life, and a little more

Iron Metallic Ivory

Nov 12

metalman777audio, music iron maiden, metallica, music, piano, piano tribute, tribute album No Comments

I’m a hypocrite…I’ll admit it.  Yesterday I wrote that I was taking a break and yet, here I am posting a new entry today!  What gives?

Well, as you might know, I’m rebuilding my music library, and as I was looking over music to put back into iTunes, I ran across two albums that really caught my eye (ear?)

The first album is entitled Pianotarium: A Piano Tribute to Metallica by Scott D. Davis.

This is from Mr. Davis’ official website:

Pianist/composer Scott D. Davis has been referred to as “the rocker of new age/contemporary classical music”. Perhaps New Age Reporter best described him by saying “his exuberance and originality are invigorating and his upbeat attitude contagious.”

Interestingly enough, if you ask Scott about his musical background he might surprise you. He comes not from a background of polished piano music, but grew up a typical 1980′s teenager strongly under the influences of such progressive rock artists as Rush, Queensrÿche, and Metallica. Scott pursued rock music as a career throughout his college years, playing keyboards for a number of local bands

I have to say that Mr. Davis really captures the mood and emotion of the songs he covers.  The piano is actually quite haunting at times.  Below is Master of Puppets, piano style:

[audio=https://dl-web.getdropbox.com/get/Music/03%20Master%20of%20Puppets.mp3?w=323166e5]

Davis does choose a good variety of songs to cover, as well as adding three original compositions.  Here is the track listing for the album.

1. “Enter Sandman” – 5:39
2. “Until It Sleeps” – 4:27
3. “Master Of Puppets” – 8:44
4. “The Unforgiven” – 6:06
5. “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” – 6:23
6. “Nothing Else Matters” – 6:02
7. “One” – 6:17
8. “Fade To Black” – 6:49
9. “The Renewal – I – Lament” – 2:28
10. “The Renewal – II – Inner Battle” – 3:50
11. “The Renewal – III – Return to Sanity” – 3:53

The second album is another piano tribute, but this album gives tribute to metal gods Iron Maiden.

Scott Lavender has released The Piano Tribute to Iron Maiden.  Lavender takes some very classic Iron Maiden songs and translates them into piano interludes that, for the most part, capture the magic of Iron Maiden.

Information about Mr. Lavender was hard to find, but here is what I did scrounge up:

Scott Lavender is a both a talented conductor as well as a fantastic pianist, he has worked with the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, The Los Angeles Philharmonic and many more. He holds a Bachelors Degree for Music in Piano Performance from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. After this he was awarded a Masters Degree in Instrumental Conducting from California State University. (found here)

Mr Lavender selects some wonderful Iron Maiden covers.  The tracklisting is:

1. Two Minutes to Midnight [6:33]
2. Wasted Years [5:11]
3. Can I Play with Madness [3:46]
4. The Trooper [4:54]
5. Brave New World [5:04]
6. Run to the Hills [3:49]
7. Caught Somewhere in Time [5:55]
8. Aces High [4:46]
9. Hallowed Be Thy Name [6:55]
10. Flight of Icarus [3:55]
11. Number of the Beast [6:02]
12. Eddie’s Lament (Original Track) [4:49]

I do like this album, but the piano sounds a little thin and tinny at times.  It sounds like Mr. Lavender has done an almost note for note translation of music, which normally wouldn’t bother me.  But after hearing Pianotarium and hearing the heart of the songs revealed with much passion and vigor, The Piano Tribute to Iron Maiden could seem a little lackluster.  The album artwork for this album is much better than the Metallica Tribute though!

Listen for yourself.  Below is the track Two Minutes to Midnight:

[audio=https://dl-web.getdropbox.com/get/Music/01%20Two%20Minutes%20To%20Midnight.mp3?w=91076491]

Iron Maiden versus Barren Cross

Oct 18

metalman777Christianity, audio, music, videos barren cross, christian metal, iron maiden, metal, music, rock 3 Comments

If I had to nail down the most bestest metal band in the world, I’d have to give the title to Iron Maiden.  They’ve sold over a 100 million records, have the best vocalist and bassist ever, and just generally kick major butt.

As I posted in a previous blog entry, I never listened to Iron Maiden as a teen.  What I did listen to as a young Christian was the clean, “non-satanic” alternative,  Barren Cross.

I do have a very special place for Barren Cross in my heart.  My very first metal concert ever was in Fresno, CA, and headlining was BC!!  Well, headlining is a slight misnomer, as they were the only ones playing, and it was in a small church.  But they rocked my face off!  (I still cringe with embarrassment as I remember my mom talking to the lead singer after the show.  She told him to cut his hair!)

Remember, I didn’t listen to Iron Maiden, but my friends kept saying that BC sure sounded a lot like them.  Years later, I was listening to the local rock radio station and I heard a song that I swore was Barren Cross.  I thought to myself, how cool, playing some old Christian metal!  The DJ then announced they had played an Iron Maiden song.  I couldn’t believe at how similar they sounded!

That was the day I went and got the entire Iron Maiden discography and Iron Maiden became my favorite metal band ever!

Is it really possible to duplicate Bruce Dickinson’s soaring vocals and Steve Harris’ galloping bass lines?  Mike Lee and Jim LaVerde come as close as your going to get.  You take a listen below.

[audio=http://dl-web.getdropbox.com/get/Music/07%20Powerslave.mp3?w=c40494b2]

Iron Maiden – Powerslave

Powerslave was Iron Maiden’s fifth studio album and it was released in 1984.  The two most notable songs that are always garner airtime are Aces High and 2 Minutes to Midnight.

[audio=http://dl-web.getdropbox.com/get/Music/10%20Two%20Thousand%20Years.mp3?w=432043b3]

Barren Cross – 2000 Years

State of Control was Barren Cross’ third album and was released in 1989.  It is a very well produced and is still one of my favorites!

So, do you think Barren Cross sounds a lot like Iron Maiden?  If you need another listen, here are two different videos I found on youtube.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLvBwPOjZWI]

Iron Maiden’s Can I Play With Madness

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAWYP64ip3Y]

Barren Cross’ Imaginary Music

Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden

Jul 29

metalman777music avenged sevenfold, black tide, dream theater, iron maiden, machine head, maiden heaven, metal, metallica, tribute album No Comments

So I’m in my car yesterday and I catch the tail end of the local DJ saying “And that was Metallica’s new single, a cover of Iron Maiden’s Remember Tomorrow”.  Craptastic! How’d I miss that?  Metallica covering Maiden?  Can you say freakin’ awesome!

I do a quick Google search when I get home and find the album on which this song resides.  It is called Maiden Heaven:  A Tribute to Iron Maiden. Now this is a monster tribute album!  It is mostly great, with a few sucky covers thrown in for good measure.

Black Tide starts us off, and boy do they.  Their cover of Prowler is amazing.  Black Tide pulls off the energy and feeling of the song.

Next up is Metallica, covering Remember Tomorrow.  Awesome song!  Metallica stomps and pushes and thrashes their way through it.  Great to hear Metallica on top of their game again.

Avenged Sevenfold nails Flash of the Blade.  I’m liking them more and more as I listen to them.

Glamour of the Kill (who?)  tries to cover the classic 2 Minutes to Midnight and just can’t pull it off.  They sound like some bad 80′s glam band trying to sound tough. 

Coheed and Cambria step things up with their cover of The Trooper.  Although the singer’s voice is, um, unique, it still fits with the song.

Devildriver delivers one of the worst covers on the record.  Those cookie monster vocals just don’t give the song what is needed.

Maybe I spoke to soon….as Sign slaughters Run To the Hills.  How the crap did this band get onto the record?  I know covers are tricky.  You want to stamp the song with your own touch, but you have to pay homage to the original.  You would never ever in a million years recognize this song as the Run To The Hills that all Maiden fans love.

Thankfully Dream Theater does a phenomenal job on the next song, To Tame A Land.  Dream Theater is a natural fit on this cd.  They have their own bootleg album, where they covered the entire Number of the Beast record.  That is a must own for any DT or Iron Maiden fan!

Madina Lake (again, who?) gives us crap with a version of Caught Somewhere In Time that is sucky and horrible and should never have been made.

Gallows covers one of my all time favorite Maiden songs, Wrathchild.  This version is punky/hardcore, but still lets you know it is an Iron Maiden song.  Personally, I like Ultimatum’s cover way better.

Fear of the Dark is covered by a band named Fightstar. It isn’t bad.  They keep the feel of the song pretty well.

Machine Head rumbles in with Hallowed Be Thy Name and they rip it up (in a good way!)  This is a straight cover, almost note for note, and it sounds great!

Trivium brings us Iron Maiden and they do a good job too.  Again, the sound of the song is mostly kept, but with a lot of the growling vocals that Trivium is known for.

Year Long Disaster tries to cover Running Free, but like all of the alternative bands, they just can’t pull it off.  Sounds like a bad sleaze band trying to sound cool.

This last song, Brave New World, is performed by Ghostlines and it is soooooooooooo horrible that it barely deserves mention.  Sounds like The Cure or some crap like that.  How the heck did this even make it on the album?

All in all, this is a great tribute to one of the greatest Metal bands that has ever graced our planet.  It is worth the download!