IRON MAIDEN

It all started here. For the casual listener, or the radical fan, Iron Maiden's debut LP was purely a heavy metal album . Not so. From day one Iron Maiden was a different band. Steve Harris, bassist\songwriter\band leader, was as much a fan of prog music and he was a metalhead. In their official biography, Run To the Hills, Harris tells the story of how he was a prog fan who started playing hard rock because he wasn't skilled enough to play that kind of music at that time. He cites Genesis, Yes and Jethro Tull as his favourite bands. No wonder Maiden would later record such classic prog songs like Tull's Crossed Eyed Mary and Nektar's King Of Twilight as single b sides.

If Somewhere in time is a classic starting point for many as one of the first prog metal of all time, Iron Maiden hinted that as early as five years before. Many prog trademarks were present at his songs in this brilliant record. like the suddenly tempo changes, the intricated melodies, the shifting rhythms. Although young, all the band members were excellent musicians and it is no surprise the impact of this record at the time. No HM band sounded like Maiden at the time.

Songs like Phantom Of The Opera and Remember Tomorrow are a typical exemple of the fact you don't have to have keyboards on an album to be prog. Even on heavier songs like Prowler or on the more lightweighted Strange World, or the instrumental Transylvania, the prog elements abound. This CD was. deserverly, a great success when it was released. It broke new grounds for heavy metal, but not only that. It showed the excellent mix of styles that would allow bands like Dream Theatre, Symphony X and so many others that would appear many years after.

I would recomend this CD to any progmetal fan, or anyone who likes heavy music with great melodies. An all time classic!