Metal Reviews

Well, I've seen the Benjamin Breeg video and I liked it, so I'm not totally flying blind. Plus, Maiden isn't a corporate entity like Ozzy, and they don't have queers like Dave Grohl and Billy Cogan write songs for them like Ozzy does.

Really?? what songs??

Yeah, he got me curiuos too !

I don't own Down to Earth, but I know they hired those two, Lemmy, and a guy who wrote Backstreet Boys songs to write the songs. Zakk Wylde bitched to no end about this. There is an interview out there with Zakk ripping Sharon for it. Ozzy has never written songs, just his vocal patterns.

I think they would be far better served to just let Zakk write the songs. He knows what Ozzy should sound like.

not true

but yeah, they should let Zakk write the songs with Ozzy adding some of his own. The BLS singing is horrible.

No true. In Black Sabbath, Geezer Butler wrote the lyrics. In Ozzy's early days, Bob Daisley wrote the lyrics and didn't get credit for it. He later sued and won. No More Tears was a joint collaboration between Lemmy and Zakk. Ozzy does come up with concepts and themes, but other people make it come together. I'm not trying to bash Ozzy or anything, some people just aren't songwriters.

Ozzy doesn't write songs. He writes lyrics and melodies.

Your're right about the melodies. It's been well-documented over the years that he doesn't write lyrics, he would usually come up with a line and various hired guns would finish the rest. I read an article with Bob Daisley before he died, where he goes into intricate detail about how the Ozzy enterprise works.

Anyhoo, apparently the new Maiden isn't out in the States yet. But, I found a copy of Arcturus' Hisperia Hiems Symfonia for $6, so the trip wasn't a total waste.

Not true. Ozzy & Geezer wrote lyrics during the Sabbath days...something up to Sabotage. Then, after Ozzy got more into drugs, Geezer had to write the lyrics himself. After Dio came to the band, he took the duties and from the he wrote the lyrics for Sabbath...

I have 2 things to say:

Dave Grohl is not a queer, just listen to Probot.

And the BLS singing is not horrible, I think that Zakk is a great singer.

Oh and about the new Maiden I will buy this shortly before I see them live in Toronto.

Uuuuh?

Cozy Powell?

Well I'll be damned. For some reason I thought he had died. I guess it's just his career that is dead.

EDIT: And you're thinking Randy Castillo. Cozy never played for Ozzy.

Welcome to Wrongsville. Population: us.

I'm not sure when the album is arriving here. Anyway, I won't be able to buy it anytime soon because I'l be spending 300 bucks on my Slayer ticket. But I WILL deffinitely buy soon.

I manage to get the album from a friend who downloaded it. I understand most people who complain about the album. Not typical Maiden. I didn't like it at first. But I've played the album over and over again about 4 times, and guess what? I fucking love? Yeah, they're annoying me with the slow intro's n stuff. But the rest of the song makes you forgive them. I like the way Bruce sang the first part of 'These colors dont run'. Overall I think it's a great album. Deffinitely worth buying.

Ok, now that I have properly digested my purchased copy of the new Maiden album (complete with bonus dvd) I can make a sound judgement.

And my judgement is this;

Ummmm.

Now, to back up that statement;

This is a damn fine album. But it is also a very different one. The band seems to not even want to bother with catchy singles anymore and are concentrating on writing more "mature" music. The songs are very complex and take a while to get into, as does the album as a whole. It kind of sounds like Dance of Death meets No Prayer for the Dying, with the awesome production of Brave New World. And underlying it all is the seriousness of The X Factor.

That's about all I'll say until the actual review happens.

I agree with Tlaloc. That is how I would describe it. More serious and mature. Very good proggy metal imo.

i agree. although there still are some damn catchy bits. My favourite songs so far are Different World, These Colors Don't Run, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns and For The Greater Good Of God. Btw tlaloc, how come ou got a bonus dvd? I didn't get any!

I listened to it again last night. Only my second listen, but guess what - I really like it. Regarding the extended intros on almost every song, it should get tiresome but it really only does once - the first time I heard Lord of Light I was thinking "for fuck's sake, another one?" Particularly because the intro on that particular song is completely unconnected to the rest of it and shouldn't be there. But its not a problem. I really love the new introspective side of Maiden. So the music isn't fast anymore. Oh well. They've got enough amazing fast music already on record to keep me happy. If its not in their hearts to make it that way anymore I don't want to hear some forced version of it, particularly when the new stuff is so good.

This sounds like something I'd really really like.

Can't wait.

I gots connections. It's a limited edition, only 6000 prints (in Australia I think). It's all mainly studio recording stuff, with the band each explaining what the songs are about.