A Matter Of Life And Death Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Iron Maiden still reign supreme as the absolute Kings of Metal and have since their first disk back in 1980. Now, countless releases later, A Matter of Life and Death shows that the "Colours" are not running in the slightest on the Iron Maiden Flag.
I remember back in 1999 hearing that Bruce and Adrian re-joined the band for Brave New World. That was indeed exciting news. After all, while they were out of the band they teamed up on two of Bruce's solo releases, and one of those releases, Accident of Birth, was as good as Maiden's Number of the Beast or Piece of Mind...I know...Blasphemous!
And what a disk Brave New World was! That too was as good as any of the best Maiden albums ever released. 6 years and another release (Dance of Death) later, the Irons are still way up.
A Matter of Life and Death is an Iron Maiden classic already. It's got the familiar sounds...you know...the ones we all have come to know and love over the past 26 years. The anthem choruses are there. The epic songs are there. The lead guitar duals are there.
The three-guitar onslaught is there. But that's a relatively new sound that's only been around since Brave New World. And that sound is working on all Iron cylinders on A Matter of Life and Death.
The first three tracks ring true to the sound established with Brave New World and Dance of Death. Track 3, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, is an intricately woven together off time rocker that will be amazing to see pulled off live. Track 4 has that classic pre-Blaze years sound.
The disk gets better as you get deeper in. Tracks 8 and 10 are both 9+ minute epics, and perhaps the two best tracks on the album. All the tracks have their own sound. And not one of them should be "judged by its cover"; often times the way a track starts is not indicative of what you get two minutes into it. But that's well known signature style for Maiden.
Iron Maiden will not disappoint the die-hard fans with A Matter of Life and Death and they keep the sound refreshed enough to bring in new fans with every release. These guys are the epitome of Metal and the epitome of Metal done RIGHT.
Don't pass on this one, folks.


Click Here to see more reviews about: A Matter Of Life And Death

Limited Edition two LP vinyl pressing of this highly anticipated 2006 release by the finest British Metal band, bar none, Features 10 tracks including the first single 'The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg'. EMI.--This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Click here for more information about A Matter Of Life And Death

The History Of Iron Maiden - Pt. 1: The Early Days (2DVD) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I avoided buying this for a while. Anytime I see old footage and do NOT see 5.1 Digital Dolby, I suspect the worst. Still, with a holiday gift card in my hand and Iron Maiden love in my heart I made the leap.
Disc One: 3.5 stars
Right away I was amazed. I simply could NOT believe how good "Live at the Rainbow" sounded! I mean if this old show sounded like THIS I was in for a real treat. Not being a fan of the D'ianno era I was still interested from the aspect of history. Then the "Beast Over Hammersmith" started. I thought it sounded a bit over done but I dialed my sub woofer down a bit and was generally pleased with the results. I patiently sat through some duplicate songs... waiting for '83. I mean Live at Dortmund was a later show right? The sound was bound to be killer right? Well, it was terrible! Sour mono mixed with periods of the tape being eaten or stretched, you choose, but I was decidely diappointed, especially when I heard snippets from this very show on the interview portion with a very NICE pseudo "surround" (like the first two concerts!). I'm not sure what happened here, but it's quite obvious not enough care was put into this.
Disc Two: 4.5 stars
To say the interview left no stone unturned would be an understatement. I learned so much about how the band was formed and saw so many past members I came to the conclusion most of England at one time was a part of Maiden:) At any rate, my 4.5 stars are definately devoted to the interview which spans 90 minutes and 91 members. It's not without its faults though; they spend way too much time discussing what Steve Harris had for lunch and not enough about why key members left. Still, I love the effort. The rest here does little for me. Never fancied Maiden videos and the rest here is just filler.
Conclusion: If you are looking to rekindle your love for Maiden, look no further. If you too are afraid of the sound quality, rest assured there are better sounding bits out there but nothing captures the essence like hearing the guys that actually created it perform it at the time it was created. It's true, you can't go home again, and that sentiment could never be truer than with music. Cheers to Clive Burr, they should have spent more time with him, both now... and then.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The History Of Iron Maiden - Pt. 1: The Early Days (2DVD)

Studio: Sony MusicRelease Date: 02/01/2005Run time: 315 minutes

Get 25% OFF

Click here for more information about The History Of Iron Maiden - Pt. 1: The Early Days (2DVD)

Flight 666 (2009) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you are a fan of Iron Maiden, this is the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind. Watching this concert in 1080P projected on a 133" screen is awe inspiring. The DTS-HD MA audio mix is appropriately aggressive and captures the band's sound perfectly. It definitely helps that the band is obviously having fun with the enthusiastic crowds, and are in fine form, especially vocalist Dickinson, who sounds effortless hitting all of his signature high notes throughout the set. I may be crazy, but he appears to have even better control of his voice now than on earlier concert films like the classic "Live After Death" when he was barely 26 years old (and theoretically in his prime!). Impressive indeed.
Drummer Nicko McBrain literally puts on a drum clinic on several songs, and the set provides some great angles of his playing, especially a particularly well edited segment of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which had my jaw on the floor. The guitar playing is also pretty great throughout, and surprisingly very tight considering there are 3 guitarists in the line-up. It's hard to pick "highlights" because the whole set is basically guitar riff heaven!
As others have stated, this is a great concert to introduce people to Iron Maiden. Oh, and there is also a pretty good documentary on the disk as well... ;)
The actual documentary is pretty light on content, and emphasizes fun moments more than shedding any real light on the inner workings of the band. I was ok with that, even as a pretty huge fan of Maiden since the 80's, but I can certainly understand where someone that wants to know what color underwear Steve Harris wears would be disappointed here. Ah well, you can't please everybody! And apparently there is a mountain of footage not used, so I'm sure we'll eventually see it released in a retrospective of some sort when the band gets to that point in their careers (10 years from now would be my guess).
But for now, I can't recommend this disk highly enough. Do not hesitate- even if you are only a casual fan- buy this NOW, especially if you have a good sound system and a 1080P display.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Flight 666 (2009)

FLIGHT 666 documents the first leg of Maiden's legendary SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR which took them 50,000 miles round the planet playing 23 concerts on five continents in just 45 days. One of the stars of the movie is the band's customized Boeing 757, Ed Force One, which carried the band, all their crew and 12 tons of stage equipment and was piloted by Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, a fully qualified and active Airline Captain with Astraeus Airlines. Taking you on a visual global tour from Mumbai to Sydney, Tokyo to L.A., Mexico City to Costa Rica, Bogota to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Santiago to New York and Toronto and places in-between, you travel with the band and crew on the plane, to and from shows, in the bar and during leisure time, while experiencing the exhaustion and fan pandemonium that comes with such a mission.

Get 26% OFF

Click here for more information about Flight 666 (2009)

Iron Maiden: Live After Death (Two-Disc Set) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)After a ten year wait Iron Maiden's classic home video release Live After Death has finally been released on DVD.
This isn't just a straight, barebones issuing of the concert on DVD, however. This is a SPECIAL edition 2 disc DVD set, which will also include bonus live footage and the History of Iron Maiden Part 2 documentary, picking up where The Early Years left off.
The official details:
Disc one contains the recording of this full 90 minute concert. Originally filmed on 35mm, the footage comes alive on DVD resulting in a visually stunning film. The disc also carries two sound options - the original concert audio specially mixed into 5.1 Surround Sound by Kevin Shirley, Maiden's producer since 1999, plus the original stereo sound track by Martin Birch, the band's producer from 1981 to 1993.
Disc two has Part 2 of the 'History of Iron Maiden', continuing on the Maiden story from "The Early Days" DVD, along with rare and unseen bonus footage in the form of BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN, ROCK IN RIO '85, and 'ELLO TEXAS, all in all giving a total running time of well over three hours.
The multiple audio mixes and new video transfer from the original 35mm elements should make this a fantastic DVD. While this has been a long, long wait for the official DVD release, it looks like it will be well worth it.
Ths Live After Death show itself was fantastic. The band plays with an amazing amount of energy, but also with great musical ability as well. The songs are all classics, and the stage set is one of the best from that era.
(Update: The video quality of the Live After Death concert looks better than either the VHS or LaserDisc versions that I have, and the sound quality is really, really good. The remastered stereo mix is incredibly, "In your face," and is just a wall of sound. The 5.1 remix? Meh. Kevin Shirley has the guitars too low in the mix. It's punchy and INCREDIBLY clean, but it lacks the power of the original stereo mix. The extras are really nice. The History Part II documentary has a lot of great info, and is a great continuation of the first part from The Early Days. The 1985 Rock in Rio, however, is a disappointment. Not because of the performance, but because the audio/video quality is so poor. The audio is a bit muddy - originally mastered on video tape it has aged poorly - but the video is the real shame. Herky jerky, jittery and jumpy, the original master tape was not stored properly and now has serious tracking issues. It's almost like watching Cloverfield. That's too bad, because the band gives another great performance. The other extras like 'Ello Texas and the extended version of Behind the Iron Curtain are a nice bonus, and make the set an even greater value than it already is. Overall, I'm very pleased with the set, but it is not without a couple flaws. It's clearly still a, "Must Have," DVD.)


Click Here to see more reviews about: Iron Maiden: Live After Death (Two-Disc Set)

Movie DVD

Get 17% OFF

Click here for more information about Iron Maiden: Live After Death (Two-Disc Set)