Iron Maiden - Death On The Road

[Liu]

Iron Maiden - Death On The Road
EMI

Lets get the basics out of the way: Iron Maiden is my favorite band of all time and the album that the band was touring for this live set, Dance Of Death, has become one of my favorites by the band. My anticipation for this live double album has even led me to purchase the import EMI release, since the US domestic version hasn't hit stores yet as of this writing.

Thankfully it wasn't all for naught, as the album lives up to this reviewer's expectations. One major complaint many had with Dance Of Death (including myself at first, until the quality of the songs swayed me) was its dry production. Turns out that the band was trying to reproduce their live sound in studio, and when heard alongside with Death On The Road, one can see they accomplished what they set out to do. Not much needs to be said about the band's sound, its very similiar to Rock In Rio. If you close your eyes you can imagine yourself in that concert hall, Bruce Dickinson's voice reverberating along the walls and Steve Harris' basslines galloping, leading the charge. The three guitars are located accordingly in the mix, one to the left, one to the right, and the other in the middle. I can't really tell you who is where, I've never been good at picking out individual guitarists from the sound, especially when there's three like on here.

I have one issue though: the tracklist. Its expected that the new album will dominate the setlist as they've always done, in this case 6 songs being showcased (though I'd gladly trade Rainmaker for Face In The Sand or Gates Of Tomorrow). Its the "usual suspects" that irk me. I appreciate the two oddball inclusions in Lord Of The Flies and Can I Play With Madness (despite both being lesser favorites on their respective albums), but do we need yet another live Iron Maiden album with Wrathchild, Fear Of The Dark, The Number Of The Beast and Run To The Hills? (Hallowed Be Thy Name is excempt from this complaint, being my favorite song of all time and such). I understand that they'd have to play these songs during a normal tour night, but couldn't they had altered the set list for just one night? Maybe put some lost classics on tape, such as Stranger In A Strange Land, Moonchild, No Prayer For The Dying, or Judas Be My Guide? I'm still hoping for the day that they bust out The Aftermath or the quintessential Blaze era song, The Edge Of Darkness. I'm sure I'm not the only Maiden fan who wishes they can hear these songs in something other than their studio version state.

There is something else that bugs me: no Bruce banter before the songs. Bruce has uttered some of my favorites, the best being "...the moral of this story is what NOT to do when a bird shits on you" (If you don't know where that comes from, close this website now. You've come here by mistake). I haven't obtained the DVD version, so I don't know if they were editted out on the CD release. The lack of these little quips also makes the live set come across as a bit impersonal, as if it were a best-of package with crowd noise.

All in all, another great Maiden offering, though its necessity in your collection depends on how much you enjoyed Dance Of Death. Those of you poor souls unfamiliar with the band should look towards Live After Death instead, then work your way towards the present.


Disc 1:

01. Wildest Dreams
02. Wrathchild
03. Can I Play With Madness
04. The Trooper
05. Dance Of Death
06. Rainmaker
07. Brave New World
08. Paschendale
09. Lord Of The Flies

Disc 2:

01. No More Lies
02. Hallowed Be Thy Name
03. Fear Of The Dark
04. Iron Maiden
05. Journeyman
06. The Number Of The Beast
07. Run To The Hills

Score: 8/10