KILLERS

Second opus for the Maiden. Heavier metallic than their debut.

One thing is for sure. It is made of the same dynamite. No time to rest.

A killer instrumental to start with "The Ides Of March", a wild and heavy one with " Wrathchild", post-punkish with "Murders In The Rue Morgue" (one of my fave). Some great hard-rocking tune ("Another Life"). All this in just twelve minutes. And that's a bit the problem. This three minutes format leaves little place to songwritting development, as if punk would still be alive (but in this case it would have been over-extended songs).

One gets the impression that only halve songs are delivered. When you listen to the crazy beat of "Genghis Khan", you would have liked a more complete track. The current one only being the introduction of an epic which will never exist. Too bad. This will "only" remain a short but great instrumental.

This second "Maiden" album is not as strong as their debut one, but the evolution towards a heavier sound is obvious ("Innocent Exile"). The "Purple" filiation (Mark III) is very much present in here. Heavy vocals a la Hughes and furious guitar (hi Ritchie) are the highlights of this extremely powerful song.

The highlight and the summit of widness in this album is with no doubt the title track "Killers". If ever you believe that fast riffs are the "Dream Theater" fabric, do listen to this one. An amazingly...killer of course. Just to give us a break, the band will propose some rock ballad. Like almost any hard/heavy metal band, this seems to be a must ("Sabbath" paved the way of course). But this one is what I would call, an upbeat ballad. A very good guitar break is performed. "Prodigal Son" is a good song as well.

And we'll finally get our epic. Which epic would you say ? Well "Purgatory" of course. Over three minutes of the punkiest theme. Over three minutes, that's an epic interms of punk, right?

There are absolutely no weakness in this album. A bunch of good songs : from start to finish. You listen to this album as a maniac. You are overflown by the ultra-furious elements of druming-bass and guitars. A solid, a hard, a metal album. It will just leave you breathless, believe me.

Probably worth seven out of ten. But since it is still not possible to be more accurate, I will rate this album with three stars.