IRON
MAIDEN
- Brave
New
World
Praise
the
Beast!
Bruce
is back.
Yes,
Mr Dickinson,
the
voice
that
defined
these
hard
rock
legends
for
the
greater
part
of their
career
is once
again
lending
his
excellent
voice
to their
undisputed
trademark
sound.
And
from
the
word
go you
know
you’re
treading
familiar
(and
very
welcome)
ground.
Not
in a
re-hash
sort
of way,
but
more
of a
reminder
of those
cool
days
of yore.
The
tunes
parade
forth
thickly
and
as catchy
as always.
Guitarist
Janick
Gers
who
replaced
Adrian
Smith
a bunch
of albums
back
didn’t
get
the
boot
when
Ade
returned.
So now
you
have
three
guitarists,
Dave
Murray
completing
the
trio
of axemen,
backed
by the
ever
consistent
Nicko
McBrain
on drums
(who
seemed
to have
given
his
style
a bit
more
of a
modern
edge).
Ah,
yes,
and
then
there’s
Bruce.
What
a voice.
Produced
by Kevin
Shirley
of Aerosmith
and
Springbok
Nude
Girls
fame,
he doesn’t
over-ham
the
sound,
but
goes
for
that
basic,
bare
knuckle
approach,
lending
them
their
well
known
identity
in stead
of souping
it up
to compete
with
the
new
Slipknot
/ Incubus
/ Rammstein
generation.
Good
old
fashioned
hard
stuff.
5 / A
- Paul
Blom
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