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Although it has to be admitted that a lot of Metal lyrics centre around the beer/motorcycles/women triumvirate, it annoys me that people outside the genre dismiss these sort of subjects as being all Metal bands can write about. And you only have to look at the lyric to any song by Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Bathory or Rainbow --- or most other metal bands --- to see what a fallacy this is. Like any other genre, Metal songwriters take pride in their craft, and while a lot of some of the subgenres may stick to writing lyrical gems such as “Satan is our Lord!” and “Fuck everything!” there are some very deep and well-crafted lyrics to be found if you even slightly scratch the surface of Metal music and take the time to look for them.

Angel of death" (Thin Lizzy) 1981, from the album "Renegade"
Music and Lyrics by Phil Lynott and Darren Wharton
Okay, first off I’m not the biggest Lizzy fan, though I do love their final album “Thunder and lightning”. This comes from the one prior to that, and it’s the opening track. Now, there’s nothing terribly original about a Metal band singing about the Devil. Everyone from Sabbath to Slayer has done it, with varying degrees of success and believability. But I do like how Lynott here takes the persona of the Evil One, and details his exploits down throughout history as Satan watches Man make it easy for him to consign his soul to the flames.

It’s also very interesting how the narrative switches, and Lynott drops the Satanic persona and becomes just another man ”Standing by his bedside/ The night my father died” as the whole song takes on a more human, and yet somehow darker tone. The idea seems to be that we don’t need the Devil to destroy us: we’re doing just fine on our own; a sentiment that would be echoed two years later by Metallica when they wrote "Jump in the fire". It’s the only song on “Renegade” on which keyboard player Darren Wharton has a credit for songwriting, though he would contribute to nearly half of the final album, two years later. It’s a song without much optimism --- well, you wouldn’t expect much from a song with that title, now would you? --- as Lynott declares ”I foresee a holocaust/ An Angel of death descending/ To destroy the human race!”

There are historical inaccuracies in the lyric --- Lynott mentions "Hitler’s stormtroopers march/ Right across the Maginot Line”, but the French fortifications failed miserably as a deterrent to German invaders, who simply circumvented them by attacking through Belgium. Also he notes this as ”The year one thousand nine hundred and thirty nine" but the Germans moved against the French in 1940, not 1939. But these inconsistences, while annoying to a niggly fucker like me, don’t spoil or ruin the song, and at its heart it’s both an indictment, not only of war, but of Man’s powerlessness in the face of natural disasters, as well as a dire prophecy that our collective are irreversibly on the path to damnation.

Whether he means we all go to Hell when he snarls ”You’ll go down, down, deep underground”, or he’s just referring to being buried, it’s a dark, bleak song with a fatalistic message that belies its uptempo, rocking rhythm.

And a stone-cold classic, a reminder of the talent the world lost so young when Phil was taken from us. Rest in Peace, man. Rest in Peace.



”I've seen a fire start in Frisco
The day that the earth quaked.
I've seen buildings a-blazing,
Throwing up in flames.
I heard men, women and children
Crying out to their God for mercy,
But their God didn't listen
So they were burned alive!

They went down, down
Deep underground
In the great disaster.

I was hanging out in Berlin
In the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty nine.
I've seen Hitler's storm troopers
March right across the Maginot line.
I've seen two world wars;
I've seen men send rockets out into space;
I foresee a holocaust:
An angel of death descending to destroy the human race!

Down, down
Deep underground
A great disaster.

In the sixteenth century there was a French philosopher
By the name of Nostradamus
Who prophesied that in the late twentieth century
An angel of death shall waste this land;
A holocaust the likes of which
This planet had never seen.
Now, I ask you:
Do you believe this to be true?

I was standing by the bedside
The night that my father died.
He was crying out in pain
To his God, he said, "Have mercy, mercy!"
His body was riddled with a disease
Unknown to man so he expected no cure;
But before he died that night
He was lost, insane!

He went down, down
Deep underground
A great disaster.

You'll go down, down
Deep underground
A great disaster.
You'll go down, down
Deep underground
A great disaster.”

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Okay, I’ve had it with melodic death metal and other subgenres I don’t enjoy. Time to indulge my own preferences, so let’s have a power metal band. In fact, let’s have the German Power Metal band, of whose work I have heard precisely nothing but who come highly recommended and are acknowledged as one of the premier movers in the German Power Metal scene, and one of the most important bands in the history of that subgenre in that country.

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Nightfall in Middle Earth --- Blind Guardian --- 1998 (Virgin)

Like I say, Blind Guardian are supposedly the best Power Metal band I never heard. And I should be totally into them, with their love of Tolkien and all things fantasy; in fact, this album is a concept based around “The Silmarillion”, precursor to the epic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the inspiration for the name of my second-favourite prog rock icons, Marillion, so all the pieces would appear to be here and if I had to bet on my enjoying this album, I’d be plonking down a big wedge of cash at Paddy Power. If I had a big wedge of cash. Which I don’t. Not even a small one. But this should be good.

Edit: Holy Crap! Twenty-two tracks! That’s gotta go down as the longest album I’ve done in quite a while, though on balance there are apparently spoken passages on the album, which average out at less than a minute each. Still, running time overall --- meh, just over an hour. Not too bad really. And if it’s as good as I think it will be then it won’t matter how long it is. Just hope it doesn’t disappoint.

With the sounds of a climactic battle we open on “War of wrath”, as Sauron speaks to his master Morgoth (look, if you didn’t read the book you’re not going to know, or want to know, so I’ll keep it brief but we need context here) and advises him to flee after being defeated, which the dark lord refuses to do, preferring instead to ruminate upon what went wrong for him. It’s a short piece, backed by the sounds of battle and the voices of the narrator. Norman Eshley takes the role of Sauron while Douglas Fielding plays Morgoth, the interchange between the two like watching a movie it’s so powerful and realistic. Morgoth sends Sauron away, into hiding, but goes himself to try to take the fabled Silmarils, the ageless jewels of Middle Earth, leading into the first song proper, the appropriately-titled “Into the storm”.

With a real sense of urgency and haste, the song explodes across the canvas of the storyline with excited guitars, rolling drums and a passionate vocal from Hansi Kürsch, who also wrote all the lyrics on the album. With the aid of the huge black spider Ungoliant Morgoth steals the Silmarils, taking them to his dread castle where he sets them in his iron crown, denying their light to the world. A backing choir helps load the song with a sense of drama and epicity, and we move into “Lammoth”, which is another very short track (less than thirty seconds) as Morgoth, thinking to cheat Ungoliant, is trapped by her but lets out an awful scream which brings his Balrogs to his rescue.

“Nightfall” is the first chance to catch our breath, a minstrel-like ballad that soon shows its teeth as Feanor and his seven sons mourn the theft of the Silmarils and swear revenge on Morgoth. it is, not surprisingly, a song of lamenting mingled with a cold desire for revenge and retribution, with the choir often putting me in mind of Queen. The song certainly gets more intense as it goes on, the need for revenge almost overwhelming the need to grieve in the recently bereaved family. Another uber-short piece is next, “The Minstrel” taking a look inside the head of a bard who is not sure what to sing next. It’s accompanied for its brief, thirty-two-second run by acoustic guitar and flute and then we hear how the creator of the Silmarils takes his revenge in “The curse of Feanor”.

There’s a galloping, almost insane rush to the song as Feanor charges out into Middle Earth to exact revenge for the theft of his creation and the death of his father. There are softer passages within the song too, but they’re quickly subsumed by the faster, more frenetic ones as the fury of Feanor explodes across the world. Great performance from Kürsch as the maddened craftsman, and the choir add their own power to the track too. Super fretburning solo from André Olbrich, then the song begins to slow a little as Feanor realises what he has done, but by now it’s much too late. The voice of Morgoth gloats “You are now my guest, forever!” and we move on into “Blood tears”, where Feanor’s brother laments his capture and imprisonment at the hands of Morgath.

It’s a low-key, melancholic song in sort of acoustic vein with the assistance of the choir, and it kicks up for the midsection as Meadhros sighs ”My mind's in frozen dreams/ The rotten flesh of bitter lies/ Welcome to where time stands still/ No-one leaves and no-one ever will!” A somewhat more optimistic song as the building of the city of Gondolin is related in “Mirror, mirror”, with some celtic influences in the melody and a rattling, rocking beat with an excellent performance by the choir, some sort of Irish jig reeled off (sorry!) by Olbrich on the guitar adding to the celtic feel, then another short spoken passage takes us into “Noldor (Dead winter reigns)”.

A slower, more stately rhythm indicative of a people marching fits this song perfectly as the army of Fingolfin march out of the ice lands. The drama and passion in this track has it occupying the position of standout, so far, for me. The next track is a short minstrel-like lay, followed by a powerful rocker in “Time stands still (at the Iron Hill)", in which the dread Lord Morgoth is challenged to single combat against Fingolfin who, though he wounds him badly, is killed and Morgoth triumphs. Great interplay between vocalist and choir here, with a tremendous hook in the chorus and some excellent soloing. Death and betrayal are the stuff of “Thorn”, when Gondolin is betrayed by Maeglin, son of the Dark Elf. Reflecting the theme, the song is heavier and harder than previous tracks, with a harsh vocal from Kürsch.

A beautiful piano frames “The Eldar”, as the elven king dies and bids farewell to his people, sad song as you would expect, laden with regret and sorrow and other than vocals --- the choir return here to mourn the passing of the ruler of the elves --- the song is completely carried on what I believe to be the grand piano of Michael Schüren, a stunning performance, and after another short spoken passage heads into “When sorrow sang”, the penultimate musical track as Beren lies dying, awaiting the final kiss from his lover. Rather than another sentimental lament, this song is powerful and uptempo, mirroring the defiance of the dying Beren, refusing to die until he has gazed into the eyes of the one he loves once more.

Morgoth revels in his triumph as the armies of men and elves are scattered, defeated, and “A dark passage” marches along victoriously, as the dark lord scorns his foes and takes control of Middle Earth. It’s a powerful, almost operatic ending to the album, with the faint promise of hope leaking through like a weak shaft of sunlight in the all-encompassing darkness as a prophecy is mentioned right at the end, a prophecy we will eventually see come to pass in the three-novel cycle we know as “The Lord of the Rings”.

TRACKLISTING

1. War of wrath
2. Into the storm
3. Lammoth
4. Nightfall
5. The minstrel
6. The curse of Feanor
7. Captured
8. Blood tears
9. Mirror, mirror
10. Face the truth
11. Noldor (Dead winter reigns)
12. Battle of sudden flame
13. Time stands still (at the Iron Hill)
14. The Dark Elf
15. Thorn
16. The Eldar
17. Nom the Wise
18. When sorrow sang
19. Out on the water
20. The steadfast
21. A dark passage
22. Final chapter (Thus ends…)

I apologise if I concentrated more on the story than the music, but I got caught up in it and it is an amazing tale if you haven’t read it. Tough going though, the book. As far as Blind Guardian are concerned, I’m glad I finally got to listen to them because this was excellent. I had some carzy notion that The Batlord disabused me of (he’s not often charged with the reverse!) that their singer was a death growler, and I see of course now that I was completely wrong about that. This is almost the perfect synthesis of the things I like: fantasy, Tolkien, Power Metal, excellent lyrics and a great interpretation of a classic story. Couldn’t ask for more really. Will definitely be checking into some of their other material.

I thought twenty-two tracks was a lot, and it kind of was, but given that a large percentage of those were short, spoken ones or very short musical interludes --- though interestingly, no instrumentals at all, which I would have expected --- the time did not drag but trying to capture the essence of this album in one review is like attempting to distill the basics of LOTR into a few sentences: you can’t do it justice, and I’m sure I failed to get across how great this album is. But take my word for it: if you’re a fan of Tolkien and love metal, you really need to hear this.

Time to take a small break from the noise and mayhem, and dial it back just a little for a while as we experience the http://www.trollheart.com/fist.jpg
for the first time in Metal Month. What is it? I'm glad you asked. Actually, I'm not glad, because that shows me you either have not been reading my journal (shame on you!) or have not been paying attention.

This is the section where we look at an oft-overlooked aspect of metal, the metal ballad. Yes, the slow songs, the ones all true metalheads will tell you they skip on the album, but which in reality have them marvelling at the soft interplay of guitar and piano, or the sudden appearance of strings, and wondering how a band who just moments ago were roaring, raging and rocking fit to burst could suddenly be this quiet, engaging, gentle collection of people writing love songs? But it happens, and more often than you would expect. Even Metallica have their ballads. Let's unashamendly wipe a tear from our rime-encrusted eyes and put down the beer can for a second while we check out some of the best.

Let's start with our man Dio, and one of the few, in my opinion, decent tracks on the “Dream evil” album. With a full choir in attendance, this is “All the fools sailed away.”
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One of The Batlord's favourites, this is Hammerfall, with a track from their second album “Legacy of kings”, and “Remember yesterday”.
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And from the second album by Nightwish, “Oceanborn”, this is “Sleeping sun”
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Like I said, even Metallica mellow out on occasion! Here's “The unforgiven”.
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And we'll leave it at that for now, closing out with a Danish metal band called, um, Pretty Maids, who are neither pretty nor maids. But this is pretty. Track from their “Spooked” album called “If it can't be love”. See ya next time!
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First of all, you used the wrong album cover for Nightfall In Middle-Earth. That's the one to Imaginations from the Other Side.

Secondly, that wasn't me, that was Unknown Soldier. I suggested you listen to them, and US mentioned that you probably wouldn't like the singer.

And last, I have no idea how you've managed to go this long without listening to Blind Guardian. They're pretty much synonymous with power metal. Glad you've heard the light though.

Hey, just a little something I thought you should know: you got the Blind Guardian cover art wrong. The one you have is for the album Imaginations From the Other Side. I don't blame you, though. You're doing an awful lot of work.

EDIT: Didn't see Batty's post before now. Man, you can't catch a break.

Did Blind Guardian think This is Spinal Tap was a real documentary :laughing:

I don't see it as a inconsistency.
He says he was in Berlin in 1939, he doesn't say he was at the Maginot Line in 1939.
Each other line in that verse is about a separate event, so is this.

Yeah I see that. Guess I hit the wrong link on Wiki. I had been deciding which album to listen to and I must have linked that by mistake. I'll sort it.
It was you. You said something like "Wait, are you trying to tell me that you think Blind Guardian have death vocals??" and then you posted a video. Which I never listened to.
Yeah, there's loads of power metal I haven't heard. Remember, I'm primarily a proghead! ;)
Danger! Danger! Overload! Over--- pffft!
I don't understand the reference?
Well I do. If you were to say "I was hanging out in Dallas in 1962 and saw Kennedy assassinated", would that not be wrong? The date intrinsically links the event to it, otherwise why mention it? Also, do you accept that "Hitler's stormtroopers marching over the Maginot Line" is incorrect? Not that as I say it matters, but I just wonder what your view on it is?

I may have to try that Tolkien-based album. I'm familiar enough with the story to appreciate the lyrics. BTW, I loved your humorous review yesterday. :thumb:

You should, but it's power metal with gruffer vocals than usual, so you might find it a little overwhelming. It's great, though. Recommended.

Great. I'm glad someone appreciated it. Poor old Buzz though: doubt we'll be seeing him again. Wait till you see who the next guest reviewer is though! ;)

If he's talking about the same event why add the part about being in Berlin when the Maginot Line is in France :laughing:

I'm about 99% sure it's going to be Chad Kroeger.

EDIT: Oh, and Kennedy was shot in '63.

Chad! Chad! Chad! CHAAD!

.. and one of mine.

x2 and Imaginations from the Other Side is their best álbum song for song.

Taking your point about the year (though it could be argued, if you want to, that he followed the Nazis from Berlin to France, but let's let that go) the other point I was making is that he says Hitler's army marched ACROSS the ML. They didn't; they circumvented it, proving De Gaulle correct when he warned it wasn't long enough and could be got around. That's what I was saying. If he had sung "marched right AROUND the Maginot Line", then we're golden. But he didn't.

Oh I do love to nitpick don't I? ;)

Well, you know how those Irish are, with their lack of understanding of things.

The Maginot Line failed thanks to the Belgians.

I know. That's why I said it would make no sense to say you were there in 62. Urban was saying Lynott said he was in Berlin in '39 and saw Hitler take the Maginot Line, which happened in '40, so the date IS important.
Not Chad. We couldn't afford him. Though he did teach this guy everything he knows... ;)
Um, I don't understand you... :confused: :beer: ;)
Yes, thanks to Hitler going through Belgium, which CDG had warned could happen. But in "Angel of Death" the lyric is "marched right across the Maginot Line". Incorrect. Marched AROUND it.

Man, this is turning into a real history lesson, innit?

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Geist ist teufel --- Urfaust --- 2004 (GoatowRex)
Recommended by Ninetales

I find myself getting less and less sure of myself. I’ve heard bands described as “ambient black metal” who didn’t sound in the least ambient to me, "melodic death metal" in which I can discern no melody, and "Viking metal" that often sounds very close to Power Metal. and here we have another, the debut album from Urfaust who, despite their German sounding name, are actually Dutch. The album only has six tracks, though one is ten minutes long and the closer is fifteen, so I hope I end up liking this!

We open with the appropriately-titled “Intro”, which has deep booming synth I think, a witchy-sounding dark voice which appears to be chanting rather than singing, and no percussion yet. Sounds like the sort of thing you would fear coming across if you wandered into a creepy abandoned church after dark. Brr! Can just see the high priest raising the knife above the female sacrificial victim as he prepares to plunge it into her heart. Melody, such as it is, maintains the same eerie, pulsing beat as the chanting goes on. Ok, well EM says they only have guitar, drums and vocals, so I guess that was guitar echo or feedback or something. As the first “real” track gets going the vocal changes to a high-pitched, almost desperate shriek, and you can clearly hear the guitar now as “Die kalte Teufelsfaust” takes us into almost seven minutes of creepy, weird music.

The vocal does descend from that unnerving shriek through to a lower, more gutteral and yet more discernible sound, but then climbs back up. As with the opener, the guitar seems to maintain the same riff throughout, and again the vocal is almost more chanting than singing. Oddly enough, I kind of detect tinges of Spanish vocalists here. I’m not saying you’re listening to Julio Iglesias, but the inflections seem very peculiarly Spanish. The drums get a bit more manic now, as does the vocal, as we come to the end of the track, and “Drudenfuß” is almost exactly the same length. Coincidence? Whatever, this one is far more upbeat and has a harder, more prominent guitar, much further up and cleaner in the mix. Seems like some sort of jig or traditional song. Mucho weird. As if this album could get any weirder.

At least the guitar begins to break out of its rut here; up to now, it’s been basically holding the one pattern of chords, now there’s a solo and a bit of a different riff. Though it returns to it fairly quickly, it’s good to see that IX, one half of the duo that make up this band, can flex his (assume he’s male) musical muscles a little. IX also provides the vocals, so perhaps we shouldn’t judge his guitar playing too harshly. I have of course no idea what the song titles mean, but this definitely sounds like some sort of folk song, probably best indulged in after several pints of the local ale. Sounds like a flute there, but none is credited and with no synth either I’ll just have to put it down to an effect on the guitar.

That ten-minuter is up next, and “Auszug aller tödlich seinen Krafte” (if anyone who can speak Dutch and/or German would like to translate these titles for me, please help yourself) starts off slow and moody, with a heavy distorted guitar backdrop and sparse drumming from the weirdly-named (is everything about this album weird?) VRDRBR --- I don’t even know how you pronounce that, so if I have cause to refer to him, or it, again, I’ll call him Vader. Why? Why not? I wouldn’t presume to label this a ballad --- after all, it’s ten minutes long and we’re only into the second of those; there’s plenty of time for it to kick up and change tempo, possibly more than once --- but so far it’s a slow, doomy, almost bluesy piece with what must be credited as a half-decent vocal. No demonic screams at any rate. Well, not yet.

Something of Nick Cave in this, specially in the vocal, but the guitar seems again content to play the same riff into at least the fifth minute. Well those screams are back in the sixth minute, but thankfully they don’t last long at all. Everything stops now as the guitar descends like a falling banshee or a diving Stuka, then a sound like a buzzsaw or drill followed by sirens and weird scary screechy noises reminds me in part of Vangelis’s “Beauborg”. Man, that scared me when I were younger. Probably still would. Sounds like backward masking now, some bell sounds and then a horror-film soundtrack which really sounds like it’s on violin, and if this IX guy is producing all these sounds on the frets then all I can say is that he is actually one hell of a guitarist, even given the limited playing he has produced up to now.

With some more mad screams, a kind of low male vocal chorus and some more heavy guitar we’re out and into the title track. A moaning chant with a big spacey sound that fills the room gives us a slow start, very doom meets drone; you could certainly see this on the soundtrack to some bad horror movie or documentary. There’s a vaguely arabic lilt to the chant, though that could just be me. I would definitely have thought cellos or violins though, but none are mentioned. I would have accepted a synth, but again, no go. The voice fades out and the guitar takes over, weaving a very effective and at times almost deafening soundscape which swirls and eddies and draws you in, like a planet in the grip of a Black Hole. I check and we’re halfway through the track: that was quick.

Oddly, the closer is called “Outro”. Not that that’s a strange name for a final track, especially as the album opened with “Intro”. But I know of few if any outros that are over fifteen minutes long! This seems to continue the basic theme and idea expressed in the last track, with what sounds like an organ or synth booming out the main phrase, the guitar looping in and out of the musicscape -- I just can’t believe this is all done on guitar, though no doubt Ninetales will confirm or disprove that for me --- and so far no vocal, leading me to wonder if we are in for a quarter-hour instrumental? Well we’re three minutes in now, but after all that’s less than twenty percent of the way through the track. Plenty of time for it to change.

I must say, once you get over the jarring vocal and the album gets going, the music on it is quite stunningly beautiful. It certainly deserves, for once, the prefix of “atmospheric”, though whether I’d call it Black Metal or not is a question I would have to explore another time. This particular piece could grace any documentary about space or under the sea; it has that real flowing, ethereal, otherworldly aspect to it, almost like celestial music (which given its possible connections to Black Metal is quite ironic). Sort of reminds me in ways of Carbon Based Lifeforms and some of the more esoteric work of a certain Greek composer.

We’re now halfway through and I think it may be safe to say that there will be no vocals. I can’t see where any would fit in, but then, this duo do seem to come up with surprises and curve balls all over the place. I find myself wondering if Vader is a drum machine, not a human at all? No, he’s real all right; just saw a picture of him on his drumkit. Pretty amazing stuff this, although I must admit I don’t see where percussion comes in here at all. It’s completely ambient, atmospheric and almost abstract expressionism in music. And now we’re ten minutes in, and again the one basic musical phrase has been running through this gargantuan composition, yet somehow it doesn’t seem to matter, as you kind of find yourself floating away, drifting on the melody, being carried along towards the end of the piece, and the end of the album.

TRACKLISTING

1. Intro
2. Die kalte Teufelsfaust
3. Drudenfuß
4. Auszug aller tödlich seinen Krafte
5. Geist ist Teufel
6. Outro

When this album started I anticipated a real ordeal: the screeching, scratchy vocals, the scary effects, the seemingly-one-phrase guitar. I was ready to turn down the volume and just pay passing attention to it. But as it went on I found I was really getting into it, and now that it’s over I wish there was more. I still have no idea if all of that amazing music was indeed made only on a guitar, but if so I’m doubly impressed. Either way, this is some of the best instrumental and ambient music I’ve heard in a long time. Whether I’d class it as Metal of any sort, never mind Black Metal, is debatable, but whatever it is, I like it.

Ninetales expected me to possibly trash this album, and said he usually let people hear it just to gauge their reactions. Well, completely against my own expectations, this one has come up trumps and I am seriously glad I listened to it.

One of the best so far.

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Everybody who knows me knows that Iron Maiden are my number one metal band, the band who first introduced me to Heavy Metal, and in addition everyone knows that I prefer Bruce Dickinson-era Maiden over Di'Anno. But I'm not one of those people who refuse to listen to the older stuff. I don't say “Oh yeah I love Maiden but only from “Number of the Beast” on: the rest is crap.” I wouldn't do that, and I don't, because apart from the change in vocalist pretty much all of the main band are still there in the early days, and though the music style was a little rawer, with more of an edge to it --- punkier, if you prefer, and as has been said before, by me and by others --- it's still Iron Maiden. I also recognise that the first two albums, though not huge hits by any means, are where it all began and where Maiden began to build their massive fanbase. After all, even now they still perform tracks like their signature tune, “Wrathchild”, “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and of course “Phantom of the opera”, as well as others from that era. Maiden have not forgotten where they came from, nor should or do I.

And I don't. I featured thier debut album in my series “Maiden voyages” and I gushed over “Killers” (Sorry about that; I tried to clean it off later!) in last year's Metal Month. But I tend to steer a little away from the first two albums even when discussing Maiden. So I thought it might be fun to pick my top ten --- got other members to do their lists, why not mine? --- early Maiden tracks. So here they are.

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Prowler (Iron Maiden)
This had to be in the countdown. Although the first actual Maiden song I heard ever was “Run to the hills” --- instilling in me an immediate desire to buy the album and play it to death --- this is essentially the very first Iron Maiden song ever played, if you discount The Soundhouse Tapes. It introduces an album that is flawed, yes, but still kicks ass with the best of them. Sure, Di'Anno sounds like he's been smoking fifty a day and has been awoken suddenly --- he's in a REAL bad mood! --- but it's got the raw power, energy and aggression that, although Maiden retained it, was slightly subsumed among clever lyrics, stupendous light shows and intricate songwriting as the years went on. Of course, that's normal in a band developing, especially a band developing into a world-conquering one.

But it's nice to hear the almost innocent (?) anger and fire that drove the first Maiden album. It suffers from the absence of Adrian Smith --- Dennis Stratton was not the guitarist he is --- and the production of course is, to be entirely fair and not nasty, shitty, leading to Steve Harris's famous comments that if he ever got Will Malone he'd punch him, or something. He was not happy, anyway. The song, though, will always for millions of kids be the first they experienced of Maiden, and led to greater things, so is deserving of a place here on my top ten, even if it is right at the bottom end. Elements of the main melody would later find their way into the title track of their second album, although the lyric leaves a lot to be desired --- ”Got me feelin' myself and reelin' around” --- um, yeah. It also has the first of what would become tradmark solos from Dave Murray, leading to the proper Iron Maiden sound once he found his axe partner in Smith the following year.

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Iron Maiden (Iron Maiden)
It would be just as churlish to discount the signature tune of the band, even though I don't really consider it one of my favourites. It's certainly raw, but for me it's just a little too manic. Di'Anno's voice on it is certainly the archetypal unhinged serial killer, and I think not even Dickinson can sing this with the same maniacal passion as he does, but again it's almost a little too close to punk for my tastes. It does have that iconic opening salvo on the guitar, and the chorus would definitely go on to energise crowds right up to this day as Di'Anno, and later Dickinson (and probably even Bayley, during his time with the band) roared ”Come out! Come out! Wherever you are! Iron Maiden gonna get ya!”

Another great solo and perhaps one of the best endings to an early Maiden song ensure the title track to their debut must be included in my list, but it's low down because there are so many other tracks that are so much better than it, as we will see.

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Purgatory (Killers)
There are a lot of things that distinguish this track from the two I've selected below it. First, Di'Anno at this point, with the release of their second album --- the last on which he would sing of course --- seems to finally be finding his voice. His raspy, almost screeching delivery on the debut can't in fairness all be put down to bad production, though some of it certainly can, and he's obviously honed it to a much better pitch here, as when he begins singing there's little trace of the raw, scratchy tone that characterised his singing on “Iron Maiden”. He still has that good scream that he lets go once in a while --- as he does here --- and which Dickinson would improve on a year later, but mostly his voice is much more controlled.

The song is also better constructed. I know people get sick of me using the “M” word, but neither of the two previous songs had a terrible amount of melody, whereas here the structure of the song is so much better, or at least I think so. The energy and passion that would be, and still is, forever associated with Iron Maiden is still there, but it's more controlled and less directionless than it was on the first album. There are the first real signs of discipline coming in to the music, and that may be in part due to the recruiting of Adrian Smith to replace Stratton, and also due to the first appearance of a man whose name would become synonymous with Iron Maiden, Martin Birch, taking the reins of production. The production on “Killers” bears no resemblance to “Iron Maiden”, which at times sounds like it's been recorded in someone's garage.

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Transylvania (Iron Maiden)
I had to pick this because throughout their career Maiden have played few if any instrumentals, and this is the only one on the debut. From the start, the guitars kick your face in and they really don't stop till the final note. The signature sound that would become that of the band runs right through this piece, and I always like to see a band able to play without a singer. Also, it means we don't have to listen to Di'Anno's voice! In the middle it winds up into a real fretfest and just goes for it. You can almost feel the sweat dripping off the band as they fire this baby up. Also, it ends on a really eerie, moaning sound that almost presages “Powerslave”, four years later, and runs into “Strange world”, one of their few ballads. It's also quite long for an instrumental, clocking in at just over the four minute mark, yet every second is necessary and it never seems too long.

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Thankfully, with “Undisputed attitude” behind us, we can now return to proper Slayer fare, and their eighth album, which took for its title a Latin phrase supposedly meaning a forbidden chord or something, literally the devil's music. Jeff Hanneman pretty much wrote all of this album --- all the music bar two tracks, one of which he collaborated with his axe partner on, and much of the lyrics, and there are some surprises along the way, as Slayer once again break the mould and enter the murky world of nu-Metal and even Groove Metal. Yeah.

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Diabolus in musica --- Slayer --- 1998 (American)

Meaning “the Devil in music” (as if you couldn't work that one out) the title of this album at least assured Slayer of the surely by now coveted Parental Advisory sticker, and zero airplay once again, but once again they didn't give a fuck. They had their fans, and those fans didn't listen to the charts, probably not even the radio, so what did they care? On “Seasons in the abyss” Slayer had been tasked by their label with producing a hit single. When they snarled “You write it, we'll play it” that put paid to any further discussions, so nobody was going to try to suggest they write anything commercial for this or any other album.

But it did turn out to be quite experimental, as we shall see. Slayer experimented with themes and ideas they had not previously, and brought in influences from subgenres previously considered unlikely ever to feature on one of their albums. It's also --- barring the previous album of Punk covers --- one of the longest Slayer albums to date, running for forty minutes and having thirteen tracks, a feat only surpassed by the next album, which also has thirteen tracks but a running time of forty-two minutes. “Seasons in the abyss” is the same length --- 42 mins --- but has only ten tracks.

But enough nerdism. To the album. We begin with “Bitter peace”, one of several songs on the album carrying on Slayer's tradition of speaking out --- well, screaming or growling out I guess --- against the futility and insanity of war. With a big grinding doom-like opening it's heavy as Hell and almost two minutes before the vocal comes in, on the back of some pretty sweet bass from Tom as the tempo kicks into the sort of thing we've become used to. Not as fast as the Punk on the previous album, true, but for my money that's too fast. This is a tempo I've all but become accustomed to, and it's somehow comforting to hear it again. Big, powerful guitars plus a blistering solo from Kerry: what more could you ask for in an opener?

“Death's head” opens with a very groove metal bass and guitar, and romps along nicely with an almost diabolic (yeah) vocal from Tom and some great feedback guitar from Kerry before he launches into another solo. But Tom gets to display his prowess on the bass here too, with several extended passages peppering the song. “Stain of mind” is another heavy thunderer, though betraying a flirtation with nu-Metal in a semi-rap run off by Tom at the beginning. Not really sure that works: I never believed rap and Metal mixed, probably never will. Still, Araya doesn't make it too obvious that he's rapping --- after a fashion --- and the song is still very recognisable as a Slayer one.

The first time, I believe, that Slayer used sound effects other than the likes of thunder and rain, “Overt enemy” starts with a voice intoning things like “God's war/ Against Man/ Holocaust/ Man's war against himself” and pulls in Slayer's continuing protestations against the Church and against organised religion. It's slower, a cruncher rather than a screamer, with low, dirty guitar and some thick bass from Tom again.

And returning lyrically to the themes explored in “Sex, murder, art” on the “Divine intervention” album, “Perversions of pain” doesn't need too much explanations, another hard-hitting rocker though without the megaspeed again this time. Until Kerry cuts loose in about the second minute, then it all takes off into the stratosphere. “Love to hate” is thicker, sludgier and with an angry vocal from Tom, seeming to tread the old inside-the-mind-of-the-serial-killer ground again. One criticism I would have to level at Slayer --- and one which may not be unexpected --- is that they tend to rehash the same ideas over and over again. War. Death. Pain. Serial killers. Religion. We have heard all of these before, but in general I don't see any new ideas, no new themes, no new subjects, which is a pity but as I say not unexpected.

On any other album by any other band (well, most) you might think “Desire” could be a ballad, but haven't you been listening? Slayer don't do ballads! As it happens, this appears to be a song about necrophilia, revealed in the lines ”Forbidden fantasies/ Uncontrollable heat/ Find yourself all alone and dead” and while “In the name of God” is certainly not a title you would expect to find on a Slayer album, throw the word lies in before it and you have the true picture. No, they haven't gone all Christian Thrash --- is there such a thing? --- they still hate Jesus, and he probably hates them. Bet he doesn't have one single Slayer album in his collection.

Plenty of anger of course in this song, a hard heavy beat and steamhammer guitars, though the refrain at the end reminds me of something. Can't think what. Come to think of it, what I was saying just a short time ago about Slayer having no new ideas? Scratch that, as “Scrum” has to --- has to --- be a song about ... rugby! Yeah I know, but listen to the lyric: ”Full contact/ Why I live and breathe/ Sidestepping all the human debris” and ”base line goal line/ Overtime killing time”. Sure it could be about American Football (No I will not...) but ”Living on adrendaline/ Your try is crushed” I think settles the question. No touchdown guys. No touchdown. Of course, why a bunch of Americans would write about rugby is another thing, but there it is.

“Screaming from the sky” seems to put us in the head of a German Stuka divebomber pilot (more allegations of Nazi glorification no doubt) and marches along on a great military beat and a hammered out vocal, while “Point”, for some reason, is the last track Spotify have on this album, but there are two more, so a-YouTubing I must go. For the record, “Point” reminds me a little of Sabbath's “Into the void”, though much more aggressive of course. So then, the first of the two tracks Spotify doesn't give me is “Wicked”, and it's a whole six minutes long, making it easily the longest track on the album and one of the three longest Slayer tracks up to this point. It starts with a nice downtuned guitar then bursts into life on the twin axe attack of Hanneman and King. The song may be about Armageddon, always a little hard to be sure. It's a real cruncher, stomping along and massacring everything in its path.

Finally, “Unguarded instinct” (seems these two may be bonus tracks, though it's not mentioned on Wiki, but would explain why Spotify doesn't have them; that means I've been tricked into covering bonus tracks, something you know I don't usually do) is another heavy cruncher, and sad to say, seems to go down the tired old well-trodden serial killer road. Oh well: guess you can't expect too much in the way of originality. Decent song though; think it should have been part of the original album, but sure, what do I know?

TRACKLISTING

1. Bitter peace
2. Death's head
3. Stain of mind
4. Overt enemy
5. Perversions of pain
6. Love to hate
7. Desire
8. In the name of God
9. Scrum
10. Screaming from the sky
11. Point
12. Wicked
13. Unguarded instinct

It's a heavy album, of that there's no doubt, but as I said earlier the lack of variety, the refusal to change much and, though this is seen as something of an experimental album, the sameness of Slayer's music is, I have to admit, boring me. Nobody would ever accuse them of being progressive, but hey, you may hate Genesis or Marillion or even ELO, but at least they tried to do something new on successive albums, even if it was only new lyrical themes or song structures. To a great extent, I sort of feel that (the covers album aside) the last three albums have all sounded pretty similar to me, and while I don't expect to see Slayer bring in keyboards or orchestras or even a double bass, I would like them to do something a little different.

But I guess this is how their fans like them, so they're unlikely to change. Still, for an album touted as being so “different” to anything else they had done, I don't see it. More of the same. Kind of yawn, y'know? Hey! Put down that burning cross! If I don't turn up for the next review people will come looking for me, you know... :shycouch:

A bunch of druggies might well get things like across and around mixed up. But on the other hand they’re probably talking generally here concerning the Maginot Line.

But as you like to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, you’d be bound to notice this error. :)

Members' Top Ten Lists
Time to return to Mondo Bungle's Top 10, and Number
6
is, for the third time,
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Angel dust --- Faith No More --- 1992

Give it up guys! I am not reviewing it again! Moving on...

5
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Pleasure to kill --- Kreator --- 1986 (Noise)

I've only experience of Kreator on one album, checked out during Metal Month last year, and that one was well into their discography. I was told it was at a point where they were losing the thrash influences. This, on the other hand, is their second album and said to be a classic of thrash metal, so I expect it to be a bit, what, more brutal? It's also quite long, with twelve tracks, so let's get this party started!

There's the no doubt deceptive melodic guitar opening “Choir of the damned”, but as it's only less than two minutes long I think it may be an instrumental. Now we have keys and choral voices, gentle gutiars .... yeah yeah. I'm not fooled guys. I'm not fooled. With track titles like “Riot of violence”, “Carrion” and “Flag of hate”, I know it's going to break into a fast, aggressive ... and there it goes. Sort of Slayer speed, growly voice but I can understand it so that's good. “Ripping corpse” kind of blends into “Death is your saviour” with no real demarcation line between them that I can see, but maybe I was just distracted. Cool solo.

Title track has got a great chugging rhythm, with a really silly death vocal like a record that has been put on two speeds too slow (OFA) but generally this is all passing in something of a blur of sound and growls. I'm losing interest now; everything seems very similar and I can't separate the tracks one from the other. The playing is great, the solos sweet but I just can't pick anything out that really impresses me, other than the opening instrumental. Sorry, nothing more to say about it. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. In some cases, didn't really notice it. What can ya do?

And so on to
4
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Blood in our wells – Drudkh --- 2006

Well this sounds interesting. Ukrainian metal? I've sampled progressive rock from there and it was pretty impressive, so we'll see. Hmm. Two ten-minute tracks, a twelve-minuter and a nine. Out of six altogether. I see. Well the first one is short, with an odd kind of folky intro, but I wonder how long that will last? I know this is black metal: it's getting harder to surprise old Trollheart, you guys! Guess that's basically an instrumental, though there are some voices wailing in the background, but I don't think I'd categorise it as singing. The nine-minute track is next, and they all have what I assume are Ukrainian titles (lots of square characters, you know) but I have translations so I know this is called “Furrows of gods”. As expected, it has the angry, growly vocals that seem to characterise so much of this subgenre, but thanks to Jansz I'm getting used to tuning them out. The music is damn good, very slow without being doom metal and very dramatic. I like this a lot. Says the lyrics are based on Ukrainian poetry and literature but --- surprise, surprise! --- I don't speak Ukrainian so can't comment on them. The album is said to be dedicated to the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, basically equivalent it would appear to the IRA. Again I know nothing about this. But the music is very cinematic and powerful. It doesn't batter you with high-speed guitar solos and trundling drums as much black metal I've listened to tends to do. Nice change.

Nine minutes has gone in pretty quickly, and the music here seems more like a sort of heavier progressive metal to me; definitely not the bog-standard black metal of some bands. Lots of melody. Yeah yeah I know. “When the flame turns to ashes” has an amazingly agile guitar solo pulling it in, and just gets better as it goes along. Man, even without being able to understand the lyrics you can feel the passion in this music! Superb. The mono playing at the end is inspired, even if it made me think my computer was screwed up!

To me, the real test of good music is can I enjoy it even if I hate the vocals? Usually I'd say no: I like to hear what's being sung and if I can't enjoy the singing then I can't get past that to enjoy the music. But with this --- and a few others now --- I've been able to make the breakthrough and can honestly say this is effing brilliant! It's interesting and refreshing too how Drudkh have one guitarist and two keyboard players, one of whom also plays the drums, the other of whom does the vocals. Certainly makes for a cinematic sound to their music. The uileann pipes or whatever they are at the start of “Eternity” are just perfect and then it piles into one of the most catchy melodies I've ever heard in black metal. Damn, this is good!

I'll be honest, I can't find a track on this album I like, but I can find six that I love. Not a single bad track, not even one that's sub-par, and they're all so good that I find it impossible to pick a standout. They're all heroes, every one. What an incredible album!

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Children of Bodom covering Journey? Welllllll.... last Metal Month we did feature them covering Britney's “Oops ... I did it again” (that was hi-larious!) but this time they needn't quite hang their collective heads in shame, as this task was undertaken by their keyboard player Janne Warmin under his own solo project Warmen. On the fifth Warmen album they undertook to cover “Separate ways”, from the Journey album “Frontiers.” To be entirely fair, though Journey are known as wimp-rock and either praised or reviled for ballads such as “Open arms”, “Who's crying now” and “Don't stop believing”, this is one of their rockier tracks, and I could certainly see a metal band taking it on. As Warmen did, in 2009, on the album “Japanese hospitality”. Am I missing a joke here? Anyway they did a pretty damn good job on it, and you can check the two versions side by side here.
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Back when I was getting into bands I tended to buy the greatest hits packages, reasoning that this was the best way to hear a band's repertoire. And so it was with Rainbow. Having heard the debut and “Rising” I went out and bought this first ever Rainbow compilation. And is it a revelation!
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The best of Rainbow --- Rainbow --- 1981

Not only do you get half of “Rising” on this double album, you also have all the hits --- “Since you been gone”, “All night long”, “I surrender” etc --- as well as one of Rainbow's most heartbreaking ballads, “Catch the rainbow”. Factor in “Long live rock'n'roll”, “Kill the king” and the amazing “Gates of Babylon”, to say nothing of “Eyes of the world”, and you have a compilation that really is hard to beat. Some of the tracks on it I could do without --- “Man on the silver mountain”, “Jealous lover” etc, but overall it's one of the best collections I've ever bought.

Showcasing the best from the Dio era, as well as Joe Lynn Turner and Graham Bonnet, it's a true representation of what Rainbow were all about at the height of their popularity and their creative apex. A true time capsule. Excellent stuff.

TRACKLISTING

1. All night long
2. Man on the silver mountain
3. Jealous lover
4. Lost in Hollywood
5. Long live rock'n'roll
6. Stargazer
7. Kill the king
8. A light in the black
9. Since you been gone
10. Sixteenth century Greensleeves
11. Catch the rainbow
12. Eyes of the world
13. I surrender
14. Gates of Babylon
15. Can't happen here
16. Starstruck

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Wrathchild (Killers)
I'm not quite sure what it is about “Wrathchild” that I like. It's not, to be fair, the greatest of tracks and there are surely songs I could have chosen in its place that didn't make the list. But there's something about it that draws me. Maybe it's the fact that it would later spawn a glam metal band by the same name, or that it was included on some metal compilation I heard as a kid but never really paid much attention to. Maybe it's the “I'm coming to get you!” which would be repeated later in the title track. Maybe it's that big meaty bassline that gets it going, or the soaraway guitar. I really don't know. But somehow it's found its way into a higher spot on my top ten than I would have expected it would have occupied, if at all.

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Drifter (Killers)
This, on the other hand, has always been one of my favourite Maiden tracks. I particularly love the big rocking ending, the “Gonna sing my song, and it won't take long” and the powerful, screaming ending. But the opening is great too: that double guitar attack building up to Di'Anno yelling “Rock and ro-oh-oh-ohlllllll!” It's a track that always makes me want to move. The middle section is inspired too, the slowing down as the guitar solos so beautifully and restrained, the sort of stuttering re-build up to the main melody, the big drum semi-solo from Clive Burr as the whole thing takes off for the big finish. Superb.

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Strange world (Iron Maiden)
As I mentioned, the first ballad from the boys, which would be thin on the ground throughout their (so far) forty-four year career (going in terms of album releases; I know they've been together since 1975), it was at the time a startling departure from the hard-edged metal/punk that I had been experiencing on the debut, and segueing as it does directly from the first instrumental, it was something of a double whammy. And it's a beautiful song. Di'Anno proves he can really sing, and Murray shows that he isn't just a fretburner, that he knows how to dial it back several notches when required.

Some bands would have used piano or keyboards, maybe violin to supplement the guitar sound here, but Maiden had no truck with keys up until Bruce left. I remember on the back of “Piece of mind” the promise: “No synthesisers or ulterior motives!” Maiden at that time, the height of their burgeoning popularity and the apex of their commerciality, wanted to buck the trend and stay far away from keytars, synths and keyboards, trusting to the inestimable talents of their two guitarists to make all the music that was required. And they did. The otherworldly sound Murray puts on his guitar (probably phased, what do I know?) allied to Steve Harris's gently thrumming bass and Burr's perfectly placed percussion jsut creates exactly the kind of atmosphere you imagine they were going for.

And Di'Anno? My god he can sing here! Devoid of the snarl, the rawness, his voice is almost gentle and while you wouldn't expect him to release any pop records, he shows he can do other than just growl metal anthems. With no title to suggest it would be a ballad, and as I say the slow fade-in from “Transylvania”, this track virtually transformed side two of the album for me, before kicking it back up with “Charlotte the harlot” and going for the throat, but it was one hell of a surprise, and a very pleasant one.

Have you actually listened to a Children of Bodom album? With your newfound ability to tolerate at least some extreme metal vocals, I think they might just be up your alley. Their sound is more power metal/Maiden than it is thrash, they're catchy and melodic as all hell, and Alexi Laiho is far-and-away more tolerable a vocalist than most growlers/screamers.

Yep. I listened to one last year for Metal Month. Don't recall enjoying it but I might give them another go at some point.

Didn't know that Children of Bodom had covered that Journey track, not a bad cover but few vocalists could ever hope to match the power of Steve Perry.

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For my final look at German metal I’m going to actively seek out a Black Metal album, just so I can’t be accused of only listening to the sort of Metal I enjoy. I’m sure with Germany’s dark past, both mythological and historical, there will be one or two lurking just out of sight around the corner.

Pray for me…

Okay, okay! I realise I’m cheating slightly here. So it’s atmospheric Black Metal with a strong interest in Norse mythology: it’s still categorised as Black Metal, huh? Hey, I could hate it, you know? Though considering that the band took their name from the Rainbow Bridge that spans the space between Midgard and Asgard (man I love Norse mythos!) that seems unlikely. Perhaps something along the lines of the Bathory albums I reviewed for the Viking Metal segment? Huh? Huh?

Meh, have it your own way. This is the one I’m going for anyway, and it comes highly recommended by some guy I met online, so this is where I end my very brief and not at all inclusive look at what Germany has to offer in the way of Heavy Metal. I guess I could have spent the whole month trawling through the many and varied bands, and subgenres, to come out of this country, but I wanted to ensure that I looked at a different country each week, and so here, for now at any rate, is where we end up.

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Rain upon the impure --- The Ruins of Beverast --- 2006 (Van Records)

What’s really interesting, and disturbing, about this band is that the album after this is titled “Foulest semen of a sheltered elite”, which sounds more like something Cryptopsy (yes, them again! My sleep will forever be tortured by remembrances of their horrible music) would release, but that’s not the one I’m going for. As an aside, looking at the track listing for that album I don’t see any nasty or questionable song titles, so maybe it’s just the album title that’s a little risque? Anyway as I say, this is the one I’ve chosen and it’s their second album, in a career that has been relatively fresh, the band only forming in 2003. Yes I know that’s eleven years together, more than many other bands manage, but some of the acts I’ve looked at here have been around since the 80s, so it doesn’t seem as long a period.

I’ve also had my fill of the German tongue (ooer!) --- sorry you natives but it’s an awfully harsh language, as I’ve said before, and I don’t like not being able to talk about the lyrics, unless the music is really good. So another factor in my choosing this album has been that all the songs are sung in English! Hooray! Whether or not I’ll be able to make out the vocals (Black Metal is one of those that does tend to favour the harsh, scratchy or roared growly vocals, as I've been made more than uncomfortably aware of) is another matter, but we’ll see, We open with “50 forts on the Rhine”, presumably the recounting of some ancient battle, and I note it’s thirteen minutes long! The next one is fifteen! Oh dear. The sound of galloping horses and the cries of battle are drowned out by a big roar and hammering guitars, and it looks like the laugh is on me. Ambient? This doesn’t sound fucking ambient!

It’s pretty much the same guitar riff for two minutes, with crashing drums and no sign yet of a vocal, though that roar was far from encouraging! Kind of a choral vocal though breaking out in the background, but we’re now four minutes in and all I can hear is a horrible deathly growl. Whether that’s supposed to be the vocals or not I don’t know, but if so then there’s egg on my face: I am NOT going to enjoy this! The guitars drop back then to a more restrained, almost acoustic level, with kind of pealing bells in the melody, dark thunder rolling and then a stronger guitar coming back in. Now I look, I see this is all the work of a single individual, one Alexander von Mellenweld. Sounds like a demon to me! But fair play to him if he does all this himself. Maybe those lyric sheets won’t be needed after all!

I’m sure Batty is laughing his ass off at me. I thought this was going to be something like When Bitter Spring Sleeps. Um, yeah. Not quite. I can’t make out a single vocal; I don’t mean to be cruel but it sound more like a rabid dog or some madman trying to break free. So let’s ignore the vocals --- such as they are ---and, Panopticonlike, concentrate on the music, which has returned to harsh guitar but at least it’s got a certain melody to it. Oh wait! I understood a few words there! Ol’ Alex dropped his voice an octave and I caught a sentence about being at war, or something. Didn’t last though.

So we have a fifteen minute track after this, another fifteen minute one, a sixteen and a fourteen minute, so even with only seven tracks this still runs close to an hour and a half. As I said, pray for me. So much for my easy exit! Guitar work is damn good, and to be honest were there no vocals I would probably appreciate this more. Still, it’s going to be something of a slog to the end if it’s all like this. “Soliloquy of the stigmatised shepherd” (what’s with these weird song titles? What happened to “Satan is our pal?”) has another heavy guitar opening, the sound at times like someone is trying to throttle the instrument using its own strings. It’s heavy as all hell, that’s for sure, and dark as fuck, but so far it’s kind of all a little too much of the same. I hardly realised the first track had ended and the second begun. I guess if you had to have a soundtrack to Armageddon as Satan’s minions swarmed over the Earth harvesting souls, this could be it.

Wait just one tension-popping moment! There’s a real ambient guitar there, and something that could be a synth in the background. A harder guitar takes over, but the quieter one remains in the background, not giving up, sort of like an acolyte standing aside as its master reveals himself. Again, ooeer! Seems this guy is a member of Nagelfar, which I know to be the ship of the dead that Surt will sail at the end of days, as Ragnarok falls upon the world (see, I know this stuff!) and so his interest in Norse legend is understandable. Meanwhile, this song has taken something of a turn for the weird, or weirder. It’s much slower, doom metal slow, and now there’s an odd chimy guitar sort of clanging away too. Nice kind of choral vocal going there, supposedly on the keyboards if he does everything himself.

I never quite understand why vocalists like this sing as they do. The lyrics to the songs are quite impressive, but I have no chance in hell of ever hearing a word or understanding it --- I did better with Rammstein! --- and so can only read them. This appears to be the lament of a shepherd forced to walk the world, possibly immortal --- Kane? But this album seems based on Norse folklore, although the battle referred to in the opener seemed to be from Germanic history. Maybe. Hard to tell. Very dramatic sound now as the synths push to try to dislodge the skullcrushing guitar, but it’s having none of it.

The annoying thing --- for me --- is that this could be a decent album if I could understand what was being sung --- caught some words there at the end --- but there’s just no way to do that. Guess you have to be into Black Metal to really appreciate what’s going on here. Nice fadeout on the guitar. There’s a short, atmospheric synth piece then --- just over a minute --- before we launch into another fifteen-minuter, this time titled “Blood vaults (I: Thy virginal malodour)” --- snappy title. Don’t think I’ll want to hang around for II, which doesn’t appear to be on this album. It’s another constant riff on the guitar with attendant growls, pretty much more of the same really. Sneak a look at the lyric, why don’t we?

Um, yeah. I think it’s about a witch or witches waiting in a cell to be burned. Or it could be more cerebral than that. Hard to tell. Or care, if I’m honest. Seems to have entered a kind of pealing, ringing deal, presumably either meant to represent the tolling of a death bell or just a general image of Christianity which, given this is Black Metal, Alex is surely against. Dark kind of whispering and chanting adds to the unsettling atmosphere, and you can actually imagine some poor victim of the Inquisition languishing in a cell, condemned out of hand and waiting to be burned at the stake. The Church has a lot to answer for.

There’s a sixteen minute track to follow; “Soil of the incestuous” opens with a female voice (perhaps a recording, as nobody else is, um, credited here) saying ”I am the wandering moon and sun/ The rabbit and the snake/ The virgin and the rapist my shadow” --- nice to hear at least some words I can make out. Has a nice melodious guitar to it too, though of course that doesn’t last. Generally, throughout its run it’s more of the same, though the female voice does come in once more. The only really short actual track is up next, with some sort of allusion to Norse mythology with the mention of the world serpent Jormungand, but I don’t recognise “Balnaa-Keill the Bleak” from Norse legend. At least it’s short, which is about all I can say good about this.

Unfair of course. I’m sure this is considered essential music in Black Metal circles, and some has labelled this album a masterpiece, but it’s so removed from what I enjoy or can tolerate that it’s mostly just noise to me. Again that’s unfair: there is music, very discernible, but it’s kind of like a wall of sound, hard to pull any meaning or melody from it. Hum Factor definitely zero! ;) This track is quiet, other than the gutteral vocal, with kind of synth noises and a screeching guitar but quite low in the mix, then we’re into --- finally, and with significant relief on my part --- the closer, but temper that relief with horror, because as we know it’s another epic.

It’s the title track as it happens, and it’s fourteen minutes and change, opening with in fairness a nice reflective guitar, though that hammering one is always there, a constant in the music, like the beat of a metronome or a black heart. High-pitched choral vocals and slow drumming as Alex rails against, it seems, the hypocrisy of the Church and Christ in general. Ah bless! He throws in part of a mass, just to underline the point. Then it all goes into overdrive on bombing drums and, well, fast guitar. You know, I went out of the room, downstairs, let my cat in, comforted him as he has been stalked by a dog, gave him some food and came back up and the SAME melody and rhythm is still playing! So I guess I didn’t miss much…

Well, only about four minutes left to suffer, I mean go. I’ll be glad when this is over. And now it is. With a final tortured scream from one of no doubt his many guitars, Alex brings this one hour twenty minute torment to a shuddering close, and I can tell you, I shudder!

TRACKLISTING

1. 50 forts along the Rhine
2. Soliloquy of the stigmatised shepherd
3. Rapture
4. Blood vaults (I: Thy virginal malodour)
5. Soil of the incestuous
6. Balnaa-Kheil the Bleak
7. Rain upon the impure

So I guess fate has the last laugh on me, didn’t she? Thinking I would defeat the letter of the law with the spirit of the law, as it were, I ended up entangled in a horrible web of screaming, growling vocals, brain-pounding guitars and thundering drums, an ordeal that went on for what seemed a lot longer than the eighty minutes shown. That’ll teach me, huh? Not quite as bad as Cryptopsy, sure, but still well up there with the worst I’ve heard in a long time, which is not to denigrate the music or the artiste, I just am so not into this kind of music it’s untrue. I’m sure many of you out there are scratching your heads and saying “How can he be saying that about one of my favourite German Black Metal albums?” Well, you’re welcome to it!

And so ends my brief foray through the Metal landcape of Germany. Been fun, sort of. Got to hear some good bands, some okay bands and some downright painful bands. There’s no question that Germany is both one of the founders and continues to be one of the leaders in the field of Heavy Metal, and there’s a rich and varied mix of subgenres out there, the surface of which I have of course only barely scratched this past week. But it’s time to move on, not too far this time, and next week as Metal Month moves into its third quarter I’ll be heading south, over the border to Spain, to see what they have to offer.

Members' Top Ten Lists
And so we come to Mondo's top three, and at number
3
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Souls at zero --- Neurosis --- 1992

I've heard quite a bit about these guys, so I'm interested to see what they're like, especially given the “post-rock” tag Wiki has ascribed to them. Nice kind of ambient opening to the first track, “To crawl under one's skin”, then a voice speaks with some weird sound effects in the background. Okay, thought that was building to a big heavy guitar there, but it's quite melodic even though it is guitar. Heavy enough, but not the assault I had expected. The vocal takes me by surprise, and is something of a disappointment, being a yelled, screamed one as the music gets much more chaotic. Not a fan of this method of jumping from one style to another, as I mentioned with Maudln of the Well.

Second track starts off well, but now I'm wary of those crazy vocals, just waiting for them to jump out at me like some madman wielding a knife in the darkened alleys. Where is he? Where is he?He's there isn't he? I know he is. Why doesn't he just get it over with? It's the waiting that ... oh, there he is. And the vocal is not anywhere near as bad as on the first track. Shouted yes but intelligible. Listenable. Much better. Like the use of flutes in the quieter section of “Flight” but “The web” (not the Marillion song, I hasten to add!) does nothing for me. Too loud, abrasive and loose. Some nice strings there at the end section of “Chronology of survival”, but this album is boring me now. I get the impression this is another album where the band try to do too much, be too clever and miss the mark more often than they hit it. Not for me sorry. The closing short instrumental gives a tantalising glimpse of what this album could have been, but it's already over.

At number
2
Mondo originally had Powerslave, but changed it to
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Piece of mind --- Iron Maiden --- 1983

Probably my third favourite Maiden album after the two obvious, "Piece of mind" is not gold all the way through but it's very close to it. Opening with the powerful "Where eagles dare", the album tends to go through a series of "Boy's Own" adventures, as we scale forbidding cliffs with the SAS and take on the Nazis, fight and die as an ordinary soldier, and wreak our revenge, Conan-style, or perhaps not quite. That's it though: the stories are flavoured with realism and are not just gung-ho tales of bravery. In "The Trooper" the eponymous soldier dies, not particularly bravely, in fact possibly futilely, and though such a death is lauded in "Die with your boots on", the revenge of the unnamed (but surely based on Conan the Barbarian) man in "Sun and steel" is not realised, as his enemy "Take you and your blade/ Break you both in two." Not to mention the story of Daedalus's overconfident and arrogant son coming a cropper in "Flight of Icarus".

But it's an album full of catchy songs, killer riffs and of course Dickinson's trademark "air-raid siren" scream. There are surely bad tracks. I was not impressed with "Revelations", the aforementioned singer's only solo effort on the album, and the less said about "Quest for fire" the better, proving that even godlike Steve Harris can occasionally write a duff tune! And boo to Frank Herbert, whose intransigence over allowing the band to use the name "Dune" led to the closer being titled "To tame a land", the second epic track to close a Maiden album.

Basically, "Piece of mind" built on the phenomenal success of "Number of the Beast", solidfied the band's lineup and paved the way for one of their greatest albums a year later, leading to this period, 1982-1988, being seen as Maiden's golden era, when they could barely put a foot wrong.

And so we come to his number
1
which is from these guys
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When the kite string pops --- Acid Bath – 1994

Says they're a sludge metal band, and as of now I think my only real experience with that subgenre is Conan, who did not impress me. Oh, and it has fourteen tracks! Thanks man! :rolleyes: Well it starts off at a snail's pace and I wonder if it will remain like this? Then there's a rough but not indecipherable vocal with Sabbathy guitars --- and now it's kicking up in speed a little as “The blue” gets goi --- no, now it's gone back slow again. This could be a long --- what? Seventy minutes, almost? Lord preserve me! With titles like “Finger paintings of the insane”, “What colour is death”, “The bones of baby dolls” and (ugh!) “Cassie eats cockroaches”, I'm not exactly looking forward to this. Could Mondo's top album be worse (to me) than Janszoon's?

Well a measure of how bored I am with this album is that it's now five tracks in and I haven't noticed. I can't pick out anything interesting about any of the songs. I know it's seen as an underground classic and I'm sure it's well played and written; I just really don't care. It's doing nothing for me. The tempo comes and goes but the songs just blur by. Alright, “Jezebel” has a nice sort of spoken vocal against a cool bass line, and ... yeah, I like the bassy opening and sweet guitar on “Scream of the butterfly”. A lot better; restrained vocal, no mad hammering drums and I could really get into this. Don't expect it to last of course...

Well it did, and I must say that's the first track on the album I've a) noticed and b) enjoyed. Could this be a turning point? Um. no. The next track goes back to the slow, grindy, sludgy feel of the opening few songs, and it's just terribly plodding and boring to me. And we're back to me not caring. Honestly. I'm reading the paper as this continues. That's how interested I am. Oh wait: the last two tracks were good. “The colour of death” and “The bones of baby dolls” especially. Lovely acoustic piece with what sounds to be maybe mandolin?

Okay, so the last track was horrible and now it's over. Sorry Mondo, but this album just did absolutely nothing for me. A few good tracks but most of it passed me by, the ones I didn't actually hate. Not going to be a fan of these boys any time soon!



So that's it for your top ten lists. Thanks to all who submitted theirs, and sorry I couldn't choose them all, but I do have to eat from time to time! Maybe next year. I may --- I haven't decided yet, lots yet to do --- throw my own list in at some point before the end of Metal Month II. Hope nobody took offence if I didn't like their selections; I realise you all put a lot of work into your lists and that these albums mean a lot to each of you, so please don't take my criticisms as putting forward a view that there is nothing good about these albums. Where I was not impressed, it was and is purely a personal opinion, and not to be taken as anything else. Thanks again and see you next year I hope!

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As metal Month II continues and seems to be receiving a better-than-expected reception, with rather a lot of participation and a good deal of debate, seems some members have decided to mark this month in their own journals.

Here are a shortlist of members who have used Metal Month II as an opportunity to explore the world of Heavy Metal in journals in which they might normally not otherwise cover such a genre.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ime-place.html

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...n-dollars.html

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-journal.html

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-endeavor.html


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There's still time if you want to write an article on metal, either in your own journal to tie in with Metal Month II, or even here as a guest reviewer or contributor. Just PM me if the latter and if the former, well, you know where your journal is!

Glad you're all enjoying it so far, and it's far from over yet! Lots more to come before we close on Halloween!

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He's been gone an awful long time, and my arms are getting tired, stretched up like this. Feel an itch .. why have I not felt anything there before? Oh. Because it's in my boobs. My new, proudly jutting boobs that are straining against the tight leather of this corset he has me fastened into. Better not mention it when he returns; he's likely to offer to scratch it for me! Just think of something else, Troll. Trollina? Trollette? Man, this place is getting to me: I'm even starting to think like a woman! Where the hell is he? Not that I'm looking forward to our next session or anything, but I'd prefer to just get it over with. Like I said before, it's the waiting that's the killer.

Oh come on! How much computer porn can one man ... oh wait. I hear footsteps descending, and the muffled strains of death metal as he gets nearer. Guess his headphones aren't exactly noise cancelling!

“Enjoyed our last little session?” he gloats as he looms forward out of the darkness, a maniacal grin on his pasty face. At sight of him,I inadvertently shrink back --- I am a girl now, after all, and he has me in his power. There's a raw musk in the air. He notices. “Hah! You obviously did. Well, if you thought that was bad, look at what I have for you today. As Alice Cooper once said, welcome to my nightmare!

Or rather, to yours!”

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Chocolate starfish and the hot dog flavoured water --- Limp Bizkit --- 2000

Ah crap! He knows I hate nu metal! Bloody mixing in rap with metal. What the fuck is the point? There's no point in trying to change his mind though, so I had better get this over with. He's rigged me up with a wireless link to his laptop, from which he can select the music he wants off the internet and then play it through the headphones he's stuck on my head with --- appropriately enough --- Crazy Glue, so I have no control over this and have to listen to what he pumps through my headphones. Damn it, but this is going to hurt!

All right then, do your worst, you diabolical fiend! I'm woman enough to --- I mean, man enough to --- urgh! 15 tracks, and one is nine minutes long! And the opening one has dark vocoder on it. You all know how much I hate vocoder, even if Daft Punk and cloudcover are slowly changing my attitude in that direction. Well in fairness the intro doesn't do much but the first track proper “Hot dog” just uses the words “fucked up” so much it's grating and not at all clever. In fact, I'd go so far as to say this is nothing close to metal: I might as well be listening to a rap record. Yuck. Oh look: they robbed W.A.S.P's line ”Fuck like an animal” --- well, no, that was “like a beast”, but it's close enough. I can feel my energy beginning to drain away even at this early stage. Lord help me.

HEALTH: 75%

Well that was terrible. Can it get worse? Um, yeah. Yeah it can. Giving the middle finger to Daltrey and the boys, Limp Bizkit (what kind of a name is that for a band anyway?) title the next song (I use the word in its widest possible meaning) “My generation”, but it's nothing like the Who's classic. This is like a band with the attitude of Slayer with the talent of Slipknot, with apologies to both bands. Ow! I think one of my eyes just exploded. Yep, there it goes, dribbling down my cheek. Wish my ears would do the same, then I wouldn't have to listen to this garbage. Is that a guitar, or someone strangling a chicken? Hard to say. More gratuitous use of the word “fuck”: how mature.

HEALTH: 40%

At least the next track has a decent guitar intro, sounds heavier but then Durst comes in again with his godawful rap, and the moment he uses that word again --- and there he goes --- there goes my other eye. This is not good. This guy's ego is totally misplaced. Did someone tell him once he had talent, other than for being a prick? Even the drumming here sounds like someone banging dustbins. Just terrible. God. Now he's whining, which is even worse than his singing. Again, I use the word in its widest possible context. This is painful. You know, at one point he shouts/sings ”Just shut your fucking mouth!” My sentiments exactly, you cocksucker.

HEALTH: 21%

Again, a decent guitar intro, some nice bass as we head into “My way” (is he so strapped for inspiration for song titles that he has to rob classics?) and dear God! Melody! It's, to be completely fair, not that bad. Totally derivative lyric again of course --- ”It's my way or the highway” --- I'll take the highway please. But it's not as bad as the crap that I've been forced to listen to up to now. Not what I could fairly call a standout, but the least bad so far.

HEALTH: 54%

Well that didn't last of course. The next track is back to terrible, with a stupid ”Rollin', rollin', rollin' line and of course more gratuitous use of the word “fuck”. Guess it has to be in every song they write. Has a certain amount of repetitive melody in it, but just annoys the hell out of me.

HEALTH: 32%

Oh dear God! Did Durst just grab ICP lines about rednecks and machetes? This song is so full of cliches it's almost funny. Almost. This is supposed to sample “Life in the fast lane” but I don't hear it, other than the words. Utter crap.

HEALTH: 16%

Okay, okay. As I slide towards death there's a slower song which may save me. What's it called? Fucked if I know: I lost both my eyes some tracks back, remember? Oh. Batty giggles in my headphones like some demented producer telling me it's called “The one”. Fine. Well it's not too bad and I can feel a little strength coming back into my legs, which were about to fall off I think. Kind of a new-wave/Gary Numan vibe to it. Maybe.

HEALTH: 28%

Oh well, that's it. Sampling classical music and throwing a nasty rap on top of it, plus add somebody called Xzbit into the mix, goodbye cruel world! Hey! My left arm just fell off! How am I going to operate my digital watch now?

HEALTH: 0%
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Hello from beyond the grave! Yes, as you probably know, Batty is so sadistic that even death doesn't release me from having to continue to listen to this trash.Now I have to listen to them slaughter the “Mission Impossible” theme --- appropriate, as listening to this album without being tied up and forced to would indeed be that --- the ultimate laziness. Let someone else write the music then spew terrible lyrics across it. Rubbish. The big guitar coming in is good, but the song is basically garbage.

HEALTH: -21%

Damn! Batty has just whispered in my ear to tell me that there are no short tracks left: five, seven, six, six and nine minutes! To quote EAP, “God save my poor soul!” Incidentally, the next one is terrible. A whiny, “leave-me-alone-stop-interfering-in-my-life-teenage-angst-bitch” song. What do you mean, like all the rest? Oh yeah. Like all the rest.

HEALTH: -44%

Meh, this one's not too terrible. Bit of melody to it. Maybe becoming a zombie --- sorry, proto-zombie --- changes your view. Or maybe I'm just getting used to being dead. I don't hate this. Much.

HEALTH: - 20%

Oh god no! He's talking! In a low voice! Is that meant to be seductive? If I wasn't already dead I'd throw my guts up. But wait ... it's a slow, acoustic ... good god. Could these actually be a decent track? Vocal harmonies? No rap? No bad language? Seriously? Have I got this album mixed up? Or is it about to slap me upside the ... head, Batlord! I was going to say head, you perverted .... no not that sort of head! God! I am dead, you do realise that? Why are you grinning...? Um. This track is great so far. I can feel strength coming back into my limbs, my heart is beginning to beat a little....

HEALTH 3%

I live again! Oh. And then we get “Rollin wotsit” again, and I give up the ghost.

HEALTH -15%

Oh well. Dead again. Ah come on! Who writes a nine-minute plus Outro??? Oh holy crap! It's just some inane talk, laughter and Durst being fucking Durst! That's it: I'm seriously done now.

HEALTH: -50%

Congratulations Batty! You've turned me into a proto-zombie! I'm sure your mother is very proud of you. Well, at least after this it can only get better. Nothing could be as bad as what I just had to suffer through.

Could it?
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Wow. Even Trollheart thinks that an aural blitzkrieg of pure death metal noise is apparently vastly superior to boring riffs and talentless rap. So, it's Thorr's Hammer and then Gnaw Their Tongues, right?

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And so we come to the top three...
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Prodigal son (Killers)
Being a ballads kind of guy, as everyone knows, it will be of little surprise to anyone that Maiden's two ballads occupy slots near the top of my countdown. But though “Strange world” took me by surprise, “Prodigal son” just slammed me to the floor and kept me there, hardly able to breathe. Following on from a throat-tearing, axe-wielding, heartstopping anthem like the title track, it was a total change of pace, a real what you Americans would I guess call curveball, and it certainly threw me. The use of the word “Lamia” in the song has always puzzled me: the first time I heard that (well the only time really) word used was in Genesis's “The lamb lies down on Broadway”, and surely Maiden had no interest in Peter Gabriel's conceptual masterpiece? Of course, when I checked later --- when I could, with the advent of the Internet and Wiki --- I found out that Lamia was an ancient Libyan queen who fell under a curse and became a demon who ate children. Who knew, huh?

Even so, the usage of the name has always mystified me. I don't know what “Prodigal son” is about. Is Harris (who wrote it of course) retelling the ancient tale, or using it as a metaphor, or even the basis for his own story? Again, Di'Anno puts in a powerfully understated performance, but it's really the guitarwork of Murray and Smith that make the song, especially the minute-long instrumental introduction. The song has a beautiful, rolling melody that though it never really changes that much over the course of the song doesn't seem repetitive.

And of course there's the obligatory solo, which has touches of Arabic/Egyptian in it, but is like the singing very restrained and laidback, with the guys trading licks carefully so as not to destroy the tone of the ballad. Burr's drumming here is exceptional, and of course when is Harris's bass anything else? It was also one of the longest Maiden songs ever written at that time, at just over six minutes. The ending is perfect, with the susurrating drums and the last guitar notes taking it out magically.

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Killers (Killers)
Well you didn't really expect this not to feature, did you? A song that at the time served both to encapsulate what Iron Maiden were all about, provide them with an iconic image and deliver some, ah, bitchin' riffs, as well as afford Di'Anno the chance to really let himself go and immerse himself in the persona of the maniacal killer, stalking his victims through the darkened subways, a twisted grin on his slavering face, a hatchet in his hand, blood staining its blade as he lifted it against the moonlight where it glistened, awaiting its next victim. This is of course the image that adorned the second album from Iron Maiden, and made me kind of wary about the kind of music that might reside within (I only bought the debut after getting I think “Number of the Beast” and “Piece of mind”, so about 1983).

The thick, pulsing bass that opens the song is typical of Harris's talent for imbuing his music with a sense of threat and menace, then Di'Anno's roars and screams which drop to a satisfied, gurgling growl with a very large helping of homicidal laughter as the guitars start to screech alongside Burr's thundering delivery just sets the scene for the song. It's quite rightly considered a masterpiece in the band's catalogue, still played and very much requested at all their gigs, often as part of the encore. If anyone who had only heard maybe “Strange world”, “Prodigal son” and a few other tracks were to somehow sneer that Maiden were not metal, (sacrilege of the highest order!) then “Killers” lays any such doubts to rest. Built on a galloping, almost out-of-control guitar line and a racing drumbeat, it's the tale, not surprisingly, of a madman on the loose, but there is a slight twist.

Whether the guy is a schizophrenic or just loses his memory after the kill, the song does contain an idea that he is not in control of his actions when he kills, as the lyric ”Excitement shakes me/ Oh God help me!/ What have I done?/ I've done it again!” amply demonstrates. I also love the way the lyric begins as a narration, a warning --- ”He walks in the subway/ His eyes burn a hole in your back” --- but later changes to the first person , as it's revealed that the narrator is also the killer --- ”He walks in the subway/ My eyes burn a hole in your back” --- clever. A typically punchy, raw guitar solo takes the midsection, the sort of downshifting guitar (don't know how else to describe it: you know the one) coming back in for the conclusion of the song. Again the lines “Look out I'm coming to getcha!” resurface, and a big maniacal laugh with a scream bring the song to its frenetic conclusion. A true classic, and worthy of being the title track, almost a second signature song for Iron Maiden.

And that brings us to the final choice, my number one early Iron maiden song. Before we see what that is, let's take a leaf out of the pages of countless countdowns and run back through the top ten:

10. Prowler
9. Iron Maiden
8. Purgatory
7 Transylvania
6. Wrathchild
5. Drifter
4. Strange world
3. Prodigal son
2. Killers

And so, we come to the very top. Of course, this is not my alltime favourite Iron Maiden song --- though it would definitely come in the top five --- but of the pre-Dickinson era, it's a song that stands so far apart from the rest of their work that it's almost worthy of having been on a later album. It's an indication of the direction in which they would begin to move on future albums, and it stands proudly at number
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Phantom of the opera (Iron Maiden)

Yeah, from the first guitar notes, repeated three times till they rise into that superb solo and then drag in Di'anno's “Oh yeah!” this song has it all. The longest song Maiden had ever recorded until “To tame a land” just edged it by seconds in 1983, and then of course all bets were off with “The rime of the Ancient Mariner”. The first song to show a leaning towards the progressive metal approach that would begin to characterise their work from “Piece of mind” onwards (some would say that “Hallowed be thy name” is the first real progressive metal piece they did, but I don't see it that way), this song became famous outside of the world of metal when its intro was used as the soundtrack to an advertisement for an energy drink here, Lucozade.

It's the first Maiden song I see that is almost divided into sections. There's the guitar riff opening it and taking it up to the main vocal, then that vocal, then the middle section where Murray racks off an enthralling solo, then another section where it stops and then rises on Harris's pumping bass line, and finally a return to the opening riff to close the whole thing. I don't know whether it changes time signatures, as I'm no musician, but I wouldn't be surprised. Although it's loosely based on the novel and movie of the same name, “Phantom of the opera” takes a darker, more chilling look at the title character, seeing him more as a killer, a sadist, with the lines ”You torture me back at your lair” and ”I know that you're gonna scratch me, maim me and maul” Harris's Phantom is no gentle actor shunned by society and hiding in the shadows watching the love of his life, unable ever to have her. He is a dangerous, deadly and quite possibly insane figure who only wants to torture and kill. A Phantom of the Opera, you might say, for the eighties.

Di'anno's voice and singing style suits this song perfectly, although it is perhaps odd that he is not singing in the persona of the title character, but that of the object of his affections/intentions. Or possibly the hostage he takes. I'm not that familiar with the story, and anyway it probably doesn't matter that much. Nevertheless, he puts in a fine performance --- one of his best with the band --- and really ends up owning the song, as they say. Again, this is a song that, though long at over seven minutes, has no fat and not a second wasted. Every part of it fits together perfectly, like a well-made jigsaw, and the whole picture is stunning to behold. Of course it's still a staple at Maiden concerts, and always will be. There's even a shock at the end, when the last words are spoken, a kind of snarled echo brings them back acapella, which was, the first time I heard it, a shock as (Old Fart Alert! Old Fart Alert!) I prepared to lift the needle from the record only to have my hand almost jump across the vinyl as Di'Anno's voice came back from out of the void to assault my ears one more time. Freaky, man, and not a little scary!

Because it is, as I see it, the best constructed song in the early Iron Maiden catalogue, because it is sung perfectly and because even now, over forty years later, it's still shouted for, demanded and greeted with delighted abandon when it's played at gigs, “Phantom of the Opera” is my alltime favourite number one early Iron Maiden song.

Thought I might get GTT over with, but if you want to do it in that order, okay. Just let me know. Yeah I know: I hated Cryptopsy, but the fact was I couldn't make out any of the lyrics whereas here I, rather unfortunately, could. If it's a choice between grindcore and Limp B, grind me up!

Which reminds me, time to do another "Meat Grinder"....

Gnaw Their Tongues should definitely come last. I planned it for my big finale.

Oh, and if you want some of Cryptopsy's lyrics...

Not impressed with the best song on Piece of Mind and one of the best Maiden tracks of all time huh...

Which? "Revelations"? No. Surely not "Quest for fire"? :rofl: I don't see how either of those --- or anything off PoM to be fair --- could qualify as one of the best Maiden songs of all time. If I had to pick a favourite from that album (tough) it would probably be "Sun and steel". Maybe.

Honestly, I thought when I saw your post you were gonna bitch at me about Acid Bath....

"Revelations" is among the greatest Maiden songs and you know it.