Today I’m taking it easy and going with a song that only has three known variations. There might be more, but I don’t feel like looking for them and the three we have to discuss will be plenty.
As the title suggests, the song in question is Love You To Death. One version comes from heavy metal royalty, another is a signature track from everyone’s favorite band in the fall season, and yet another is from a group I heard of a little while ago when I saw that they also recorded a song with the same name. Let’s get into it.
The Soup Dragons
We’ll start with the band I’ve never heard of. These guys were a Scottish alt-rock act active from 1985 through 1995. They are totally unfamiliar to me. This song comes from their 1990 album Lovegod. This wasn’t a single or anything, it’s a deep cut from a record that saw a bit of chart action but seemingly didn’t set the world on fire.
This is a pretty cool sound. I like what they’re doing here. Alt-rock was a very catch-all term in the era before grunge, this is very bright and shiny but not in a detrimental way. The song is fine and it gives me enough cause to delve further into the band’s work.
Judas Priest
This is a cut from the Ram It Down album. Being honest, the album is not anywhere near the top of my Priest rankings, or even the middle really. This song is also a deep cut from an album not necessarily celebrated among the Priest faithful.
This track is fine. I’m not in love with it by any means, it’s no signature Priest classic or even a heralded deep cut from a better record. But the song is entertaining enough, I can accept X degree of silliness and this hovers around that mark. Even if it strays a bit over, I’ll take it.
Type O Negative
Wrapping up with the spooktacular rockers (in the Halloween season, no less), we have the second single from Type O’s October Rust album. This record saw the band move on from the Bloody Kisses period and refine their sound into a more “goth balladeer” realm, which would largely define the remainder of their career, and which this song is a shining example of.
The song is pretty simple – dude digs girl, dude pledges his eternal devotion to girl. It’s laden with the signature Type O sound that only they could do.
So this wasn’t really much of a contest. It would seem like pitting Priest against anyone would be an epic battle, but picking stuff off Ram It Down isn’t really going to cut it. The obvious winner is Type O Negative. It’s in the spirit of the season and also the best song presented, with all respect to The Soup Dragons.
Next time I get into one of these it’ll be one with a ton of songs to go through. I figured I’d go light for today. Until next time.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve tackled a recent album as AotW, that usually involves a lot more work than talking about a record that’s been out for 40 years. But this return-to-form album from one of metal’s most influential bands of this century is significant enough to warrant immediate discussion.
Lamb Of God – Omens
Released October 7, 2022 via Epic Records and Nuclear Blast Records
My Favorite Tracks – Ditch, Gomorrah, Grayscale
Lamb Of God have always presented a harsh, visceral world view, and this new album in the post-2020 era is a fiery takedown of whatever’s left in the ashes of our culture. It’s probably easier than ever to craft a metal album in today’s negative, nihilistic climate; but it takes on a new form when combined with the groove and riffs of a seasoned metal act.
The band recorded the album in the same room with each other, rather than handling specific parts alone. Something about the spontaneity and changing of the process has led to a rejuvenated band back on the attack. A “Making Of Omens” mini-documentary is available online for anyone who has purchased copies of the album or concert tickets (I think…)
There is no beating around the bush here – 10 songs come in right at 40 minutes. The attack is savage and precise, so let’s get right to it.
Nevermore
This track was the first preview single and was offered up in June. The song delves into the issues surrounding the “culture war” happening in a lot of the US and here specifically in the band’s hometown of Richmond, Virginia. The battle here is whether to remove or leave up statues and other images of Confederate military figures and has been a hot button issue through the South for awhile now.
Nevermore’s presentation of the issue is “well, everything is fucked” which is a pretty accurate portrayal. There are also a few lines thrown in to pay tribute to Edgar Allen Poe’s epic poem The Raven.
Vanishing
A hard hitter here, this song seems like it’s about a civilization being wiped off the planet. It could possibly be about one of the many peoples who were wiped out or subjugated by colonial powers. The song has a pretty neat outro part that switches up the pacing.
To The Grave
A neat song about that one thing from your past that can come back and bite you. Another song that highlights how inspired and refreshed the band sounds.
Ditch
This will probably count as a single as the song was given a video on release day. The song is the classic kind of “confrontation” tune that works so very well in the groove metal realm. The “ditch” appears to be the one the whole country is in. This was an instant favorite for me when I heard the record and I’ll wager that this song will be ranked among the band’s best after the dust settles.
Omens
The title track has a nice twist on the idea of omens and ides. The world so screwed that, well, the hell with all the signs pointing it out. “I can’t pretend to care about how this will end” sums up the spirit of the song and the whole album.
Gomorrah
This is a song about failure – and not just, like, missing a field goal or something. It’s stark, bleak, abject failure of the all-consuming kind. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture and it’s a type of song or art theme that has always drawn me in for whatever reason. I don’t know if it’s me hitting middle age or if it’s the state of the world or what, but this kind of total human failure really stands out, and it’s captured in perfect form by Lamb Of God here.
Ill Designs
Again with the failure, but this time apparently of some corporate head or other power figure that is being taken down. It is the collapsing of the house of cards the figurehead built, and of course everyone is caught in the demolition. Some very standout guitar work on this one too.
Grayscale
This song apparently almost didn’t make the record but was “voted in” by the producer. The riffing is more militant than a normal LoG song but isn’t out of place or anything. It’s about a struggle within one’s self, and pretty extreme one at that.
Denial Mechanism
Here is an absolute barnburner. Not that Lamb Of God would ever be accused of not being heavy, but this is a whole other world for them. It has a more hardcore feel than a typical LoG track and bashes the end of humanity and the world into the listener’s head. While the song presents a call to action to fend off the end, things sound pretty bleak around here.
September Song
The album’s finale keeps the theme of “we’re fucked” and presents it on a grand, global scale. This one also moves a bit differently than what we’ve come to expect from LoG, with a bit more of an epic build-up and use of movements and atmosphere. It still communicates its brutal message in typical fashion but is a welcome stretching out of the creative muscles for the band.
Omens does what many long-in-the-tooth metal bands strive to do, and a handful achieve – it presents a refreshed, revitalized attack for a band that had been previously written off as a throwback to better, older days. Lamb Of God have not lacked for name recognition or legacy status, but recent efforts were not viewed in the same hallowed light as their peak offerings, now well over a decade old.
But the word on Omens is out, and many who maybe haven’t paid LoG much mind in a long time find themselves back for another round. The backdrop of the pandemic and America’s possible disintegration have led to a ferocious new record. You don’t have to teach an old dog new tricks, sometimes they learn their own.
Today’s single is a CD from 2003 and it gives a wealth of stuff to talk about – we have a singer change, an album theme that got hated on, a (very rare) autograph in my collection, oh and something decades later about the band’s leader attempting to overthrow the US government.
First, the single. This is a four song effort and all songs are from Iced Earth’s upcoming album The Glorious Burden. The second track is an alternate, acoustic version, while the other three are the album cuts.
And yes, the discerning metalhead many find that the cover reminds them of another heavy metal band’s iconic single cover. I always thought so, anyway.
For one bit of background – the work on this album had begun in 2003 when then-singer Matt Barlow left the band. I don’t know the exact timeline of how things worked out, but at some point Rob Halford rejoined Judas Priest and Tim “Ripper” Owens joined Iced Earth. This single marks Ripper’s IE debut.
The Reckoning (Don’t Tread On Me)
The lead song is a metal shredder that plays to Owen’s strengths well. It’s almost a bit thrashy yet retains the “power metal but not quite” feel that Iced Earth were known for. It was a good track to lead with in terms of Owens’ singing.
The song seems to be about the post 9/11 atmosphere, in that the big, bad American war machine is coming for the enemies. I don’t know if anything was ever specifically said about the song’s inspiration but the 9/11 seems obvious.
This would be a criticism of The Glorious Burden initially – the American exceptionalism that was prevalent through the record. While not a concept album, the central theme of the record was major American wars, and the music press had a go at Iced Earth for making such a record. As it would turn out though, fans didn’t really seem to care and the record was largely considered a success.
I’ll run through the other three songs real quick. When The Eagle Cries is directly about 9/11 and the American feeling right after the attacks. The song is a bit much for my tastes but it’s not bad or anything. Valley Forge is about the namesake battle in the Revolutionary War and is a good track, and Hollow Man has nothing to do with American history and is about a personal struggle of some kind. Again, all of the songs are on the full album, though When The Eagle Cries is an unplugged track on this single.
So there are a few more things to discuss here. One is something you might have noticed on the cover of my CD – there’s a bit of scribbling there. This is signed by drummer Richard Christy. Richard spent time in my area in the early 90’s and would often return to the area over the holidays, he signed this at a show he and some friends were putting on. Richard would leave Iced Earth a year later for a job with the Howard Stern show.
I’m not one much for autographs, I only have a few. But since Richard was going to be in town and I happened to have this CD laying around, I decided to do the logical thing and get it signed. Maybe I would have been better off getting a Death album signed, but this is fine.
And I suppose no discussion of Iced Earth and American exceptionalism is complete without talking about the events of January 6, 2021. Jon Schaffer was a part of the US Capitol riot, having been seen with bear spray and advancing toward police officers inside the building. Schaffer quickly took a plea deal, admitting guilt in the attempted insurrection.
It was honestly kind of funny in the immediate aftermath of the riot, when the FBI were releasing photographs trying to identify people and Schaffer was one of the first to be outed. It wasn’t all that shocking – Schaffer had become a dolt in interviews before the 2020 election and no one who’d paid any attention to him was shocked by what happened. It did surprise many who hadn’t followed along with Iced Earth for a long time or at all, but the music news and the general news converging like that was pretty hilarious.
The whole debacle didn’t make much difference to me – this single is the only thing I have by the band. I’ve tried getting more into them a few times over the years but, while I can appreciate that they did some good stuff, it just never really caught me in a huge way. Seeing the band implode because of the stupid actions of its founder and leader wasn’t really skin off my back, I had no vested interest in Iced Earth. The whole January 6 actions were not comedy in and of themselves, but it’s nice to have something to laugh at from them.
All in all, I have this CD that, if nothing else, has Richard Christy’s autograph. It is a nice performance from Tim Owens and company, and it’s a funny little piece of history after Jon Schaffer’s villain turn in early 2021.
Ok, so today was supposed to be a “real” post. I had a few paragraphs to finish up and I was going to post it for tomorrow.
However, life intervened. And by life, I mean that I went out for a few beers with a buddy, then he left and another buddy showed up right as the first one left, so I wound up being the guy holding a bag of a lot of beer and a huge tab when all was said and done.
So – I am going to put off the real post for next week. I have real posts for the next two days lined out already so that’s all good.
Instead, have a taste of what will be the next album of the week. I don’t usually do new albums as AOTW anymore, but this one has hooked its way into my brain and I’ve listened to it over 20 times now so I’m giving it billing next week.
And I promise I won’t get messed up again and put stuff off – the post I originally had for today will be on next week, and I already have most of next week’s crap lined out. This just became a a temporary, one night halt order when I spent more time drinking than doing what I should have been doing.
In fact, there might be a few appropriate lyrics from this song for that:
You’re face down, down in a ditch that you dug yourself
I had a different album in mind for this week, but after talking about a particular band extensively last week, I’ve called an audible and switched things up. The record was mentioned yet not really discussed in the posts last week and I got it in my head yet again after all these years and so it’s time to give the album its day in court.
Iron Maiden – A Matter Of Life And Death
Released September 5, 2006 (US) via EMI Records
My Favorite Tracks – The Longest Day, For The Greater Good Of God, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
This marked Iron Maiden’s 14th studio album, though also the 3rd since the 1999 reunion with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith. It set the table for the reunion being more than a brief run for nostalgia and cash’s sake, that the band were serious about forging ahead in a marketplace where they were hailed as heroes yet were also as old as dinosaurs.
This also turned a corner creatively – while the predecessors Brave New World and Dance Of Death were celebrated, A Matter Of Life And Death stood out for longer tracks with more mood and less tempo. While not appealing to the portion of the fanbase that pines for Powerslave II, it set the rest of the fans and critics on fire. Maiden would not hedge on their new effort – the resulting tour saw the band play the entire album live. While there were some lessons learned from that approach, it still indicated the full-bore dedication the band had to their new material and defiance of living on their laurels as a “classic” act.
The album cover is, as usual with Maiden, worth discussion. The art does not prominently feature the band’s most famous member Eddie, but the mascot is there on the tank with his band of brothers. Personally I love the cover and it’s my favorite of any of the reunion-era pieces and it’s especially welcome after the literal abortion of a cover Dance Of Death got. I even have this as a back patch on a jean jacket, as all good metalheads do.
There are 10 tracks to discuss here, but at a beefed up runtime of 71 minutes. The era of long Iron Maiden albums had dawned and this was only a pregame for the future. There are also several other factors to discuss, like the Internet mystery campaign behind the lead single, the decision to run the whole album live, and the album’s prominent place among reunion-era records. In short, this post will be about as long as a reunion-era Maiden album, so grab a few drinks and settle in.
Different World
The opener also served as the album’s second single. The song is, in contrast to the rest of the record, a straightforward rocker offering up a bit of philosophy about co-existing with differing perspectives and all that.
This one doesn’t really get a lot of love around the fanbase. I personally don’t mind it but it won’t make a list of my favorite stuff, Maiden or otherwise. It isn’t “bad” in any sense but it’s just a song.
These Colors Don’t Run
Now into a sound that would shape the bulk of the album and also delve into a theme present in much of the remaining lyrics. This is a mid-tempo affair that moves at a trot as opposed to the gallop of many past Maiden efforts. And the theme here is war, this song offering a rally cry for the soldiers who fight for their flag no matter the cost.
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
Off to one of the album’s epics, a now standard feature of latter day Maiden records. This sprawling effort tops out at near 9 minutes. The title seems a bit mystifying until the song’s theme becomes clear – this is about the development of the atomic bomb. The bomb was humanity severing its connection with creation and playing god with the potential of world-ending destruction.
The song marks one of three celebrated epics from the record and these songs have become centerpieces for modern Maiden albums. It probably creates fits when it’s time to make a set list, but of course the band circumvented that problem by playing everything live.
The Pilgrim
It’s literally a song about pilgrims, either the historical settlers of America or in the general sense, I don’t know. It won’t ever be accused of being Maiden’s best song but it’s a damn sight better than any description could make it out to be. It’s better than some aging British metal band droning on about the Loch Ness Monster for more than ten minutes.
The Longest Day
Back to the war and, as the title would indicate, it’s off to D-Day. The massive beach invasion is painted in vivid detail in the lyrics as the song slams through the battle. There isn’t a lot for me to say other than it’s my favorite track from the album.
Out Of The Shadows
A fairly abstract track about birth and death, new and old, that kind of thing. Not much to it but it’s a pretty decent song.
The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
The album’s first single and one with quite the marketing story behind it. Without any prompting, a website featuring a biography of the unknown Breeg was posted. It was quickly surmised that this had to do with the new Maiden album and fans set to work trying to solve the mystery of who Breeg was and what happened to him after his 1978 disappearance. Breeg was a known painter and a future website update offered up one of his paintings which featured none other than Eddie. The last dispatch from the website had set a meeting with someone who knew Breeg’s fate, that meeting was on the day the single was released.
While nothing was ever resolved in terms of the mystery, the quiet marketing ploy drove a lot of buzz for the band’s new song and album. I recall being fascinated with it at the time, but of course it’s a bit tough to specifically recall all of that 16 years later. It seems like Benjamin Breeg might have died in 1978 and was “reborn” as Eddie, but this has never been explicitly stated. Given that Maiden have never built further lore around Breeg, this theory is my guess.
The song itself does also perhaps support the Breeg is Eddie theory. Breeg was a tortured artist who might have sold his soul, and the reincarnation aspect of it might be him becoming Eddie. It fits with the various themes posted in bits on the website.
Oh yeah – also, the song is good.
For The Greater Good Of God
The second of the album’s epics, this tune takes aim at the ills of religion. While not condemning religion outright, the song does goes full-bore on the wars and calamities experienced worldwide due to the power-grabbing influence of religious figureheads over time. The song is widely-loved and often at the top of people’s favorites lists. It’s also one song that has been featured in Maiden set lists years after the album’s tour cycle.
Lord Of Light
This is about Lucifer and mostly how he is used as a scapegoat for humanity’s ills so that humans can continue sinning without consequence. It’s another fairly long track that sometimes gets set to the side but I feel offers a bit more than its secondary status might indicate.
The Legacy
The album closes with the third epic and one that the band knocked out of the park. The song has two halves – one in which a world leader is on his deathbed, being reckoned with the true cost of his warmongering. The second half of the song implores humanity to move beyond the cycle of death and destruction and embrace a new forward vision.
That clearly hasn’t happened, but that doesn’t diminish the impact of the song. Maiden offered arrangements and movements here that were unheard in the extensive prior catalog. It was a true mark that the band had a solid direction for their music now and into the future, and that direction would diverge from their past eras.
A Matter Of Life And Death was praised by critics and swept up by fans – the album hit high chart positions in many countries all over the globe, including the US where the band scored their first top 10 chart appearance on the Billboard 200 at position 9. The group already had hot receptions for the prior two albums of the reunion era, but AMOLAD arrived and put things on a whole new level.
Proud of the effort, Maiden made the decision to tour the entire record. This was a first, and to date has been the only time the group has played an entire album live. While the die-hard portion of the fanbase ate up the offering, the fact is that concerts are attended by a great many people who aren’t as fervently attached to things and the shows met with somewhat muted receptions. The concept wasn’t dismissed as a total failure, but the group has since refrained from going so hard with pushing new records.
This album shaped the direction of Maiden albums to come – the three albums following all offer huge, epic arrangements and very extended run times. That has become its own argument among fans but it is clearly the direction the band wishes to pursue.
In terms of the reunion period, AMOLAD has been hailed as one of the top offerings, rivaled perhaps only by Brave New World. Not only has it mostly taken that crown, it has ascended many lists in terms of the band’s entire catalog. And it’s something that needs to be highlighted when talking about the band and its long-running status – there are many fans who have come on board in the last 20-plus years and those fans’ keystone albums are in this reunion period. And this one is often top among those.
Not everyone was paying attention or even alive when the 1980’s classics came around and these past few decades of the band have brought in many new fans and kept the legacy alive and thriving. There are fans who sneer at the slower, more plodding reunion material and gladly showcase the band’s masterpieces from way back when as some kind of argument against the modern songs, but judging by the album sales, concert attendance and constant new interest in a band older than dirt, no one really seems to give a shit what they think.
Back to my singles collection. I’m winding down on it, though there are still a handful to go over. I’d expect to be done sometime mid- to late-November, then I’ll pause for a moment to re-calibrate before launching the Iron Maiden singles series.
Today I’m looking over a 2012 single from long-running doom merchants Saint Vitus. The band have been an on again, off again proposition since 1979 but were one of the significant figures in the rise of doom in the ’80’s.
This single comes from 2012, when the band were operating again with singer Scott “Wino” Weinrich. They had been active again since 2009 and were ready to release their new full-length Lillie: F-65. This single’s A-side hails from that album, while the B-side is a live track of a cut from their classic album Born Too Late.
The record is on black vinyl, it is limited to 1,500 copies and hand-numbered. While it often doesn’t matter, I always enjoy the hand-numbered stuff. I never do get any of the cool numbers like, well, 69 or 420, or the metalhead’s dream of 666. But it’s still nice to have that tiny bit of serialization to it.
This is one I picked up at a 2013 show where I saw the band. That concert will certainly get its own post one day.
Blessed Night
The single hits with all the same dark riffs and atmosphere that Saint Vitus conjured in their 1980’s run. This is simply a continuation of their catalog, no small feat considering that this was the band’s first recording since 1995. It’s been a few years since I’ve played anything from this album so it’s nice to hear again.
Look Behind You
I could not locate a video of the exact performance used on the record but here is a live cut from earlier the same year. Look Behind You came about as a bonus track on a reissue to the band’s 1986 Born Too Late, widely considered their best effort.
This is a cool song that showcases how doom doesn’t have to always be a slow-paced dirge. It often goes that way, but there are plenty of more rocking cuts to be found among Saint Vitus and their peers like Candlemass.
That’s all for today. Next week’s single will be out of the few CD singles I have and it’s an absolute whopper that I forgot I had and will offer no shortage of stuff, most of it not good, to talk about.
Update 5/30/2023 – These posts are being updated to reflect new songs played live as part of The Future Past tour
Yesterday I ran through the first handful of albums of Iron Maiden’s career, and specifically discussed the songs they haven’t played live. The basis of this info comes from this recent Loudwire article. Today I’ll finish the exercise, picking up with the reunion era records.
Brave New World
2 songs unplayed – The Nomad and The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
Maiden did not mess around when Brave New World came out – they toured this album all over the place and made sure everyone heard most of it live. They played a bit over half of it when I saw them on the tour, and all told we’re left with only two unplayed tracks.
Way back when I first started this blog I did a post where I talked a bunch about a lot of my “firsts” with Iron Maiden, that post is here.
I like both of these songs, but I’m not betting on them getting played live in the future. I don’t think there’s any big push for them to get in a set list. Now I do think, of any album the band might choose to play live in its entirety, that Brave New World would be very high in consideration. It was a massive rush when Iron Maiden returned to glory and conquered a new decade, and the album still stands as a reunion era favorite. I don’t really think it will happen, but the possibility is there.
We have another list full of songs and, for the most part, a fairly non-shocking collection. I think Montsegur is a cool song but I can understand it not being aired out live. Gates, Frontier and Innocence are all kind of second-tier songs, if not perhaps even lower. I know they have their fans and none of the songs bother me by any means, but man, they ain’t playing any of that.
But then we have the case of Face In The Sand. I will die on this hill – this is Iron Maiden’s most underrated song. It outshines even the excellent Judas Be My Guide, which I discussed yesterday. The quiet intro lifts into this slamming epic that condemns humanity of its own sins. I was shocked that it wasn’t included in the Dance Of Death tour cycle and sadly, it sits unplayed to this day. And it will never be played, I fear, unless I win a huge jackpot and hire Maiden to play my birthday party or something.
We can skip the 2006 A Matter Of Life And Death, as Maiden played the entire album live in its tour cycle. Sadly, no official live album came of it, and I guess the band learned that fan interest only goes so far – plenty of paying customers at shows weren’t all that into it. I think it’s cool they did it, and they still put a major emphasis on a new album when they tour it, but this one kind of bit them in the ass. But that’s not relevant here, so it’s on to 2010.
The Final Frontier
Five songs unplayed
Mother Of Mercy
The Alchemist
Isle Of Avalon
Starblind
The Man Who Would Be King
We have half of an album here, an album that sits very under the radar in terms of Maiden records but gets some quiet accolades for a handful of tracks. And actually, a few of them are here. Isle Of Avalon is a bit of a Maiden departure where they seem to fully embrace some Rush influences and is a very excellent tune, but sadly it didn’t hit the stage. Starblind is another one that’s maybe just behind the album’s two big epics The Talisman and Where The Wild Wind Blows, but is very good in its own right. The others aren’t quite as good, though I’ll cop to personally being one of the apparent very few fans of Mother Of Mercy. I’m very, very alone in that regard. Very low odds of any of these seeing play in the future.
The Book Of Souls
Four songs unplayed – Where The River Runs Deep, Shadows Of The Valley, The Man Of Sorrows and Empire Of The Clouds
These are all pretty logical omissions. I do like Where The River Runs Deep but it’s outshined by other songs. Shadows and Sorrows are very much secondary tracks from the album that a fair few consider to be bloated anyway. And Empire Of The Clouds is 18 freaking minutes long. So, of anything, it’ll probably be the one to get played sometime.
Senjutsu
Seven songs unplayed – songs 4 through 10
Updated list as of 5/30/3023
Lost In A Lost World, Darkest Hour, The Parchment
To date, Iron Maiden have just now been touring after releasing Senjutsu and in fairness the band is completing a long-delayed tour so they put the first 3 songs on the set list and called it good.
The odds that more songs get live time later on are very good. Fan reception was especially solid for the last few tracks and while the album has a fair share of detractors, it seems to have favorable traction among the fanbase at large.
And the odds get even better when Bruce has outlined the group’s desire to play the album in its entirety. Perhaps having learned their lessons from the AMOLAD tour, Bruce said any Senjutsu full airing would be in small venues and for the true die-hards. If that happens, than the album’s entry in this list will be entirely obsolete.
Update May 2023 – The Future Past tour leaves this section nearly useless, I have put up a list of the now three songs unplayed from Senjutsu. Of the three remaining, I hope The Parchment gets stage time someday.
Senjutsu was one of the only times I’ve done a new release album as an Album of the Week and it was in the first month of my blog. In fact, the imminent arrival of the album was one of the reasons I got off my ass and started this blog in the first place. The original post is here.
That does it for the unplayed Iron Maiden live songs. My wishlist would include Alexander The Great, Judas Be My Guide, Face In The Sand and Hell On Earth.
Notes as of 5/30/2023 – These posts are being updated to reflect newly played songs on the band’s Future Past tour.
Today and tomorrow I’m going to run through an interesting list. A few weeks back, Loudwire published a list of all the songs Iron Maiden have not played live. It’s an interesting look at what songs didn’t quite make the cut for a band who is a prolific touring act and I wanted to run through the list and offer some thoughts.
By my very quick and unofficial count (which may not be entirely accurate), Iron Maiden have a total of 175 studio tracks – 174 on albums and one non-album single that is included here. The various B-sides of singles are not included on this and don’t include a ton of legitimate original songs anyway. The total of unplayed songs live on the list is 51 (46 as of May 2023), so just a hair under a third of their output.
Maiden have aired every track from 2 of their 17 albums – the 1980 debut, which makes sense as they didn’t have a ton of songs then, and the 2006 record A Matter Of Life And Death, which was played in its entirety on tour. All other albums have at least one track that didn’t get time under the stage lights.
I’ll go through the list as it’s presented, album by album. I’ll leave off after the two Blaze albums today and pick up with the reunion era stuff tomorrow. It’ll likely make this post longer than the second one but it seems like a good place to split the proceedings.
The self-titled debut is not in consideration for this effort, so it’s off to 1981 to start the list.
Killers
One song unplayed – Prodigal Son
The only track from the second album not to see the light of day is Prodigal Son. It’s a logical exclusion from live sets, the song is very, very different from anything else the band have done. I do like the song but yeah, they’re never playing that one, no one would know what the hell was going on.
No real surprises here, neither song is considered terribly strong and I doubt too many people pine for a live airing of either. I don’t mind Invaders but it’s nothing to write home about, while Gangland is honestly kind of weak and a song the band even wishes they hadn’t put on the record. I don’t expect either tune to get the time of day on stage.
Piece Of Mind
Two songs unplayed – Quest For Fire and Sun And Steel
Nothing really shocking here, either. I do like Sun And Steel quite a bit but at this point I don’t ever expect it to be played live. Quest For Fire isn’t really anyone’s favorite track, I don’t personally mind it much but I’m sure it will remain on this list for all time.
Powerslave
Three songs unplayed – The Duellists, Flash Of The Blade and Back In The Village
Maiden truly made hay on the Powerslave album cycle and massive tour, but three of the album’s cuts haven’t been played out. The two sword-fighting songs and the the quasi-sequel to The Prisoner have been omitted from set lists. I wouldn’t mind hearing any of them live, especially Back In The Village, but I’m not really banking on it.
Powerslave was Album of the Week not all that long ago, here’s the post.
Somewhere In Time
Two songs unplayed – Deja Vu and Alexander The Great
Only two songs haven’t made the live cut from this well-regarded album. Deja Vu is a fine song but one I kinda doubt will ever see live play.
But we have a whole other story with Alexander The Great. The album’s closer is an awesome, epic track and this is probably the song that most fans would say they want to hear live. I can only speak from the anecdotal stuff I see in the wild but I think this is the holy grail of unplayed live cuts. I can’t speak as to whether or not it’ll ever make the cut but it’s the first one on the list that I hope does.
Update 5/30/23 – Alexander The Great has now been played live, it is a part of the Future Past setlist, as fully expected
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Two songs unplayed – The Prophecy and Only The Good Die Young
I guess no real surprises here, The Prophecy is widely considered the weakest track from this beloved album. I do enjoy Only The Good Die Young but at this point there is little hope of it getting stage time.
No Prayer For The Dying
Three songs unplayed – Fates Warning, Run Silent Run Deep, Mother Russia
Now we’re into the 90’s era, often considered the band’s weakest. This album, which just had its 32nd anniversary on October 1, doesn’t contain the same epic quality of classic Maiden but is still pretty welcoming in its consistency.
And honestly, the three unplayed tracks are some of the better tunes on the record. I always enjoyed Fates Warning, and it’s possible the Run Silent Run Deep would be my number one selection of the album. Mother Russia is a bit different and I can see why they wouldn’t play it live, but it’s a tune I still enjoy. There is no prayer for any of these songs being on a future set list.
Fear Of The Dark
Seven (!) songs unplayed:
Fear Is The Key
Childhood’s End
The Fugitive
Chains Of Misery
The Apparition
Judas Be My Guide
Weekend Warrior
Now that is quite the list. Less than half of this album has gone unplayed in a live setting. A lot of that probably has to do with the turmoil in the band, which would see Bruce Dickinson leave the band just over a year after the album’s release. And only two songs from the album, the title track and Afraid To Shoot Strangers, have been played since the album’s tour cycle.
Looking at the list, I wouldn’t play most of these live either. Honestly there are some of the worst songs the band have recorded on the list. Weekend Warrior is almost celebrated for how bad it is, and The Apparition is never invited to any of my parties. I don’t necessarily mind The Fugitive but it’s not strong enough for a live set. The other songs are goofy thought perhaps inoffensive, I don’t know.
Well, there is one song on this list that is not at all like the others. Judas Be My Guide is an amazing tune, arguably the album’s best and considered by many to be the band’s most underrated song. (My personal pick for that will come up tomorrow, though Judas is an easy number 2). It is a damn shame that the song hasn’t been presented live and, while I don’t expect it, it is a short tune and could be easily accommodated.
The X Factor
Four songs unplayed – Judgment Of Heaven, Look For The Truth, 2 AM, The Unbeliever
We’re now to the Blaze Bayley era of Maiden, while loved by some it was widely considered a disaster for the group, who saw their fortunes sink in the late 1990’s. I have mixed feelings about it which I’ll save for later blog content.
I can’t say I really care if any of these songs were played out or not. Judgment Of Heaven is one I liked, the others kind of sounded a bit samey to me, one of my gripes about this album overall. Bruce has had no problem doing Blaze-era tunes but none of these will likely pass muster.
Virus – single
We now have the curious case of the only non-album, non B-side track Iron Maiden ever did. The song was a new offering for the band’s first greatest hits compilation and then got released as its own single.
And it was never played live, despite being one of the strongest cuts from the Blaze era. The song is different and does throw some people, but I absolutely love it. It, along with a few of the B-sides from The X Factor are honestly the best songs the group did in this time frame.
That said, I doubt Virus ever gets played live by Maiden. It is very much a Blaze Bayley song and I can’t picture Bruce tackling this one. This is one that absolutely should have been played when Blaze was still with the group.
Virtual XI
One song unplayed – Como Estais Amigos
I’ll finish up part one with the second and final Blaze album. Easy enough – only one song wasn’t played and it’s never getting played. Hell, I don’t even mind the song, but yeah, it won’t see stage time.
That wraps up part one of the songs Iron Maiden haven’t played live. I’ll be back tomorrow with part two and the tunes unplayed from the reunion era.
I’m back to my normal posting schedule and I’m back to the album of the week with a no-doubter and an all-timer. It is the album that truly sucked me into heavy metal. It is one of my favorite albums of all-time, it is often considered the band’s magnum opus and it is hailed as one of the best offerings of the thrash genre. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest pieces of recorded music in history.
Megadeth – Rust In Peace
Released September 24, 1990 via Capitol Records
My Favorite Tracks – Tornado Of Souls, Rust In Peace … Polaris, Hangar 18
Megadeth made waves on the up and coming thrash scene through the 1980’s. Dave Mustaine formed the band after being dismissed from Metallica and, well, all that’s had volumes written about it so on to the album.
Rust In Peace marked the dawn of Megadeth’s most stable line-up – Dave Mustaine on guitars and vocals, Marty Friedman made his Megadeth debut on lead guitar, then-trusty sidekick Dave Ellefson remained on bass and Nick Menza made his recording debut after joining the band a year prior.
All credit to Ellefson and Menza for holding down the backline with precision, but this album is known for one thing and it’s guitars. What Friedman and Mustaine got up to here is a master class in guitar performance. Even in the guitar-centric realm of thrash, this is unparalleled stuff.
There is one note to make before anyone goes running to Spotify to listen to this masterpiece – the album was remastered in 2004 and Mustaine made the curious choice to re-record some vocal tracks. The result was pretty awful and the 2004 remaster lives in infamy among Megadeth fans. The original version of this album is the one to seek out.
There are nine tracks with a time of 40 minutes to get to and there’s a fair bit to discuss, so off to it.
Holy Wars/The Punishment Due
Two singles were released and they are conveniently located as the first two tracks of the album. This dual-titled beast begins with some all-out thrash and sets the tone for the record to come. The topic here is conflict, the song was inspired by Mustaine seeing bootleg Megadeth merch that supported the IRA.
The song slows down for The Punishment Due, an interlude that was apparently inspired by The Punisher of Marvel comics. The song winds back up into a frenzy, featuring a great many guitars, before concluding.
Hangar 18
Here the band offer a massive thrash tune about the alien crash landing theories surrounding Hangar 18 in Ohio and Area 51 in Nevada. A few brief verses roll off, followed by the very brief chorus and then – guitars. A whole hell of a lot of guitars as Mustaine and Friedman go off with something like 11 solos in the space of a few minutes. Even on an album full of guitar heroics, Hangar 18 stands out for them.
The song became iconic for the band and was a central focus of the imagery surrounding the record. Megadeth would go skydiving near Area 51 for an episode of Headbanger’s Ball on MTV and a sequel to the song would surface in 2001.
Take No Prisoners
This cut discusses the horrors of war by way of accounting its brutality. It is yet another fantastic slab of thrash. It was also the central focus of re-recording on the 2004 remaster and in my opinion it was totally botched.
Five Magics
Here Megadeth play Dungeons and Dragons on a tale of a wizard’s adventure to obtain the necessary magic to defeat a monster. While the song’s protagonist practices magic, Megadeth’s weapon of choice is – you probably guessed it – the guitar. Friedman uses the song’s first several minutes to just play solo after solo. Whatever monster that wizard is facing has no idea what’s coming for him.
Poison Was The Cure
A song about Mustaine’s long struggles with heroin. Ellefson’s bass opens the brief tune and then the band slams through the proceedings in a bit of groovy fashion. While still certainly thrash, there’s a good bit of rock and roll feel here.
Lucretia
Here we have a song composed about a ghost that Mustaine thought was in his attic. It’s a fittingly creepy tune that still keeps the thrash and guitar attack going full steam ahead.
Tornado Of Souls
Exiting the realms of war and fantasy for a moment, this song is simply about ending a relationship and getting back into the world with a winning attitude. It’s also, in my estimation, the ultimate expression of everything that works about this album. It’s a fantastic composition, with the guitars, lyrics and everything coming together to kick the ass of anyone listening.
Tornado Of Souls has become one of Megadeth’s most popular cuts, having been played live extensively and often hailed as one of their best overall tracks.
Dawn Patrol
This very creepy, short song has Mustaine snarl through an Ellefson bass line to illustrate people living underground after an environmental disaster, such as the nuclear holocaust about to come in the next song. In a way it’s more of an interlude or intro piece, but it took on its own life as a curiosity from the album.
Rust In Peace … Polaris
The album closes with the title track and the song is inevitably about the subject the title confers – nuclear war. The lyrics are sung from what seems to be the perspective of a mad tyrant unleashing nuclear hell but the perspective is apparently that of the missile itself.
This track doesn’t feature any guitar solos in an effort to let the song communicate its own excellence. Still plenty of nice and nasty riffs to be had and the lyrics basking in the world-ending nuclear conflict make their points well.
Rust In Peace was hailed upon release as one of the finest moments in thrash metal. Megadeth would see their profile raise considerably during the album’s cycle. The album went platinum in the US and its legacy as a masterpiece has been cemented over the ensuing decades. People love making lists of “best of” thrash and metal, and people love putting Rust In Peace on those lists.
For me this was the album that truly hooked me on the heavier side of metal. I was already into Iron Maiden and I’d heard other thrash albums before, but this one just grabbed me and took my soul. From then on it was a race to find the heaviest stuff out there, and in many respects that race is still going 32 years later.
While Megadeth would go on with a lot of ups and downs over the years since 1990, there is no denying the place Rust In Peace holds in the band’s legacy. A whole new generation of musicians influenced by the album would revive thrash in the 2000’s and bring new life to the genre thought dead. It is a legacy secure in the riffs and plentiful solos.
This is the first of two posts I’ll do this week. As I said last Friday, I’m just gonna go over some songs so I can get ahead on my writing and be ready to get back in full swing in October. Today I’m gonna have a look at a handful of videos that have hit more recently. This isn’t my usual “upcoming releases” sort of thing, this is more just looking at stuff that hit the YouTube radar. On Friday I’ll have a go at some older videos I’ve been wanting to write about for awhile now.
Iron Maiden – Stratego Live
This one grabbed my interest right away, being Maiden and all. They filmed a video for one of the Senjutsu songs they’ve been playing live lately. Maiden were just in the general area a few weeks ago but I was unable to go due to way too much other stuff going on.
Stratego is an interesting choice for me as it’s not a song I necessarily took to a lot when Senjutsu first came out. I thought it was buried a bit under itself, though the Spotify pre-release version was murkier than the album cut. But hearing it live, the song does shine out in the open. There have been some curious production choices in reunion-era Maiden and, while Senjutsu as a whole came out fine, there was some stuff buried on a handful of tracks.
The band have made it no secret that they wish to play the entire album live in select, smaller venues, knowing that the wider audience probably wouldn’t be into it. Should it come to pass I might venture out for it.
Also, a note since we’re talking about them – in a week or two I’ll have a post (maybe two) talking about all of the songs Iron Maiden have not played live, as relayed by a recent article. Obviously the discussion will not include Stratego.
Courting – Loaded
This is an interesting bit that I just ran into when I was checking out one site or another (it was NME, apparently). This British group has been around since 2018 but just released their debut album Guitar Music last week. It’s been generating a bit of buzz so I thought I’d give the song a go.
Man is this weird. On one hand I like it, it’s very noisy and I’m cool with that. But on the other, wow there is a lot of stuff going on here and it might be missing me a bit. The genre tags being thrown around include post-punk and hyperpop, meaning I don’t know what the hell this is. It’s like Britrock on LSD and steroids, I guess.
I’m not sure if I’m sharing this because I want to say “hey, check this out” or if I’m saying “if I had to hear it, so do you.” I’ll give the album a spin later on and see what I think of them. This did at least catch my attention, no doubt about that.
Liam Gallagher and Foo Fighters – Rock N’ Roll Star and Live Forever
I wanted to talk about this for a minute, this being the first tribute concert for Taylor Hawkins held early September in London. A lot of wonderful performances came from the event and there’s honestly almost too much to talk about. In order to keep it concise I decided to hone in on the opening two songs, featuring the one and only Liam Gallagher fronting as the Foo Fighters run through two Oasis classics. Rock N’ Roll Star, often an Oasis opener and usually Liam’s opening song, fittingly opens this tribute show as well. It could be said that the Foo’s performance is a bit clean compared to the usual snarl of the Oasis version, but it’s nothing to fuss over and is a fine rendition.
Live Forever was an almost mandatory cut, it being the perfect song to honor Taylor. I’m sure Taylor would be honored, having been a huge Oasis and Liam fan. And the remaining Fighters all seem pretty psyched to be sharing a stage with Liam.
The show would go on to produce some heartfelt and also insane moments, not the least of which was Wolfgang Van Halen breaking his usual rule and playing his father’s music. Another show is slated to take place tonight, September 27, in Los Angeles.
Lorna Shore – Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames
I’ll wrap this post up with another single from one of the most hotly anticipated extreme metal releases of the year, due out now in just a few weeks’ time. Lorna Shore conquered the Internet, and therefore the world, with their song To The Hellfire last year, and now it’s almost time to see if their new full-length can maintain the buzz of last year’s EP.
So far with the singles released, it appears Lorna Shore are happy to expand their lexicon rather than try to capture lightning in a bottle again with To The Hellfire Part II. A wise choice too, as that almost never works out. Pain Remains seems to offer an expanded pallet and a strong focus on composition and arrangement, moving out of the typical confines of “deathcore” and incorporating many other elements.
This song is clearly the first part of a trilogy and, given the song’s abrupt cut-off at the end, seems to indicate that it’s one long song with three movements. Given the loss illustrated in the video, I’d wager the other two parts are going to get pretty damn heavy.
That’s about all for today’s post. I’ll run through some other videos on Friday, again they’ll be older ones I just want to talk about. Next week I’ll be back at my usual posting frequency. See you all later.
The Crooked Wanderer 