It is getting on time to launch the Iron Maiden live album series. I will kick it off on September 21st, or maybe the 22nd, I haven’t quite decided yet. I’m putting it off just a hair so that it’ll wrap up right before the holiday season toward the end of the year.
This series will be rundowns of the 13 official live albums. I’ve already covered most of the live EP stuff in my singles series, and bootlegs will be a separate thing I do a ways down the road. I’m not going to discuss the video stuff that’s been released, those have other content with them and I’ll give them their own series someday. This will only cover the audio albums, some of which don’t have accompanying video releases.
I have decided to go in order of album release rather than the year of the tour. It’s far easier to keep track of that way, though it does present a few odd issues with the Maiden England album. I chose to stick with the list I have and slot that one in on its 2013 release date even though both the video and CD had far earlier releases. I’ll go over that more on the actual post.
I’ve had almost all of these in my collection for a while, I’m only missing one. But I also haven’t listened to many of them in a long time so it was fun to go back through these. While a few don’t have sterling reputations I honestly wasn’t put off by listening to any of these. Though the Maiden live album machine didn’t truly get going until the reunion era when we almost have one from each album, it is nice to go over the stuff from different points in the band’s career. It does almost exclusively feature Bruce Dickinson on vocals, there is one album that has a bit of Paul Di’Anno stuff but that’s it for the other singers. Blaze Bayley never got an official live album and I would suspect there probably won’t be one, though I’d personally like to have one.
Next week I’ll have another post about Maiden live albums, that one will be a “wish list” of gigs I’d like to see released as well as a discussion about the Maiden live album process, which does generally get in the way of having a lot more live material. Then after I wrap this series up I’ll do a ranking that should wrap up the year.
My plan after that is to do a song ranking. That’s going to be a pain and I haven’t really got much into it yet so I don’t know exactly when it will kick off but it should get going sometime in early 2024. Other Maiden series will follow that, there is more than enough to talk about with this band who is only outpaced in marketing by the almighty Kiss.
That’s about enough to set the table for this series. Next week is the wishlist, then the proper series kicks off a week later. Until then, and during then and after then, up the irons.
The Iron Maiden Live Album Series
Live After Death
A Real Live One
A Real Dead One
Live At Donnington
Rock In Rio
BBC Archives
Beast Over Hammersmith
Death On The Road
Flight 666
En Vivo!
Maiden England ’88
The Book Of Souls – Live Chapter
Nights Of The Dead – Legacy Of The Beast Live In Mexico City
This week I’m on to one I’ve meant to talk about for a while – what today remains the most recent studio album from Mötley Crüe. This album occupies a weird spot in the catalog – it was a long-awaited comeback after 8 years of no albums and also released in the same year as 3 other long-awaited comeback albums from legacy rock acts. This one is equal parts gushed over and glossed over and divides fan opinion sharply at times.
Mötley Crüe – Saints Of Los Angeles
Released June 24, 2008 via Mötley Records
My Favorite Tracks – Saints Of Los Angeles, White Trash Circus, Goin’ Out Swingin’
Crüe had not released a full album since 2000’s New Tattoo, a record that did not feature drummer Tommy Lee. SOLA was the first full band action since 1997’s Generation Swine. The band had been on ice for a bit in the early 00’s but then were able to pull off a highly-publicized “reunion” despite only being gone for a few years. The tours with the original four were big hits and the band eventually got together to record this new album.
When I say “the band” got together, what I mean to say is that Nikki Sixx got together with Sixx AM guitarist DJ Ashba, Sixx AM singer James Michael and longtime Aerosmith collaborator Marti Frederiksen to make the new Mötley Crüe album. This grouping is credited with writing every song on the album, while Mick Mars has credits on 7 of the tracks. Neither Vince Neil or Tommy Lee appear in any songwriting capacity. I do presume that a few of the names in the songwriting list might also appear in audio form on the album to a degree, but again I don’t know.
As for who actually played on the record, well, there’s no telling. Recent news and gossip involving the ugly Mick Mars split indicates that a lot of people who aren’t on the Crüe roster have played on the albums. I don’t know who, when or where and I’m not going to bother guessing since the whole affair is pretty gross and hard to track the accuracy of.
The album has a lot of songs, with 13 tracks coming in at 44 minutes. The album has been reissued a handful of times since 2008 but there are no bonus tracks or deluxe versions to concern one’s self with, at least to my knowledge.
L.A.M.F.
This is an intro piece that sets the stage for the music to come. This is a pretty cool little deal, it highlights the issue of Los Angeles with scores of people flocking there to hit it big in acting or whatever, but 4 out of 100,000 actually making it. This sets a gritty tone early, Mötley Crüe will not simply be writing love letters to their beloved City of Angels.
Face Down In The Dirt
The first song proper is a simple yet very hard-hitting banger that covers the theme of not wanting to be a worker drone in society. It might seem a bit odd for a band who’d been successful for 27 years or so to write a song like this but the song works 100%, so there’s nothing really to argue with here.
What’s It Gonna Take
This one goes back to the band’s early days before they were successful, talking about living with girls and being rejected by record labels. It’s a pretty cool song and it’s nice to look back for a minute on those early days before Crüe broke out and helped set the table for 1980’s music.
Down At The Whiskey
This one is also an early nostalgia trip, obviously being about days at the famed Whiskey club in L.A. At this point the album is solid, though these sorts of “glory days” tracks are setting the table for an ok but unspectacular album. It could use a real kick in the ass to get it to the next level.
Saints Of Los Angeles
It didn’t take long, welcome to the next level.
The title track is a gritty, sleazy look at Los Angeles and the scene. This doesn’t “tell a story” so much as set the table for an experience in the seedier side of L.A. This song nails the feel of that and is just a massive, ass-kicking track. Gang vocals on the chorus are provided by a number of guests, including Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach, Josh Todd from Buckcherry, the aforementioned James Michael, and Chris Brown from Trapt. (Yes, the dude from Trapt is the same guy who turned Trapt’s social media account into his personal litter box a few years back)
Mutherfucker Of The Year
It’s a great song and also a new award at work. This one is all attitude, Mötley Crüe have been one of the bands with an actual reputation big and, at times vile enough to live up to the moniker. It is almost like a true theme song for them.
The Animal In Me
This one kicks the pace down a notch, it’s not a true ballad but it dances on that line a little bit. It’s a song about rough sex, kinky stuff, whatever. This one is pretty run of the mill, not my favorite by any stretch.
Welcome To The Machine
Here the pace ramps back up for a tune presumably about being a part of the record industry. It’s a bit ironic from Mötley Crüe, since they were one of a very few bands who were able to take control of their old album masters and gain rights almost no other artist has. But this song isn’t that deep, it’s just venting about the disposable nature of artists once they’re done, all just to make some shareholders rich.
Just Another Psycho
This one is a mid-paced affair that is simply about being nuts. This feels like a bit of a filler track but it’s listenable.
Chicks = Trouble
The fun factor ramps up big time here with this crazy song about a gold-digging woman spending the guy’s money. I’ve never had to deal with this problem because I’ve never really had money, but this song is really fun to play.
This Ain’t A Love Song
Another one that’s a whole lot of sleazy fun, it’s all about hooking up with a good time gal. This is the kind of song Crüe probably would have liked to write back in the ’80’s but it might not have gone over that well. 20 years later the climate was far more indifferent to this stuff so here it is, warts and all.
White Trash Circus
Heading toward the end and the hits keep coming. This is another sleazy song simply about how messed up the band has been over the years, and these guys have quite the stack of tales to tell about their misgivings and transgressions. One line mentions how they’ll never go away and that has held true, even when they themselves said they were going away.
Goin’ Out Swingin’
The closer is a total banger of a song. This hits hard and fast and doesn’t let up and is a great finale for the album. This one sets the band’s attitude of keeping at it until the bitter end, whenever that end might actually be.
Saints Of Los Angeles was an initial success for Mötley Crüe. The album hit the US Billboard charts at number 4 and sold 100,000 copies in its first week. It also charted in several other countries, pulling down a gold certification in Canada. Sales did not continue long after that first week, leading several in the band to become disillusioned by what they considered flat sales. Someone maybe should have briefed them on how album sales were going in general in 2008, I don’t know.
The album had a good reception from fans, though there is certainly divided opinion on it. Many did crow about the involvement of the Sixx AM members, feeling that this Mötley Crüe record is just a Sixx AM album. My take on it is this – if this is what the Crüe sounds like with DJ Ashba and James Michael involved, then write more Crüe albums with Ashba and Michael.
In the end this one holds its own pretty well in the Mötley Crüe catalog. I ranked it number 4 back when I did the Crüe album ranking. I feel like SOLA is the band truly realized with the darker and uncensored themes which they probably couldn’t have gotten away with in the ’80’s.
2008 was a year when rock heavyweights Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and AC/DC all released long-awaited “comeback” albums and it’s possible Mötley Crüe got a bit lost in the shuffle, but it’s also possible that this one did a better job. (Except for AC/DC, that album was excellent) We don’t know if there will actually be another Crüe album, they apparently don’t have a full album’s worth of material yet with new guitarist John 5. If this is the last actual full-length, well I feel like they got it right in the finale. If there is more material to come, I think there is a hard road to traverse to equal or better this one.
It was inevitable – I would someday write about the first Metallica album, as I’m pretty well assured to write about them all at some point. Today is the day for the first one.
Metallica – Kill ‘Em All
Released July 25, 1983 via Megaforce Records
My Favorite Tracks – The Four Horsemen, Jump In The Fire, Whiplash
There is a lot of history behind the rise of Metallica, and that can be accessed in any number of interviews, videos and books so I’ll spare a lot of it here. Essential to this album – A Metallica line-up of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine went cross-country from San Francisco to New York to record this album. Mustaine was let go from the band in New York and replaced by Kirk Hammett in what is probably the most discussed line-up change in heavy metal history.
Megaforce Records founder Jon Zazula (Jonny Z) had put up every dime he had to finance the recording, which is why Metallica hauled ass that far to record in the first place, as Metal Blade Records head Brian Slagel couldn’t quite afford the costs. After necessary re-mixing, Jonny Z was totally out on his ass financially and it took awhile for him to find distribution for this album. I guess many record label execs wanted “Passed on Metallica” as a line item on their resumes.
Metallica wanted to call the album Metal Up Your Ass but Jonny Z convinced them to rename it for marketability purposes, thus Kill Em’ All was born. Once Metallica’s stock began to rise they sold plenty of Metal Up Your Ass t-shirts as well as copies of Kill ‘Em All.
Kill ‘Em All is a fairly hefty album with 10 songs coming in at 51 minutes. There are now several other versions around but I’ll handle the base version today, as I typically do. Dave Mustaine is credited on four songs, he would attest to having been involved with more in what is heavy metal’s biggest argument ever. All I know is that I was about to enter kindergarten when they recorded this and I have no clue who did what.
Hit The Lights
The opener comes in with a grand bit of noise and then kicks into a whole lot more noise. The lyrics are simply a verbal account of what the song and Metallica’s first album will do, which is to play loud, fast and get the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Mission accomplished.
Hit The Lights had a few other versions before the album release so this song was out there a bit. This was a song James Hetfield brought to the band from his prior band, he and Lars re-worked the tune for Metallica.
The Four Horsemen
The next track is one of Mustaine’s contributions and a song he originally brought in. His old version was called Mechanix and had much different lyrical themes. For post-Mustaine Metallica, the band reworked the song into a tale of the riders of the Apocalypse. This is a lengthy track, showing off early that Metallica were unafraid to challenge the conventional length of songs. And the riffs here are totally New Wave Of British Heavy Metal on steroids, showcasing the direct influence of one metal movement on another.
Motorbreath
This is an all-out banger in both music and lyrics. Not subtle at all, this one pounds the point home from start to finish. It’s all about living fast and hard, the inspiration for and rallying cry of this new form of heavy metal back in its infancy. It would seem as though Metallica pulled the title as tribute to their massive influence Motörhead, though band members have said this was coincidental as it relates to this song.
Jump In The Fire
This was another song Dave Mustaine brought into Metallica. It was originally a song about sex, but after Mustaine left it was re-written to be about being damned to Hell and literally “jumping into the fire.” This one really shows off how Metallica could deftly walk the line between savage heaviness and catchy songwriting – sure this is super heavy, but those riffs are attention-grabbing.
Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)
This is a Cliff Burton bass solo. It’s not some typical bass work either – this is effect-laden and shows Cliff using the instrument like a guitar. Burton was a massive part of Metallica’s early legend and remains a mythical figure. Burton played this a lot in his early days and it was what first drew attention from Lars and James.
Whiplash
Celebrated music journalist Mick Wall wrote in his Enter Night: A Biography On Metallica that Whiplash was the moment thrash metal was introduced to the world. He’s totally correct, this is total breakneck stuff that set the template for heavy metal’s 1980’s course. This was also the first single released from the album. Lars has cited Venom as a primary influence for the speed of this song.
Phantom Lord
This is another song that shows off the NWOBHM influence mixed with Metallica’s early savagery. It is a menacing tale of a warmongering tyrant, something that would become a thrash trope over the years. This is another one credited to Dave Mustaine.
No Remorse
This one hangs out mid-tempo for most of its run, the almost marching feel of the rhythm compliments the lyrics about excelling on the battlefield without feeling remorse or regret for one’s actions. In the last few minutes this song explodes out of its mid-paced shell and goes off the rails for a crazy finale.
Seek And Destroy
This extended cut would become a venerable classic in Metallica’s huge live catalog. This one keeps it pretty simple, with a riff that jumps out and grabs hold as the lyrics paint a tale of terrorizing whatever unlucky souls happen to be out at night. It is Metallica’s third most-played song with nearly 1,600 live airings, and assuredly more to come.
Metal Militia
The closer is another thrash monster that celebrates the leather and denim clad legions found at the early thrash shows. This army would grow to millions as the ’80’s went on and Metallica ascended to the kings of the heavy metal mountain.
Kill ‘Em All got the attention of music critics on release, who loved the heavy yet still somewhat refined sound of Metallica’s delivery. Commercially the album sold better than expected out of the gate, allowing Megaforce Records to get more solid financial footing and quickly spreading the word about Metallica. As Metallica gained in stature, Kill ‘Em All was along for the sales ride, eventually breaking 5 million copies worldwide, with 4.5 of those being in the US.
This album is more raw than the band’s offerings afterward, and of course Metallica would conquer the world with a sound more trimmed down from the thrash period of the ’80’s. But this record is a massive landmark in the development of heavy metal. While the mainstream of the 1980’s would be known for hairspray and ballads, Metallica would be the flag-bearers for a far heavier version of metal that spawned countless scenes and offshoots in the decades since. It was ok to play as heavy and fast as you could or wanted, there was an audience for it.
When someone asks “where did stoner metal start?” it can be a tough question to answer without the proper knowledge. After this post, everyone will be able to answer the question with no problem.
Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality
Released August 1971 via Vertigo Records
My Favorite Tracks – Children Of The Grave, Into The Void, Lord Of This World
Black Sabbath had recorded their first two albums in rapid fashion, not having time to truly get used to being in a studio. For their third go-round they were not on tour and had the proper amount of time to focus on their work.
One aspect of this was Tony Iommi messing with his guitar sound, though out of practical reasons. Iommi tuned down his guitar on a handful of songs (the same three listed as my favorite tracks, no less) in order to play more comfortably. He had suffered an industrial accident years before that took a few of his fingertips and it was painful to play some things, so he downtuned for the ease of play. This would lead to a heavier sound, which would of course inspire many future generations to tune guitars down and create heavy metal of all styles. Geezer Butler would also tune down his bass to match Iommi, while Ozzy Osbourne would – well, continue to sing in his higher register as always.
Master Of Reality is a short album, featuring 8 tracks at a runtime of 34 minutes. Note that old US pressings of the album list more tracks, the songs Haunting and Deathmask are listed tracks. But these are actually just snippets of Children Of The Grave and Solitude broken off and divided into separate songs, there was no actual bonus content on the US pressings. The track listings and actual song sequences are screwed up on old US editions, it was a funny way to pretend there was more content on the lean record. As we’ll see, this album didn’t need any bloat to succeed.
Sweet Leaf
It’s only fitting that the birth of stoner metal album opens with a love letter to marijuana. Even the opening features a coughing fit Tony Iommi was caught in after taking a hit some prime stuff. But the song is no cheap gimmick – this is a fantastic jam. The main riff is simple and catchy and the music hits hard as Ozzy sings praises to the leaf. And the solo/jam section in the middle of the song is off the rails and fantastic, it was stuff like this that really put early Sabbath over the top. These days Sweet Leaf is legal to hear and consume in 38 of the 50 US states.
After Forever
This one has a pretty bright and upbeat riff though still pounds nicely with the Sabbath heaviness. The song is about religion, but not from the point of view many would think Black Sabbath would write from. This is actually pro-God song. While it might seem this was written in direct response to the accusations of Satanism that loomed over Sabbath, Geezer Butler has stated that he wrote it about the issues plaguing Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Religion was the catalyst behind the decades of troubles in this area and this is Butler’s look at that. This is also where the Dutch power metal band After Forever got their name.
Embryo
Here is a 28 second instrumental guitar piece. Not much to really dig into here. It is kind of funny that this song has a bit over 40,000 streams on Spotify while every other song has at least 14 million and one has over 100 million. This poor little guy just sits there.
Children Of The Grave
Speaking of that song with over 100 million streams, here we are. This was the lone single released from this record and while the song did not do anything on the charts it has become an immortal part of the Sabbath legacy.
This features a dark and pummeling riff that twists and turns though still remains pretty simple in a marching-like rhythm. The lyrics take another anti-war stance that the band had explored previously, this time it is an alarming outlook about the prospects of nuclear destruction. Should humanity not get its shit together, then the children now would become the children of the grave. We’re still here so I guess it didn’t happen, but things don’t necessarily look better.
Children Of The Grave is considered one of Black Sabbath’s greatest songs. It has been covered extensively by acts of many genres and was one Ozzy frequently played during his solo tours. This was even darker and more twisted than prior Sabbath outings and showcased just how hard metal could go.
Orchid
This is another instrumental piece, this time with Iommi on an acoustic guitar. This gets a little more room to air out at 1:30 and is a nice interlude to the grim heaviness of the rest of the record.
Lord Of This World
Up next is a wicked track full of heavy metal destruction. Iommi and Butler are slamming it out on their downtuned instruments along with Bill Ward’s pounding drums. This one is actually all about Satan, the great villain that Sabbath were accused of worshiping. Here the lyrics depict a wicked world full of corrupt people who eventually fall under the dominion of Satan, fulfilling some versions of Christian prophecy. It’s easy to hear the influence on countless future metal bands from this one.
Solitude
It’s now on to a slow tune, this one is very quiet and haunting. Tony Iommi not only loads up on guitar tracks but also plays flute and piano here, perhaps inspired by his super brief stint in Jethro Tull, I don’t know. This song is different from the pack but is still a high quality listen, very atmospheric and depressing stuff. It is simply about a break-up, which is what a lot of songs are about after all.
Into The Void
If you really want to know where stoner rock and sludge metal came from, play this last track. This is an outright banger that keeps the pace mostly down but remains as heavy as hell. Both Bill Ward and Ozzy had problems getting their parts down on this one, as recounted by Tony Iommi.
This song is about a guy in dystopian future, say probably 2023, fleeing Earth to find somewhere better to live. Sounds nice. The song was clearly a massive influence on heavy metal, just playing it will make that evident.
Master Of Reality was a success for Black Sabbath in many ways. The album went to number 5 in the UK and 8 in the US, and had several other top 10 showings through Europe, Canada and Australia. In the US the album went gold purely through advanced orders and wound up selling over 2 million copies.
Beyond the numbers, this album was hugely influential to many who would later reshape music. It has been cited as a primary influence to those in the grunge movement. It was also clearly impactful to the burgeoning heavy metal scene and is a big reason why Black Sabbath are considered the fathers of metal. And it would specifically inspire the coming “stoner rock” or “desert rock” movement of the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, which would include bands like Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Orange Goblin and a huge list of others. The legacy of Black Sabbath is etched into the heaviest of metal, and Master Of Reality is a huge part of why.
I’ve seen a fair few shows in my time but I’ve also missed many acts for whatever reasons. One act I had not seen live was Alice Cooper. It wasn’t for lack of opportunity – Alice has played extensively in this area the entire time I’ve been alive, it’s not like it was ever a chore to see him. I just never got around to doing so.
All that changed this past Tuesday, August 15. Alice has been touring with the Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard perpetual stadium tour and Alice has also been doing solo off-dates. My humble little village was lucky enough to land one of these shows and so now I’ve experienced the thrill of Alice Cooper live.
This show was at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall For The Performing Arts, a theater style venue on the campus of Missouri State University. I wrote about it previously when I recapped seeing John Mellencamp there. I decided to save a few bucks and take in the show from the upper balcony. While the lower two levels were nearly full, the upper portion had a fair few seats left. In my own row of 54, I was the only patron. It was kind of funny watching people in the full first 3 rows of this section jostle back and forth while I sat in peace. I was the highest person up for awhile but then a couple came and sat in the very top row, thus ruining my pointless brag about being the highest one up in the crowd. The view was still fine, though it was a steep haul getting to my seat. Here’s a pic of my view.
This was Alice playing all alone, no openers or anything. Alice has maintained a near-constant live line-up for the past decade or so, with the one exception being the brief departure and return of guitarist Nita Strauss last year. Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen join Nita on guitar, Chuck Garric handles bass and Glen Sobel has the drums.
I won’t bother trying to run down the entire setlist, because whoever from our show updated the list on setlist.fm did a piss poor job of it. I was familiar with all but two or three songs I heard so it’s not some big deal. This did feature something like 22 songs so it was a pretty jam-packed set. This was mostly a hits set, starting with massive classics like No More Mr. Nice Guy and I’m Eighteen. More of the obvious classics were played, like Billion Dollar Babies, Welcome To My Nightmare and Under My Wheels.
There was a fair bit of attention paid to Alice’s late ’80’s/early ’90’s period, as the Hey Stoopid album got three tracks in the set – the title track, Snakebite and Feed My Frankenstein. There was a huge Frankenstein that came out for a brief moment and for a second I was wondering what Eddie was doing there, but that’s the wrong show. Poison from Trash was included, as was Lost In America from The Last Temptation album.
The songs were rapid fire, one right after another. Alice was often changing garb in the very brief dark spots between songs. It’s pretty sad that a guy 30 years older than me can change clothes way faster than me but such is life. There were spots for a short drum solo and also a guitar showcase, mostly featuring Nita.
The stage set was something like a courthouse with two huge staircase things that band members used here and there. All of this would come into play later, as we got a bit of a mini-story with the last handful of songs. The Ballad Of Dwight Frye kicked off with Alice being straight-jacketed and eventually beheaded at the behest of his wife Sheryl and the band moved into I Love The Dead. But then Alice would escape, as the song Escaped kicked off. He seemed to be put away again, but there’s a solution for that – how do you get out of criminal charges? Get elected. (Ok that works most of the time, I guess) Elected ended the little story with Alice running for president, which he actually does every four years as a gag.
There was no long gap before the encore, as the band quickly shifted into School’s Out, which was an extended jam that also featured a portion of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall. Alice took time to introduce the band, his wife and himself. Nita honestly got the loudest reception of anyone, she has really staked a name for herself these past few years. The band then wound down School’s Out and that was it.
This was an amazing show, I’m very glad I finally got off my ass and went to see Alice Cooper. The crowd was very lively and into the show, it was impressive because I’ve seen some pretty lame ass crowds at Missouri shows in the past. But this all-ages group was very into Alice and was rocking the whole time. Alice Cooper has been at this for many, many years now and the guy still has it with no signs of slowing down.
I did snap a few pictures but from my bird’s nest view in the mostly dark my pics did not come out worth a damn. Thankfully my buddy Shawn was up far closer and got a few good ones, here’s one at the end of Elected.
It’s finally time – today I present my ranking of the Iron Maiden albums. This is one I sort of fussed over for a bit. I was disrupted in my original plan to do it when I started the blog because of the arrival of Senjutsu. Now that it’s had nearly two years to work itself into the system, I can get this out since it looks like it’ll probably be a bit before a new one. We’re also at the point where we can wonder how many “new ones” we’ll get, but I’d say at least one more is a safe bet.
This ranking comprises the 17 full-length studio albums. I’m not bothering with ranking EP’s and singles, that’s too much of a headache. I’ll provide some links at the bottom to my singles series and also my album cover ranking.
This will be a bit of a beefy boy, no way around that since there are 17 albums. I’m just gonna keep everything on one post for this one so it’s all in one place and easier to reference in the future. I’ll also include links where I’ve discussed an album prior, several of these have been Album of the Week before. That’s about all for the lead-up, so off to the ranking.
#17 – Virtual XI (1998)
The bottom of the barrel here is the band’s second album with singer Blaze Bayley. Never a heralded era of the band, this album exemplifies what’s wrong with that time period, and it’s not Blaze. The songs here are just kind of ghastly. Futureal is pretty good and The Clansman is a triumph. Beyond that, these songs don’t resonate. The Angel And The Gambler is a turd that should have been flushed rather than released, and many other songs on here feel like sort of jokey things or just scraps that were aired out. This album just doesn’t have much going for it.
#16 – No Prayer For The Dying (1990)
Up next is the first of the rather unhallowed ’90’s era. Adrian Smith had left and the band worked in a basic rock style rather than the epic stuff they had ended the ’80’s with. The songs here are fairly consistent in quality. It’s just one those albums with a very low ceiling, nothing happens on here that’s really great. It is cheesy and goofy, which isn’t a problem on its own but that’s all there is here. I don’t even mind playing this album, I can enjoy hearing it but I can also recognize that it doesn’t go much of anywhere.
#15 – The X Factor (1995)
It’s quickly into the first Blaze album. This one holds far more consistent than the second one, and has a fair few good songs with stuff like Sign Of The Cross and Lord Of The Flies. It doesn’t really fall off in quality, the other songs on here are pretty solid. It also doesn’t achieve a great deal and the darker atmosphere and “grunge-like” touches don’t much enhance the Maiden experience, but there is an album worth listening to here.
#14 – Fear Of The Dark (1992)
Probably not a huge shock that all of the ’90’s albums fill out the bottom. This one, the final album with Bruce for several years, does offer a some more variety. A few of these songs are great – the title track has been a Maiden institution since release, Judas Be My Guide is a fantastic gem of a song, and Afraid To Shoot Strangers is really good. All of the album’s singles were pretty quality efforts too.
The only problem here is with the whole rest of the album, which is a lot. It’s a mixed bag of meh song like Fear Is The Key and truly awful stuff like Weekend Warrior and The Apparition. Some editing would have done wonders for this one and it’d rank a hell of a lot higher, its top end of quality is sterling.
#13 – Killers (1981)
The second opus with singer Paul Di’Anno checks in here. This album is a bit of a grab bag, with some crushing metal songs, a couple of instrumentals, an odd stylistic departure and also some other stuff. It does have quality tracks on it but it’s also kind of a comedown off the debut’s crazy energy. Overall it works and is worth a listen but it does kind of pale in comparison to others.
And here is where the most recent album lands. When this came out I was very hyped for it, gotta have something to be excited about and a new album from my favorite band should do it. I played the album a lot on release and I found plenty on there to like – the lead single Writing On The Wall is great, as is the title track. The finale Hell On Earth is in conversation for the best reunion-era song they’ve done. What led to this being dragged down some is, well, most of the rest of it. There are songs on here that are fine but they also don’t quite achieve what Maiden has done, especially elsewhere through the reunion albums. I like hearing them but they’re also not doing a whole lot, and that’s kind of a problem with an album as long as this is.
Senjutsu was previously an Album of the Week feature on release, and one I should revisit someday. That first post is a giant mess.
#11 – The Final Frontier (2010)
This was the band’s fourth reunion album, and the point where we could say the reunion had become its own era – hell, it’s now the band’s longest with a constant line-up. This one kind of flew under the radar at the time. It isn’t an immediate album but there’s some stuff to check out on here. The two epic songs Where The Wild Wind Blows and The Talisman are spectacular, and the ballad Coming Home hits a lot harder than it would have seemed at first. The album is filled out with songs of pretty good quality, nothing here really grates on me. It’s kind of a quiet moment in the band’s catalog but it does pack a punch.
#10 – Iron Maiden (1980)
The band’s debut offered up a platter of metal the likes of which was unheard of at the time. This one has a number of bangers on it, like Prowler, Running Free and the title track. Nothing here is bad, I enjoy it all. Several of these songs see play to this day, it was a remarkable debut record.
The second reunion album offers up a variety of stuff. Most of it is pleasant yet mid-tier fare, while some songs like the title track and Paschendale are amazing. Face In The Sand is also great and is my pick for Maiden’s most underrated song. The cover art is absolutely horrible but the songs help make up for it.
Maiden had a 5-year album gap here and the long wait fueled hype over this one. I was all over the hype train when the album was announced and 8 years later I’m still on that train. The title track on this one is amazing, as is the opener If Eternity Should Fail. The Red And The Black is another epic nearly equaling the size of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, and then this album’s finale Empire Of The Clouds blows past that by 5 minutes. I’ve always liked this one a lot and nothing has diminished for me as time has passed.
#7 – Brave New World (2000)
This was the “reunion” album and it was pure joy to hear Dickinson and Smith back with Maiden. The 1990’s were tough for Maiden and metal in general, but here was the sign that metal was back. This was a nice blend of the classic Iron Maiden sound and a look to the future. Blood Brothers is a magnificent anthem, The Wicker Man a great lead single and stuff like the title track and Ghost Of The Navigator are epic journeys no one had been on since the ’80’s. This was the kick in the ass that everyone needed at the start of the new millennium.
For those who might think your eyes are deceiving you, rest assured they are not. This is the slot for the band’s third album and the debut of Bruce Dickinson. This one does come fairly loaded – Hallowed Be Thy Name is perhaps the band’s best song ever, and cuts like the title track and Run To The Hills are stone cold classics. The Prisoner is another maybe underrated gem, and 22 Acacia Avenue and Children Of The Damned are both nice songs. But Gangland really weights this one down, as does the opener Invaders. A 2022 vinyl reissue of this one put B-side Total Eclipse on the album instead of Gangland, and honestly that version might gain a spot in my rankings, but overall I’m going with the OG stuff. It’s a case of splitting hairs at this point to decide what goes where and just a few bumps in the road give this classic album a bit of a knock in the rankings.
#5 – Piece Of Mind (1983)
And now to the following album, with its crazy cover and fistful of worthy songs. The Trooper is pretty well Maiden’s signature song at this point. Where Eagles Dare, Flight Of Icarus and Revelations are all badass tunes, and Still Life is a nice cut from the second side. The remaining three aren’t great songs but are varying degrees of nice to listen to. This was Maiden truly rounding into form and is a classic album.
#4 – A Matter Of Life And Death (2006)
This 2006 set was grim, grave and absolutely epic. This album heads into war, death and other topics of grand importance. It’s probably wrong to say “Maiden went prog” but fair that there was some prog influence here and there, this is still an Iron Maiden record and not really the first time the band showcased their prog leanings. There are several prime songs here like These Colours Don’t Run, The Longest Day and The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg. And there are three totally badass epic tracks, with Brighter Than A Thousand Suns and The Legacy being completely awesome, and For The Greater Good Of God being on another level than that even. This album was a masterpiece and just mind-blowing stuff from a band about 30 years old at that point.
This album marked the first of Maiden’s two-record “synth” arc. It’s eight songs that work together fantastically and not a dud among the bunch, the synth elements only enhanced the presentation rather than seeing Maiden fall into the “slap some 80’s shit on here” trap. The cover art is totally mind-blowing, with a billion things to be found for the discerning eye. This was also the first Maiden album I ever heard so that’s going to hold a special place, obviously. I have no way of knowing this, but it’s possible that I’ve heard this one more than any other Maiden record, somehow it always winds up on mine or my friends’ stereos.
#2 – Powerslave (1984)
This is the album that turned Iron Maiden into a metal institution. The two singles, Aces High and 2 Minutes To Midnight, are among the best songs Maiden have done, and the album concludes with two monstrous epics – the title track and Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, a 13 minute long plunge that is one of the band’s most celebrated offerings. Between all that is some swordfighting and a return to the realm of The Prisoner. This album is prime Iron Maiden and the reason a great many legions came to follow the band.
Topping the list is this epic sort-of concept album that capped off the synth era. There is a theme revolving around mystical things, the title concept of a person born with extraordinary powers, seeing the future and all of that. Everything is encased in a prog-like shell and provides some of the band’s most ambitious and realized music. It is a bit dense and ponderous but still pretty accessible, songs like Moonchild and The Evil That Men Do fit in quite nicely next to other Maiden songs. And the title track is more low-key one of Maiden’s best epics. This album was a whole world for my then 10-year old self to get lost in and that I certainly did, some may say I never came back from it.
That wraps up this pretty epic undertaking, but one I needed to get done. Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments below. Here are a few links to other Maiden things I’ve done, plus a placeholder for the upcoming live album series.
I could have just as easily attributed today’s song to Doro Pesch as opposed to Warlock, though officially the song was originally released as part of Warlock’s final album Triumph And Agony in 1987. This was the lead single from that album, one recorded in the US after Doro came over from her native Germany after Warlock began gaining an American audience. While Doro would be caught in a years-long legal battle over the rights to Warlock naming and material, she would launch a solo career that saw her become a heavy metal legend and one of women’s biggest influences in metal music.
All We Are is nothing complicated at all – there are a few verses and the chant-along chorus. The music is to the point and everything comes together to make a simple yet very effective metal anthem. It isn’t quite as easy to craft a simple song as many people seem to think, but here Doro and company got the formula down pat.
This one is easy to get into, whether on a home stereo or in a live setting and this has been Doro’s signature song at her many, many concerts over the decades. Doro did her best to break out in America but grunge came along and sent this traditional style of metal to oblivion for awhile. But she found a willing audience throughout Europe in the ’90’s, and by the time traditional metal got on the rise again in the 2000’s, Doro was hailed as one of the genre’s prime performers. She has only further cemented her legacy in the years since, still going strong in 2023.
All We Are would get a new version in the mid 2000’s. Doro performed the song live as entrance music for Regina Halmich, a German boxer considered one of the world’s greatest and who is also one of Doro’s best friends. Doro was joined by Destruction mainman Schmier, After Forever guitarist Bas Maas and drummer Tim Hsung for this performance. The same group would convene to record a new studio version that was released on an EP in 2007.
All We Are is, unsurprisingly, Doro’s most-played live song. I wouldn’t figure she would do a show without it, the song is her calling card and likely the first thing a lot of people heard of hers. A fair bit of Warlock’s final album still resonates through the metal fanbase 35 years later and it’s something Doro commemorates to this day. Just a few weeks ago Doro played a fair portion of the album on the hallowed stage of the Wacken Open Air Festival grounds in a set jam-packed with guests from all across the heavy metal spectrum.
Doro has been one of the most influential women in heavy metal, and she’s done so by simply executing her songs and playing shows – she made her mark without falling into the trap of scantily-clad 1980’s marketing. When the 1980’s faded away, Doro rose to prominence with a traditional heavy metal sound. And All We Are remains as her calling card all these years later, as she still commands the stage and influences new generations.
Iron Maiden have been known for quite a few epic songs and some grand storytelling. Plenty of songs go heavy in theme, the group have covered topics like wars, threat of nuclear destruction, historical literature, the death of beloved entertainers, and many other things. In one case Maiden did make two songs about roughly the same thing – both The Prisoner and Back In The Village are about the 1960’s TV show The Prisoner. And two other songs link to each other at least spiritually – those being The Clansman and Death Of The Celts.
But the only true saga Iron Maiden have ever engaged isn’t about historical events or grand calamities – no, it’s about a prostitute.
Charlotte The Harlot would make her first appearance in 1980 on the debut record and then she would show up three more times over the years. Calling her saga a “story” is a pretty generous application of the word story, but there’s enough here to look over the course of the second most-known Iron Maiden character.
There isn’t a ton of background info on today’s topic. I browsed through Mick Wall’s book Run To The Hills – An Authroised Biography the other day to get some good source material and all I got was a five word quote from Dave Murray and a bit of background on one other song. The folks in Maiden have not saw fit to elaborate on Charlotte’s story, Steve Harris has declined to elaborate on the matter more than once.
There is an interview somewhere out there from Paul Di’Anno that does discuss the actual woman Charlotte is based off of, but tracking the actual interview is tough. I’ll just mention that he said the woman was really more of an “easy gal” rather than a working woman and that she didn’t actually live on Acacia Avenue.
But this tale doesn’t really need much sourcing or background info – it’s four songs about a hooker, how complicated can it be?
Charlotte The Harlot
The first song in the saga introduces the character Charlotte. The song is from 1980’s self-titled debut record. The song is a bit primitive but still has what would become typical Iron Maiden beats. It isn’t the most celebrated track from the debut but it does get its fair share of discussion.
Dave Murray was the sole composer of this one. He mentioned that Charlotte was “based on a true story” but apparently did not get any further into it. The song sees Charlotte leave her man and become a lady of the night, selling herself for men’s pleasure. Charlotte is the target of the song narrator’s ire, we would suppose that the “protagonist” is the man who Charlotte dumped to go sleep with anyone who had the right change.
There’s no telling what happened here – did someone get hung up on the gal who inspired Charlotte, or did Dave just decide to craft a song about her? I’m not sure and we may never truly know, but this was only the beginning of Charlotte’s story.
22 Acacia Avenue
The next song in Charlotte’s story comes from The Number Of The Beast. This would be significant as Maiden changed singers, with Bruce Dickinson now in the fold. Also along after the debut was guitarist Adrian Smith, who was the main songwriter here. Steve Harris is also credited, though Adrian brought some of this with him from his old band Urchin.
In this song Charlotte’s whoring ways are apparently catching up with her with stuff like diseases and abusive men. The song’s narrator basically takes Charlotte out of the life to get her “cleaned up” or whatever. No telling if the gent from this song is the same one from the first one and I’d gather the band didn’t think that far ahead.
Acacia Avenue is itself pretty interesting. Google returns some vague results about what it means. In some cases it does seem to refer to whorehouses, so that may be why the band chose it. There is another apparent meaning that more simply refers to British suburbs, I suppose in a way it was saying Parklife over a decade before Blur did. But I can’t really trace the authenticity of that claim and it’s not prevalent in search so I don’t know much about it. Either way it wasn’t meant to refer to a real place so it’s not radically important.
Hooks In You
It would be several years for the next installment of the Charlotte saga. This song comes from 1990’s No Prayer For The Dying. This album saw Maiden take a more stripped-down approach after a bit of a foray into more synth-driven epics. The album wasn’t terribly well-received but does have its fans. I personally don’t mind listening to it but I don’t have a ton of nice things to say about it either. It’s also worth mentioning that this song is often cited as the worst one on the album.
There is only one indirect reference to Charlotte in this song, but the reference does certainly establish who we’re talking about. The song’s first line “I got the keys to view at number 22” references Charlotte’s address, I guess she hadn’t moved in several years. She’s about to pretty soon.
The song goes into some goofy stuff about S&M and whatever kinky things a person could think of, at least in 1990. It doesn’t really “add” to Charlotte’s story, it’s just checking in with her and her freakiness. At the song’s end the man is apparently sick of Charlotte and has plans to “set her in concrete.”
This one was co-written by Bruce and Adrian, this was Adrian’s only contribution to this album as he left the band awhile before the record was out. Bruce said he was inspired to write the song based on some stuff he saw in a home he was looking to buy and it wound up becoming a part of the Charlotte story.
So, if we are to take this very loose story at its literal presentation, Charlotte either is dead or was going to be killed. What possibly could happen next?
From Here To Eternity
The final entry in Charlotte’s story comes from 1992’s Fear Of The Dark. This was the one and only time a Charlotte track was released as a single. This final song was composed by Steve Harris.
Here we get Charlotte’s mortal end, as she rides off on a motorcycle with The Beast, aka Satan, aka The Devil. Charlotte had already kind of seen and done it all in terms of mortal men, so her only remaining thrill would be the Devil himself. Apparently they got on really well together and are still riding to this day.
That really is about all there is to this tale of Charlotte. From humble beginnings as a prostitute to the infernal consort of His Unholiness, she lived quite the life. While nothing says Iron Maiden couldn’t add to the Charlotte saga, it would be reasonable to assume that Charlotte’s story is closed. Maiden could have written long sagas about any range of topics but hey, hookers are ok.
There is a lot of rumor and speculation about Charlotte’s story and the band’s motivations for writing about her. I chose not to cover some speculative things because I don’t like posting odd claims without sources, but if anyone wants to go ham in the comments about anything you know or think about the seedy truth behind the Charlotte songs, feel free.
In 2004, one of Sweden’s leading purveyors of death and thrash hooked back up with an old flame, threw a few new bits into their metal, and had a day with the response.
The Haunted – Revolver
Released October 18, 2004 via Century Media Records
My Favorite Tracks – Who Will Decide, Abysmal, Sabotage
The Haunted have a curious history, having been formed in 1996. The band was formed by 3/5 of the former lineup of Swedish death legends At The Gates, who had broken up one day prior to The Haunted’s founding. The band was founded by brothers Jonas (bass) and Anders Björler (guitar) and Adrian Erlandsson (drums), all former members of ATG. They were initially joined by vocalist Peter Dolving and guitarist Patrik Jensen. Dolving and Erlandsson would leave The Haunted after the band’s first album, to be replaced by Marco Aro and Per Möller Jensen.
The Haunted gained acclaim on their next two albums with a pretty straightforward Swedish thrash sound. Marco Aro left the band somewhat suddenly in 2003, which led to the group seeking a reunion with original vocalist Peter Dolving and the release of this album.
The album’s name was styled as rEVOLVEr, which was meant as an indication that The Haunted’s music was evolving from its entrenched roots in Swedish thrash. Though for the sake of clarity I will style the album’s name as Revolver in this post, maybe someone will get confused and think I’m talking about The Beatles. A few seconds of riffs from The Haunted album will likely correct any confusion.
Revolver is a hefty slab of music, no matter which configuration it comes in. The standard edition features 11 tracks at 47 minutes, while the red-covered deluxe edition offers 2 bonus tracks. And as usual, the Japanese version has its own bonus track and keeps another track from the deluxe set. For brevity’s sake I will go over the standard tracklist though I have always had the deluxe version. Here is the standard album’s tracklist:
No Compromise
99
Abysmal
Sabotage
All Against All
Sweet Relief
Burnt To A Shell
Who Will Decide
Nothing Right
Liquid Burns
My Shadow
The album opens with a pair of songs that are pretty standard fare for The Haunted – brutal, fast and loud. No Compromise and 99 both come in hard and stay that way. No Compromise is one of a few songs on the album that isn’t woefully negative in its outlook, it is more of a rallying cry for the outcasts. 99 is a very bleak look at the state of the system and doesn’t offer much in the way of hope, something that isn’t to be found on this album hardly at all.
Abysmal starts off as something quite unexpected – this is, in many respects, a ballad. It starts off very quiet, with Peter Dolving almost speaking the lines, until the song suddenly gets much heavier though keeps its dirge-like pace. The song lives up to it’s title, this is as dark as it gets with no way out and no light at the end of any tunnel.
Up next is Sabotage, which is a full-tilt delivery that is like punk on steroids. It’s followed by All Against All, a more mid-paced track that is a very harsh look at an ended relationship. This one has the “feel” of a hardcore song though still bringing its thrash underpinnings. The Swedish thrash and death sound was a huge influence on the metalcore scene and here we have one of the Swedish bands putting it all together.
If you were hoping that Sweet Relief would bring you respite from the bone-crunching riffs and stark lyrical themes, well your hope was misplaced, as the song slams in and keeps the metal flowing. The next song might be the one you’re really looking for – Burnt To A Shellis another quasi-ballad and this one is also not negative to the point of being psychologically disturbing. It does offer some of that bleak imagery but also gives a fair respite from it in the chorus.
Up next is Who Will Decide. This is another hard one and also features guest vocals from Sick Of It All frontman Lou Keller. This song really exposes the true problems with the system and why things never really seem to get truly better. And this was recorded in 2004, this one is even more relevant 19 years later.
The album heads into the home stretch with Nothing Right, another hard hitter that spells out exactly what the title says. Liquid Burns comes in next and is a very messed up look at some crazy relationship and abuse stuff, as well as the influence of alcohol and its numbing effects on the ills of society. The album closes with My Shadow, this being a full-on “ballad” and also the bleakest of the bleak in terms of theme. This conclusion is the most desperate and hopeless song of them all, just totally giving up and being nothing.
Revolver was a remarkable moment in The Haunted’s career. The album served to both honor the musical legacy of the band as well as update the sound a bit and it slotted in nicely alongside the emerging metalcore movement of the early 00’s. If The Haunted were living somewhat in the shadow of At The Gates, Revolver saw them cast off that legacy completely and fully flesh out their own identity.
It isn’t a huge secret that the lyrical themes of extreme metal tend to dwell on the negative side, but on this album the lyrics truly are dynamically written to be as hopeless as possible in many cases. It’s not like a lot of metalheads even really take in the lyrics on a lot of death or black metal – the voice is often just another instrument. But with this album Dolving’s vocal delivery is comprehensible and the words truly stand out in their desperation when they’re taken in.
The Haunted would continue course with Peter Dolving for three more albums before he departed the group in 2012. The band would also contend with double duty, as At The Gates reformed in 2008. The band nearly split up but would reconvene with singer Marco Aro and release yet more vital music in the 2010’s.
For all of the band’s history in the hallowed Swedish metal scene, Revolver might be the most unique and dynamic moment of The Haunted’s catalog. The songwriting featured variety and dynamics and the lyrical content went to a place far scarier than the imagined hells of most metal albums – the cold, stark facts of reality for many hopeless souls.
This week I’ll take a look at an EP that had both some live and studio tracks on it. One of the songs would gain hold on MTV and launch the commercial peak of “Evil Elvis.”
Danzig – Thrall-Demonsweatlive
Released May 25, 1993 via Def American Records
Glenn Danzig was in a pretty good spot entering 1993 – his profile had risen considerably on the back of three strong albums and the music environment was accepting of a lot of alternative metal that probably wouldn’t have gotten the time of day in the ’80’s. Danzig would become one of the flagship acts of this “alt-metal” movement with the hit contained here.
The cover art was done by renowned comics artist Simon Bisley. This was the first of many collaborations between Bisley and Danzig, as Bisley would soon join Danzig’s new comic book company Verotik as an artist.
The band’s lineup remained the same as it had since the group’s inception – Glenn Danzig on vocals, John Christ on guitar, Eerie Von on bass and Chuck Biscuits at the drums. This roster would remain for one more studio album after this then all three others besides Danzig would vacate their positions, marking the end of the “classic” era.
This EP comprises two parts, as well as a “hidden” track. The hidden song was on track 93 of the CD, leaving 86 tracks of silence between the listed songs and this bonus. This was a thing back in the CD days and not the last time Danzig would use the gimmick to place a hidden song. As a note to those hunting for this on Spotify, only the 7 listed tracks appear on that service.
Thrall
The first three songs are all new studio recordings, done in early 1993. All of the songs were knocked out in a day. Up first is the heavy banger It’s Coming Down. This is one of the heavier tracks the old Danzig lineup did. It is a very meat and potatoes metal song, with very few lyrics and just a bunch of heavy riffs and drumming. This one works pretty well and is the highlight of the new songs. There was a music video filmed for this but it contained a lot of bondage scenes in it so MTV said no. A less saucy version is linked up at the end of this post.
Up next is The Violet Fire, a bit more of a gothic vibe to this one but still a pretty heavy tune. The lyrics are about the dark arts of seduction, a Danzig staple. The last of the three studio cuts is Trouble, which is a cover song. In keeping with Danzig’s nickname and vocal styling, the song is an Elvis cover. The song is suitably spruced up for the atmosphere of a Danzig song and works pretty well. It’s fair to say that a lot of people listening to this EP in 1993 might not have been aware that this was an Elvis song.
Demonsweatlive
The four live tracks are from a 1992 Halloween concert at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in the Los Angeles area. The entire show was pretty available in bootleg form, though that boot probably came about as a result of this EP’s notoriety.
Up first is Snakes Of Christ from the album II – Lucifuge. Like everything here, this is an excellent live version that captures the raw and gritty sound of this music at its best. One of two cuts from the self-titled debut is up next. Am I Demon gets a whole new level of energy from the live outing and sounds like Danzig at the top of his demonic underworld. This could be considered the prime offering of the live cuts, though another one would go on to claim all of the glory.
The third song is Sistinas from III – How The Gods Kill. This is a bit of a different song, being a quiet ballad that fits Danzig’s style pretty well despite being well outside the usual heavy offerings. Even when I was a dumb 15 year old listening to this and only wanting heavy stuff I could appreciate a slower tune like this one.
Another song from the first album rounds out the live stuff – Mother was a single initially but did not move the needle back in 1988. Several years later, the song’s appearance on this EP would catapult it and Danzig into another layer of the atmosphere.
What appears first on the EP is the actual live cut from the Irvine show. It is certainly a live performance, it is a much more raw and open vocal outing from Danzig than any sort of studio track. It is a worthy live cut, as all four of these songs are, but it’s also not the version that actually got popular, even though footage from the same live performance is in the music video.
After letting the CD play for about seven minutes of silent tracks, track 93 hits with the Mother 93 mix of the song. This is a re-recorded version the band did in studio and is the single release that wound up getting so popular. The video was put with this new studio version and the release got huge traction on MTV.
Mother would hit the singles charts, getting to number 17 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Chart and just missing being a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, getting to 43. Sales of Thrall-Demonsweatlive and the original Danzig album would shoot up after the video’s explosion, netting the original a platinum cert and this EP at least a gold, its actual certification status is a bit murky and it may also be platinum.
Mother has lived on as a mainstream one-hit wonder and found use in many movies, video games and other places over the years. Danzig would depart his hard gothic metal sound a few years later, specifically citing the “MTV audience” as one he was happy to part ways with, though he did also appreciate his time in the sun.
While this is just an EP and the actual version of the song that got popular was an odd hidden track, Thrall-Demonsweatlive was a triumphant moment for the first iteration of the Danzig lineup. The breakout success of Mother can be attributed to the changed state of rock at the time, back when the song first came out it didn’t move the general music audience but did bring on some of Danzig’s core fans. This EP might not have been the touchstone moment it was without the single doing insane MTV business, but there are still several worthwhile cuts to check out here.
The Crooked Wanderer 