volume of recordings comes delivered in a limited edition silver Eddie casket. There’s also a crystal Eddie Head shot glass and a copy of the Iron Maiden family tree, printed on a parchment scroll and rolled up in an Eddie ring. Cool stuff, but not free stuff — with a $99 list price, these extras aren’t gifts. Still, the price is very reasonable for collectors, and the music alone is worth the price to collectors.

As I mentioned in my sister review for Edward the Great – The Greatest Hits, these two releases do not share any common recordings, despite the fact that they were both released on the same day. By looking at the contents and price tags, you can tell the two packages have two separate intended audiences. While the greatest hits package is great for new Iron Maiden fans, this box set is intended for the fan that has everything (or HAD everything), and wants more.

The six discs making up Eddie’s Archive are split into three, double disc packages. The first of which, entitled “BBC Archives,” includes music recorded “between 1979 and 1988 for the BBC’s Friday Rock Show.” The shows from 1979 and 1980 feature original vocalist Paul Di’Anno (who doesn’t appear at all on the greatest hits disc). The 1982 recordings document Bruce Dickinson’s arrival into the band, and the 1988 tracks from the Monsters of Rock Donington festival document the largest crowd ever played too. Not only are the tracks all classics, but the shows are symbolic as well.

The second two disc collection are the “Beast over Hammersmith” recordings, considered by many to be the “show that put Iron Maiden on the map”. I didn’t know that, but their press release says it did, and I’ll take their word for it. By listening to these two discs back to back, you can get somewhat of an idea what it was like to sit in the crowd and see one of the greatest metal bands of all time crank out perfection. This show covers most of their good material, and was released before Seventh Son of a Seventh Son came out so don’t look for those tracks here.

The third set of discs are titled “The Best of the B-Sides,” and contain a lot of rare, hard to find, and unreleased Maiden material. The liner notes with this set of CDs give a little background on each song, telling you the whens and wheres and what single or compilation it appeared on. All the B-sides are unique tracks that never appeared on albums, so if you never bought an Iron Maiden single, there’s a lot of material here for you to go through.

As I stated before, Eddie’s Archive is the ultimate collectable for Maiden fans. Hardcore and longtime fans who need to own “it all” should pick up this box set this Christmas. It’s a great collection that shows Iron Maiden off in it’s best light — live, on stage. It’s a lot of great material, but overkill for the average Joe. Casual fans or the uninitiated should probably stick to the greatest hits package.

CD One – BBC Archives
Disc One
Friday Rock Show Session 1979
01. Iron Maiden
02. Running Free
03. Transylvania
04. Sanctuary
Reading Festival 1982
01. Wrathchild
02. Run To The Hills
03. Children Of The Damned
04. The Number of The Beast
05. 22 Acacia Avenue
06. Transylvania
07. The Prisoner
08. Hallowed Be Thy Name
09. Phantom Of The Opera
10. Iron Maiden
Disc Two
Reading Festival 1980
01. Prowler
02. Remember Tomorrow
03. Killers
04. Running Free
05. Transylvania
06. Iron Maiden
Monsters Of Rock Festival Donington 1988
01. Moonchild
02. Wrathchild
03. Infinite Dreams
04. The Trooper
05. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
06. The Number Of The Beast
07. Hallowed Be Thy Name
08. Iron Maiden

CD Two – Beast over Hammersmith
Disc Three
01. Murders In The Rue Morgue
02. Wrathchild
03. Run To The Hills
04. Children Of The Damned
05. The Number of The Beast
06. Another Life
07. Killers
08. 22 Acacia Avenue
09. Total Eclipse
Disc Four
01. Transylvania
02. The Prisoner
03. Hallowed Be Thy Name
04. Phantom Of The Opera
05. Iron Maiden
06. Sanctuary
07. Drifter
08. Running Free
09. Prowler

CD Three – Best of the B-Sides
Disc Five
01. Burning Ambition
02. Drifter – Live
03. Invasion
04. Remember Tomorrow – Live
05. I’ve Got The Fire
06. Cross-Eyed Mary
07. Rainbow’s Gold
08. King Of Twilight
09. Reach Out
10. That Girl
11. Juanita
12. The Sheriff Of Huddersfield
13. Black Bart Blues
14. Prowler ’88
15. Charlotte The Harlot ’88
Disc Six
01. All In Your Mind
02. Kill Me Ce Soir
03. I’m a Mover
04. Communication Breakdown
05. Nodding Donkey Blues
06. Space Station No.5
07. I Can’t See My Feelings
08. Roll Over Vic Vella
09. Justice of The Peace
10. Judgement Day
11. My Generation
12. Doctor Doctor
13. Blood On The Worlds Hands- Live
14. The Aftermath-Live
15. Futureal – Live
16. Wasted Years ’99 – Live

Mention the band Black Sabbath, and people instantly think of Ozzy. And yet, while the average teenager doesn’t know all the words to “Iron Man,” even Beavis and Butthead could belt out “duh,duh,duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, duh, duh duh.” Tommy Iommi, the man that spawned a million air guitar Gods and wrote riffs that are as heavy now as they were over 30 years ago is back with a self-titled release, Iommi.

The formula for an album like this is simple, in theory. Step A, name the band after yourself and maintain control of ever step of the process (see: Danzig). Step B, since you don’t sing, do collaborations with everyone who might possibly have street cred, and connect you with the younger generation (see: Santana). But, in the end, does Iommi pull it off?

The surprising answer is, yes! Iommi has picked an interesting group of people to work with, all of whom should get up every morning and thank him personally for creating their careers and letting them suckle off of Sabbath’s success the last 30 years. Guest vocalists on the album include Henry Rollins, Skin, Dave Grohl, Phil Anselmo, Serj Tankian, Billy Corgan, Ian Astbury, Peter Steele, Billy Idol, and the “Oz” man himself. The musician’s roster is also a who’s who of people who probably learned to play their instruments as teenagers by wearing out their Sabbath record collection.

The guitar work (that’s what this is all about, right?) is great. It’s not too flashy, which is perfect – 100mph solos and overtracking ruins doom music. The solos that are there are tasteful and blend right in. I didn’t get the feeling that these were “songs written around solos,” but rather complete songs. The songs do show off Iommi’s style, usually with some heavy chords in the foreground and a bit of lead work just in the background.

Iommi makes the transfer pretty smoothly between old rock guy and new rock guy. Some of the songs, like “Time is Mine” (with Phil Anselmo) sound like they could have come straight off of Paranoid. The album is pretty evenly divided between older sounding doom’ish type songs, and newer, riff based rockers. “Black Oblivion,” featuring Billy Corgan, is a great riff based rock song. Most of the songs seem to start out with some sort of synthetic drum loops, and each time I was afraid that Iommi was going to go for a Ministry or Nine Inch Nails type of thing, but they all quickly head back to the realm of rock before embarassing anyone.

When I finally got to track nine, “Who’s Fooling Who,” featuring Ozzy on vocals, I forgot I was listening to Iommi – this is as close to Black Sabbath as you’re going to get these days. Hell, any of these songs could have appeared on a Sabbath album. I won’t say that every song on this disc could have been another “War Pigs,” but they’re all enjoyable and I didn’t hate any of them.

If you’re looking for a fix of “new” Black Sabbath tunes, pick this disc up. It’s a tasteful combination of old and new. Classic doom riffs, tight drums, and some new vocal talents joining the party. Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s nineteen-sixty-nine.

01. Laughing Man (In The Devil Mask)
02. Meat
03. Goodbye Lament
04. Time Is Mine
05. Patterns
06. Black Oblivion
07. Flame On
08. Just Say No To Love
09. Who’s Fooling Who
10. Into The Night