Customer Reviews

Iron Maiden Tribute: Numbers From the Beast

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Good
McAuley (MSG) and Schenker (MSG) reunite for their cover of "Run to the Hills". Robin is in great voice, and you have to wonder why he isn't using it elsewhere. Michael's improve runs really define the track. Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) tackles "Wasted Years" with George Lynch (Dokken). Dee can hang on the verses, but when it's time for the chorus, he can't nail it. Lynch is one fire as always. Ripper Owens (Iced Earth) comes closest to duplicating the high-pitched wails of Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson on "Flight of Icarus", although it comes off sounding like a Judas Priest cover (wonder why that is?).

Chucky Billy's (Testament) vocals delivery on "Fear of the Dark" is pure evil. Anytime Lemmy (Motorhead) does a cover song, it truly becomes his own. That's all I can really say about "The Trooper". One of my favorite vocalists, Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie Malmsteen) nails the highs and the lows that make up "Aces High". For someone that wanted to run away from the whole metal scene, Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) is unstoppable during his guitar solos. Wow! I never thought I'd hear Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow) covering Iron Maiden. He can't hit the high parts, but adds his own brand of bluesy tones to the chorus. Ritchie Kotzen (Poison) gives the Iron Maiden axmen a run for their money during his showcase here.

It's no surprise that Chris Jericho (Fozzy) is on this album, most of his original Fozzy material sounds like Maiden stuff. He's paired with Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big) who is quite impressive. John Bush (Armored Saint) and Scott Ian (Anthrax) decide to cover a more contemporary track from the group, "The Wicker Man". John's another great vocalist that doesn't get half the credit he deserves.

The Bad
All-star tribute? I think they left out "80's". Mark Slaughter's (Slaughter) version of "Can I Play with Madness" is crap. I didn't know he was still around. For crying out loud, Paul Di'Anno (ex-Iron Maiden) really needs to go on with his life and put his two album career with Iron Maiden to bed. I can't believe he's covering himself with "Wrathchild". Paul, maybe you could team up with Neil Turbin (ex-Anthrax) and Al Atkins (ex-Judas Preist) and tour on the 1 or 2 albums you had with bands that became big after you were dumped from them?

The Verdict
Usually these Bob Kulick tribute albums are crap, but in recent years they've come a long way. I mean, he's still spelling wrong wrong, but the quality is much better. Iron Maiden and most heavy metal fans would be proud of this one.

I admittedly took a gamble on this album and I was more than pleasantly suprised at the quality. When you see Dee Snider, Lemmy, and Joe Lynn Turner filling in for Bruce Dickinson, you think its a bad joke. All three of these guys, as well as the rest on the album sound great. Everyone meshes together well as if they were all very well rehersed. I'd be sticking my neck way out to say that any of these tracks sound as good or better than the original, so I'll just say that they are all very unique renditions of the originals. Aces High, with Jeff Scott Soto, is a great one. Joe Lynn Turner gets knocked on some of the other reviews here. I'm not sure why because he does a fine job on Two Minutes to Midnight. On paper, Lemmy singing The Trooper sounds like the punchline to a bad joke, but the song ends up sounding great. Even with the appearance of Ripper Owens on Flight of Icaras, we are all reminded of how Bruce Dickinson's range is difficult for most singers to reach. However, this is a great and fun album that is very well played by all involed. I highly recommend it to Maiden fans seeking "new" or different renditions of their classics.

Excellent song choices, vocals range from ho hum (Mark Slaughter, Chris Jerico)to great (Lemmy, Chuck Billy, Robin McAcAuley), drumming and bass all very good, some of the guitar playing is so good that I was blown away (Bruce Krulick, Craig Goldy, Nino Bettencourt, George Lynch). However if you are on a budget and don't have Live after Death, GET IT instead

I have lots of tribute albums, and this is one of thye best ever. Right up there with Nativity in Black.

An all star showing for an all star band.

Weird mixtures of many metal greats.

a hi light of the cd is

Flight of Icarus (Ripper Owens / Dio )

One of the best tributes to ever be recorded.

A must for Maiden fans and metal mosh masters all over.

This "All Star" tribute was a great idea! I know there are many other Rock Stars out there that I would have liked on this album but, all-in-all, this is a great lineup. The only let down I had was that Lemme (Motorhead) sang one song. Even though, after hearing it several times, it becomes bearable. As i said, I have heard this CD several times now and the more I listen to it, the more I like it! Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme/Dramagods) rocks on Two Minutes to Midnight and you can tell it is him on the track with his signature licks. I have listened to other so called "tribute" attempts but this one manages to stay as true to the original songs as possible yet still add their personal touch. This tribute was done with class and style.

I recommend this one to any Iron Maiden fan out there who wants to listen to a slightly different version by some rockin' pro's in the realm of the Metal world.

\m/ Rock on! \m/

I see so many Maiden tributes, and I always pick them up to check them out, but often find them filled with bands I have never heard of, so I pass. When I finally got around to picking this up, and seeing so many big names on it, I felt compelled to check it out. Boy was I happy.

This is such a cool tribute, with huge name rockers. Musically they do not stray far from the originals, and some of the guitar solos are just all out impressive. Bruce Kulick, Nuno Betterncourt, George Lynch, Michael Schenker, and Paul Gilbert sound at the top of their game.

Vocally e have some really impressive work here. It is so cool (to me at lest) to hear well known voices taking on other killer failiar song. Aside from not really enjoying the dark vocal rendition or style of "Fear of the Dark" (Chuck Billy of Testament), the barking-growl rendition of "The Trooper" by Lemmy, or the appearance of Paul Di'Ano covering himself (get off the Maiden trek already), the rest of the vocals were quite impressive. I especially appreciated Robin McAuley, Dee Snider, Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Slaughter and even the caught-me-of-guard Joe Lynn Turner's vocals.

Overall, one of the best tribute CDs I have purchased. Another thoroughly enjoyable tribue was the "Spin the Bottle" tribute to Kiss, with an as impressive line up as we have here.

Generally, a tribute album should bring something new to the song being payed tribute to, without straying away too much from its roots. In many cases, any attempts to try something that's not capable of being achieved only lead to bad results. This all-star tribute album is mediocre. While it's fun hearing Lemmy, Dee Snider and Ripper do good covers of "The Trooper", "Wasted Years" and "Flight of Icarus", respectively, the rest of the songs here sound pretty simplistic and average. "Fear of the Dark" sung by Testament's Chuck Billy sounds strange with "dark" vocals, "Aces High" simply sounds weak and Chris Jericho, a guy I don't dislike, does a bad job performing "The Evil that Men Do". Then, you have the bastardized version of "Wicker Man", done not surprisingly by an "all-star" group consisting of members of Anthrax, Rob Zombie and Godhead. One can appreciate the intentions in paying tribute to a legendary band like Maiden, however, for the most part the tribute in question fails to capture any degree of magic found on the original versions. Angel Corpse and Absu (not featured here) have played the best versions of Maiden songs I've heard thus far, and that's because they were instrumentals. Go figure.

Generally speaking, this tribute album's covers are poorly done. They're watered down, the vocals are only nailed in a couple songs- and you'd better be able to, Paul, after recording 50 different versions of Wrathchild since you were given the boot 25 years ago- the guitars end up sounding out-of-tune or off-note, and, well... some of the people on here who aren't currently enlisted in a band probably have a reason for it and it shows in this album. I guess the only way this album could really serve as a tribute is that it underscores the notion that Iron Maiden is too high-caliber for anyone else to get right. The only cover track on here that I would ever consider actually listening to is Flight of Icarus. The instruments weren't particularly spot-on but it's the only song (other than Wrathchild) that doesn't induce vomiting from the vocals alone. Tim Owens comes very close to sounding like Dickinson.

The gesture is nice and all, but it does reek of commercialism and, more often than not, the tunes are dumbed down.

will buy this one for sure, should be a great listen. just one question: what on earth were they thinking about inviting joe lynn truner to sing on one of the songs???!! hopefully, it's the LAST joe lynn turner-meets-john bush album. other than that, no complaints on the line-up