GTAForums Music in Review

[Scarface187]

 

 

 

 

Artist: Various Artists

 

Album: Maiden Heaven

 

Label: None?

 

Release date: July, 16th 2008

 

 

I think its no secret that I love Iron Maiden. I think they are easily in the top 10 (and this is me trying not to be extremely bias) of the best bands of all time. Everything about them is great. The dueling guitar solos, the galloping riffs, the awesome lyrics based on history and literature and movies, Steve Harris' awesome bass playing, Nicko McBrain's amazing drumming and of course Bruce Dickinson's god like vocal abilities. So when it comes to Iron Maiden covers I always cringe a little because some bands can't do justice to the metal gods, but there have been some good Maiden covers in the past. Covers such as: 'Remember Tomorrow' by Opeth, 'Number of the Beast' and 'Hallowed be thy Name' by Iced Earth, 'Fear of the Dark' by Graveworm and others. However there are also really bad Maiden covers out there, so when I heard Kerrang! magazine (the same genius' who had the idea of putting out that sh*t-tastic 'Master of Puppets' cover album) was going to put out an Iron Maiden tribute album, I cringed a lot, especially with such sh*tty band names like Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold being dropped. However there were a few covers in there from bands I actually like (Dream Theater, Coheed and Cambria and Metallica). In between the sh*tty bands and the good bands were a lot of bands I've never heard of before.

 

So a long story short I decided to find this and give it a listen. Mostly for the Dream Theater cover and to find out how horrible these bands ruined my favorite songs. Well surprisingly, the bands I had feared of butchering the songs the worst (Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium) were not the worst but that doesn't begin to describe the horrors I heard when I began listening to this. Lets discuss these tracks in depth.

 

 

1. Black Tide - Prowler: I had never heard of this band until my friend had mentioned them to me when I brought up this tribute album. He told me the lead singer was 15 so I was expecting something very bad. While this band is not bad they are certainly not good really. They're kind of boring actually, and this cover is an example. It just sounds kind of generic to me. Moving on.

 

2. Metallica - Remember Tomorrow: Starts off with a brief thrashy kind of intro which is weird to say the least. I like the originals intro more. As for the rest of the cover its pretty good I thought. Hetfield's vocals don't suck really and the music is good.

 

3. Avenged Sevenfold - Flash of the Blade: One of the two covers I feared to hear the most. To tell you the truth though, theres really nothing that wrong with it. The vocals aren't ultra sh*tty and the music is pretty faithful to the original. A good job from a sh*tty band by not butchering a great song from the Powerslave album.

 

4. Glamor of the Kill - 2 Minutes to Midnight: Here is where the CD really starts to suck sh*t. Just look at this band's name. The name Glamor of the Kill should be enough to let you know this cover will be bad. Well the first thing I notice thats bad aboput this is the vocals. They just sound very bland and whiney. The music isn't anything that special either. Another boring cover.

 

5. Coheed and Cambria - The Trooper: Say what you will about this band but I think tihs band is good. I had heard their covers of this song live but it was always just the first two verses and the solos which singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez always improvised. This is the first studio recording of this cover and well....I don't think its as great as the live versions for a couple reasons. 1. The live versions don't have these weird static/synth effects in them and 2. Their other guitar player still sings the f*cking second verse. They should get the hint that he can't sing and stick with just one singer. Other than that its pretty good, and two solos are included in it this time. Its way better than most of the sh*t on this sh*tfest but it could still be better. I still prefer hearing them performing this live if they are going to perform it.

 

6. Devildriver - Wasted Years: One of my favorite songs from the Somewhere in Time album and oh boy did this song start out f*cking awesome, and then it turned into a big train wreck. Not music wise that is. Vocally it went from decent, to not great to bad. It was at this point I asked this question, "Why the f*ck are some of the bands on this thing using screaming vocals? This is a god damn Iron Maiden tribute album. Use some god damn high range power metal-ish vocals or something. In some cases the growling works out, the best example I have is Graveworm's cover of 'Fear of the Dark'. For the most part though it fails I think. I mean why did they use some of these artists? Why isn't Iced Earth or Blind Guardian on this thing? It confuses the sh*t out of me. I don't know, if you can get past the bad vocals on this cover this is actually a pretty good cover.

 

7. Sign - Run to the Hills: Here is the sh*t stopper. One of the worst covers I've ever heard. This is the worst song on the CD without a doubt but why might you ask? I think its cause this band must of forgot that covers usually sound something like the song they are covering at least (unless you count Sunn O)))'s covers). The only thing this song shares with the original classic from The Number of the Beast is the lyrics. Other than that it is completely different, and boy does it suck. There is no classic drum intro, there is no galloping, none of this. For the majority of the song this song it is sung very slow compared to the original and the instruments are boring to listen to, not to mention the vocals are HORRENDOUS, more whiney sh*t. This is one of the biggest musical homicides I have ever heard. This band should cease and desist from performing or writing music. Seriously, I'm not even going to check out this band no matter how good they might be. After hearing this I am done with this band. God damn....

 

8. Dream Theater - To Tame a Land: After the previous musical abomination, we finally get to the song I had been looking forward to hearing. Its awesome to say the least. They threw in some cool ideas like the sitar sounds after the verses and around other parts. Every instrument is spot on. Petrucci shreds, Portnoy beats the sh*t out of the skins, Jordan Rudess plays the keys like a motherf*cker, John Myung does Steve Harris proud on the bass and James LaBrie does a pretty good job with the vocals. His vocals have been worse on other Dream Theater songs and Maiden covers. This is definitely the highlight of the album. If you're going to subject yourself to this horror, listen to it one way through then delete it all besides this and the other good covers I've mentioned so far.

 

9. Madina Lake - Caught Somewhere in Time: Call 911, another musical homicide has occured. This time the vicitim is one of Maiden's lesser known songs from the masterpiece Somewhere in Time. Another one of their best songs I think, and oh man. Remember how earlier in my review I mentioned the Sign cover not sounding a thing like 'Run to the Hills'? Its pretty much the same case with this song. The only thing that sounds like the original is the piano in the beginning of the song. Other than that, besides maybe some parts where the singer goes "Caught somewhere in time" slightly in the way Bruce sings it on the album, it sounds like a completely different song. Not to mention this piece of sh*t starts with your typical DUN UH DUN DUN UH DUN metalcore-ish riffing. Then after that its bad vocals and all. Ugh, moving on.

 

10. Gallows - Wrathchild: I know Wrathchild is one of Maiden's more punk sounding songs but this band took the punk sound too far. They sped it up way too fast, the vocals are your typical punk vocals and theres no scream towards the end of the bridge. Crap.

 

11. Fightstar - Fear of the Dark: This starts out pretty good. Pretty much like the original. The vocals in the beginning are pretty good too, but theres just one problem. Once the song kicks into high gear, this guy keeps singing like he's still at the beginning. Come on man, hit those high notes damn it. Theres also some energy lacking in the bridge it sounds. Doesn't sound that great. Once again, what started out good turned to sh*t.

 

12. Machine Head - Hallowed be thy Name: Again, like the last song it starts off pretty good but falls flat. The vocals aren't bad they just aren't good either. Musically its pretty good. The best part of this cover is the fact that the drummer does the beginning drum fill to 'Where Eagles Dare' at the end. I might have to give this one a couple listens to make a decision but for now its not sounding too good to me.

 

13. Trivium - Iron Maiden: This is the other cover I was fearing to hear next to Avenged Sevenfold's cover but the turn out was really surprising. I actually liked it. At times the vocals sucked but at other times they were pretty good. Obviously they went with the original Paul Di Anno approach to this song because Matt Heafy can't hit a high note for sh*t and the result is pretty good. The instruments go very well with the vocals. Yes you heard correct. I like something Trivium has done as much as I hate this band. I think its funny how the only things I've enjoyed from this band are their cover of 'Master of Puppets' and this. Its weird. Maybe they should just become a cover band because their covers are way better than the music they make.

 

14. Year Long Disaster - Running Free: The drums in the beginning sound like this is a badly mixed live album, then the bass comes in, followed by the guitars and the singer doing a bad Paul Di Anno impression. Not that good.

 

15. Ghostlines - Brave New World: This is the last song on the CD and I find it weird that they would not only close the CD with 'Brave New World' of all songs, but include this song in the first place. When I think tribute albums I generally think the track selection being taken from all the classic material, but anyways, this song starts out more like a rap beat in some ways. The vocals on this song remind me of Robert Smith or Morrisey. Not metal but pretty good sounding. The main problem with this song is that it kind of stays the same through the whole thing. In the original it goes from slow and soft to fast and heavy but not this. Its slow and soft through the whole thing. Not that its a bad thing, it actually comes off pretty good. I might have to give it a couple more listens though.

 

 

Final thought: The best way I could describe this CD is that it is like a musical version of a John Woo shootout. Its intense, chaotic, bloody but not in the awesome way, in the really bad way, but amongst all the sh*ttiness, out of nowhere a dove flies over. The dove would be represented by such covers like Dream Theater's. Unfortunately despite the few good covers that are on here this "tribute" album is one of the worst things I've ever heard. Do yourself a favor and avoid it and just look up the songs I mentioned but if you have to see the horror, I guess I could link you to a few of the songs.

 

Dream Theater - To Tame a Land

 

 

 

Coheed & Cambria - The Trooper

 

 

 

Sign - Run to the Hills (worst cover ever)

 

 

 

Trivium - Iron Maiden

 

 

 

Devildriver - Wasted Years

 

 

 

I give this piece of sh*t one and a half records and that half is being generous.

 

Edited July 18, 2008 by Scarface187

[Statutory Ray]

Compilations of covers like this usually end up sh*t. There's maybe one or two good covers on "We Reach - Music of the Melvins," and the rest you can tell the bands did nothing to capture the original essence of the song, or to even make the song work in their particular style.

 

This is what happens when Kerrang! puts together something like this. Year Long Disaster would be better suited for a Led Zeppelin tribute, though I'd rather just say f*ck it and listen to their respective originals.