A Request!!

Woo hoo! At least one other confirmed reader, and a request to boot! Cousin Kel says I need to do at least a couple "True Hard Rock" Albums of the Day targeted to her. And since she is insanely metal (she works out to a band called Five Fingered Death Punch, with whom I am unfamiliar), I have to go into the darker edge of the library today. She did introduce me to one of my three favorite musical acts, so I owe her that much. And in light of that, the album I've chosen is appropriate:

Iron Maiden: Piece of Mind.

I wasn't a Maiden fan until about six or seven years ago. Something about the evil imagery and the Catholic guilt I was raised with didn't mesh. But when the aforementioned favorite musical act Dream Theater released a live cover of Iron Maiden's entire Number of the Beast album, I decided I was old enough to get over the scary album covers and give them a shot. How many bands are there anymore that have three guitarists and play nine-minute long songs after all?

Long story short - I really like Iron Maiden now, mostly for their ingeneous (really) songwriting and their musicianship. But Piece of Mind was an album that never won me over, even though it's such a classic for fans. The recording just doesn't do it for me; Maiden's music demands big and brash, and too much of this album sounds like it was recorded in someone's bedroom with all of the windows duct-taped shut. I have the same problem with the sound of early Metallica, but that's a different topic. If I want my music to sound like this, I'll put the cotton in my own ears, thank you very much.

Only a few songs to comment on... "Flight of Icarus" I kind of knew from growing up since it touched on themes I recognized from being such a huge Greek mythology nerd in elementary school. "The Trooper?" Well, come on. Guitar Hero II. Nothing else to say. "Quest for Fire" is the true Spinal Tap moment here, starting off with Bruce Dickinson screaming the line, "In a time when dinosaurs walked the Earth!!!!" I can't listen to that with a straight face.

And then there's "To Tame a Land." A good 7-minute plus epic, and one that is rumored to be one of the cover songs Dream Theater is going to be releasing in their series of cover songs being released in the weeks before their new album comes out later this month. Listening to this closely today, I can totally see DT covering this one. And doing so very well.

DaM is still on the way.... delayed in Chicago, so the Minneapolis arrival will be considerably later than previously expected. Kind of disappointing since I'd like more time to visit, but I'm not the one doing the cross-country road trip. In the end I'm glad I can just provide a place to sleep along the way.