Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time Album Review

Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time (1986)

Members:

Bruce Dickinson – vocals

Dave Murray – guitars, guitar synthesizer

Adrian Smith – guitars, guitar synthesizer, backing vocals

Steve Harris – bass, bass synthesizer

Nicko McBrain – drums

Somewhere in Time is the sixth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 29 September 1986 on EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in North America. (It was re-released by Sanctuary/Columbia Records in the United States in 1998.) It was the band's first album to feature guitar synthesisers.

Producer:

Martin "Masa" Birch – producer, engineer, mixing, tape operator

First Impressions:

Classic maiden with a twist.

When I was a kid and I was getting into metal music my parents created a list of bands that were not allowed in the house, among those bands was Iron Maiden. However in 1986 my dad decided to go against that list and he bought me this album from our local Albertson's grocery store. He knew I really wanted this one and he couldn't say no. My dad was always good at breaking mom's rules for my sake(he was the one who took me to my first KISS concert after all which mom never knew about). He told me to never say anything and he took me to McDonald's for lunch and we both listened to it. I have always loved this album and this review will show that, I'll try to be as nonbiased as I can but with this one it will be very difficult...but enough of this stroll down memory lane, let's just dig into this thing track by track and see what the boys have for us....Let's Do This!!!

1."Caught Somewhere in Time" 7:22

We start here with a fitting intro and a feeling that this isn't going to be "yet another" maiden album. Although all the tropes are there to be one, Bruce is as great as always, Steve is galloping away on the bass, Dave and Adrian are synced up and playing well, and Nicko is playing as tightly as always on the kit. The addition of the guitar synth really adds a spacy touch to this whole album and this track sets this up perfectly. The solos are beautiful and the over all presentation on this one is flawless. Even at over 7 minutes this one flies by leaving you wanting more. A very well done track that never gets old.

2."Wasted Years" 5:06

The first single off the album and the reason I wanted this album. This track made me a life long maiden fan. The intro to the track is as classic as you can get and you instantly know the track from it. The lyrics are great and the over all feeling is just a kinetic rush. This is one of those tracks you catch yourself singing with in front of total strangers when it comes on. It is just so infectious and fun. The message is pretty good too, don't forgo the present by living in the past. It's just another great and classic maiden song that never feels tired....and I love the solo on it, one of the first solos I ever learned on guitar...love it.

3."Sea of Madness" 5:42

Iron maiden is very good at changing the mood of an album without changing the over all consistency of the quality within it. This song kinda departs a bit from the over all feeling of the album as a whole...but somehow it still fits. The chorus is an earworm and will infiltrate your life at odd moments. This is a great track with good production and excellent execution. Can't really complain about this one at all, and the calm mid break is just so cool...even though it does feel very 80's.

4."Heaven Can Wait" 7:24

Another long one from the masters of long songs...this starts with a synth drone as the other sections of the track slowly fill in the open space. Another track that came off as initially unexpected but not uncharacteristically Iron Maiden. Nice pacing, great vocals by Bruce as always and tight musicianship. This is a nice rollercoaster ride of a track that starts slow, ramps up, then trods along in mid tempo chanting, the 80's flourishes are all here sounding a bit like new wave at times, then the track picks right back up. Anyone that accuses Maiden of going piggy with their more recent albums obviously really hasn't been paying attention...this track is proggy, just not artsy proggy.

5."The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" 6:31

I'll admit, I really didn't like this track at first. As I got older and more exposed to other types of music did I start to appreciate it a lot more. This is not designed to be accessible to everyone. It utilizes classic maiden tropes to make it familliar...but it does do a few things that make it more like an experiment in song writing. What this song did back in 86 has become a trope in more current releases. I have really grown to enjoy what this track has to offer, and what it offers they did very well.

6."Stranger in a Strange Land" 5:43

The second single from this album and another favorite of mine. Steve's bass work is the true standout on this one, the rest of the band really add texture to his foundation. Nicko gives this one a great technical groove, and the twin synth guitars of Dave and Adrian just solidify this thing. Bruce tells a great story and gives it a huge feel. But under it all is Steve Harris, giving the track melody, pace, and a direction that just pulls you along with it. An excellent track and among the best this band has ever made.

7."Deja-Vu" 4:55

Another track that took a few listens to really appreciate, but eventually I did. This is a really well executed track that has a good pace and a good over all feel to it. The lyrics convey the definition and the experience of the songs title. It is another very well executed track that I have no real complaints about, and not much else to say...it just is an enjoyable track that leads well to the plus that closes this one out.

8."Alexander the Great" 8:35

"My son, ask for thyself another kingdom, for that which I leave is too small for thee"...a great start for a long track that is pretty much a history lesson set to music...something this band does a lot and does it very well. I can honestly say Maiden is the band that got me interested in history, mythology, and literature...they do it in such a way that really sparks your curiosity. This track goes through the history of this once great conqueror and does it with a great pacing and multifaceted musical changes within that pace. It's one of their best long songs, it is a bit proggy as well but in a very good way, this has always been one of my favorite long tracks. Great production, excellent solos and layering, top notch lyrics, and a rock solid rhythm section all through this beast. It doesn't get much better than this one.

Conclusion:

What more can be said about this album that hasn't already been said in the 33 years of it's existence. It was a daring album that set the stage for the next album, the very ambitious "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". Somewhere in time birthed another iconic representation of their long time mascot Eddie and it contained a collection of iconic songs that may not have aged as well as others but they are still as relevant as everything else in their vast catalogue. This is the definition of classic and it still elicits good memories from a time when metal was a uniformed social class and not a collection of elitist crybabies that have a hard time accepting the original concept of Heavy Metal as a whole. Up The Irons!!

Score: 5/5

https://ironmaiden.com/

Hirax -Immortal Legacy Album Review

Hirax - Immortal Legacy (2014)

Members:

Katon W. de Pena - vocals

Lance Harrison - guitars

Steve Harrison - bass

Jorge Iacobellis - drums

Additional musicians:

Juan Garcia - guitars on "Hellion Rising"

Jim Durkin - guitars

Rocky George - guitars

Fabricio Ravelli - drums

Immortal Legacy is the fifth studio album released by thrash metal band Hirax on February 24, 2014. It is the first since the 1980s to feature a 4-piece band. It is also the last with Jorge Iacobellis on drums.

Produced by:

Bill Metoyer - Recording, Mixing, Mastering, & Producer

First Impressions:

Solid effort that only improves on their legacy.

Hirax is one of those bands that started in the 80's but kinda got lost in the shuffle and to be honest wasn't the best thrash band out there. They released 2 full length albums in the 80's Raging Violence (1985) & Hate, Fear and Power (1986) which were both good thrash albums but they were buried by many of their better selling contemporaries like Metallica, Exodus, and Slayer. They didn't release anything aside from a compilation Not Dead Yet (1987), a split album with the band Spazz in 1997 and a couple E.P.'s (El Diablo Negro (2000) & Barrage of Noise (2001))..however they eventually resurfaced and released the full legnth album The New Age of Terror (2004), followed by El Rostro de la Muerte (2009) (with a few more splits and E.P.'s between them). However, this reviewer doesn't really deal with splits, live albums, and E.P. length albums so even though this band really never truly stopped they have only released 5 full length albums over their whole career. My history with this band started at their 2nd album Hate,Fear, & Power...I bought it at my local Camelot records in 1988 after my 17th birthday when everyone gave me money and I was doing pretty good 1 year into my music career, having recently played my first decent paying gig at a place called Janus Landing. I bought a ton of cassettes and that Hirax album was among them. When I finally listened to it I really have to say I was impressed, but there were some things that kept it from my pantheon of great albums...most notably was the vocal presentation...I wasn't quite used to the tambor and shifts that Katon offered and I found it a bit off putting, but I was 17 and musically stupid. Later I found myself listening to that album even more but for the life of me I could be be get a hold of anything else of theirs. The digital age came in eventually and I can say it helped me with my collection immensely, it allowed me to listen to albums that I could not find. Which brings me to the album I will be looking at here the 2014 album Immortal Legacy. Will this album make me an even bigger fan? Or will it make me hate the genre completely? Well let's find out as we dig into the digital release track by track and see what crawls out from the wreckage...Let's Do This!!

1."Black Smoke" 4:35

Well the budgie like intro was fun then comes the aggression, wasting no time in bludgeoning your ears. Katon's vocals are much better now than they were earlier in his career. They cut through the guitar chaos with a rage and force that is not hard to listen to at all. Sound like he took phrasing lessons from Bobby Blitz Ellsworth though...not a bad thing. This is a very tight track and sounds great. Excellent start to this album.

2."Hellion Rising" 4:05

The video single to this album, and a beast of a tune...nothing bad to say about this one. But commenting on Katon on this one, he offers a couple other techniques that resemble other notable voices of thrash...those being Steve Zetro Souza and Eric A.K.. The guitars are vicious here too, and do not get me going on the rhythm section here...this track just pummeles you like a tank...it's glorious.

3."Victims of the Dead" 3:07

Dramatic intro that would be great entrance music for a wrestler. This is a mid tempo type of thrash in the vein of Metallica's four horsemen. It is heavy and very accurately played, chugging all over your gray matter and really setting a great pace for a large circle pit...good track, no real complaints...could be a touch longer but it does what it does, and it does it well.

4."Thunder Roar, the Conquest, La boca de la bestia - The Mouth of the Beast" 4:54

Well, this is interesting. Arpeggios into a very hungry riff. I would love to hear this thing live. This track lyrically is more of an anthem style track, the way it includes the words we and they. This is simply put a fun track and really worth the 4:54 invested in it. It is full of classic thrash metal tropes but done in some unique ways...the solos are frantic and the drums are relentless. Everything that makes a good thrash track.

5."Earthshaker" (Instrumental)0:44

Well....it's an instrumental, it's short, and it's pretty cool for a guitar only kinda thing.

6."Tied to the Gallows Pole"4:05

Well, this sounds dramatic. The riff is pretty cool, sounds like a Sodom meets Heathen kinda thing. It's heavy and sounds like a theme song to a war. The lyrics are cool and not cliche' at all. This track has a lot of mood in it too, it flows in feeling from rage to almost melancholy in a way...It's a neat track and by far a favorite of mine. It's just so well done.

7."Deceiver"3:42

This starts off sounding like something from Metallica's Ride the Lightning...but it soon turns into it's own thing. Katon is pulling off his best Bobby Blitz impression again, and that is not a bad thing. This track is amazing in its execution and tightness. I really dig this one.

8."Immortal Legacy"4:40

The title track of this one, and by history supposedly the best track on the album...does this one fit that? Well, yes it does. This track is a thrash bulldog, it's got teeth for days, a slobbering beast that just trampled you in every way it can. The rhythm section is like a machine gun nest, the guitars are just relentless and Katon soars above it all like a WWII bomber...it's a thing to experience. I adore this one...a whole album full of stuff like this would make me very happy.

9."S.O.W." (Instrumental) 0:57

Another instrumental, just as good as the last one...just more band members.

10."Violence of Action" 3:36

Love the intro to this thing...the message samples are great. This is another favorite one...it's got a Sacred Reich kinda feel and I like that. This track is more of the same quality and aggression that this album excels at and not much more can be said about it. It's a moshers delight and brutal as hell.

11."Atlantis (Journey to Atlantis)" (Instrumental) 1:30

A third instrumental? But bass oriented this time...these are more like interludes. This is still cool though.

12."The World Will Burn" 2:07

The title alone sells this one to me. But aurally this one sells itself as a plodder and a great pit track. I can picture a group of combat boot wearing thrashers stomping around the pit  to this one. Not as blast heavy as others here but it's good and doesn't overstay its welcome.

13."Mephistopheles"(Digital Edition Bonus Track) 5:16

This is the bonus track on the digital edition, the vinyl got a different track called "Mass Hysteria"...but at 5:16 this is a much more substantial track. [I won't be reviewing the vinyl track until I have a vinyl release and can do it justice...I'll update this review when I do.]. This one starts with a film sample then moves into a very Metallica sounding intro riff before shedding that and moving into a pure rage strewn sonic tapestry. This is just as ferocious as many other tracks on this one, but that comes with a caveat, this one sounds a bit like more of the same all mashed together. However, this track is far from filler, it just suffers from what a lot of thrash does....repetitious soundscapes. Some bands grew past that and incorporated a few more influences and techniques to mixed results. However for this band, it is among their top tier songs and does offer some great neckbreaking opportunities. This is Hirax and this is who they are.

Conclusion:

This album for all its quirks and inconsistencies is still a fun listen. It offers a classic thrash metal soundscape that is fast, aggressive, and forceful. Katon's vocals have gotten so much better over the years and he isn't ashamed to wear his influences on his sleeve. The guitars are  well done and aggressive as hell, but I wouldn't expect any less from Lance, he is an amazing and under appreciated guitarist. Steve and Jorge fill out the rhythm section very tightly and very heavily...even the additional musicians offered up a great mix of feels. All in all this is a well executed traditional thrash album with good production. I have no real complaints and can in all honesty recommend it to any headbanger who needs a good recent thrash fix. One thing however still bothers me....for all my years listening to this band, why don't I own at least a patch for my battle vest?

Score: 4.5/5