Stuff that matters...

I wanted to send a quick shout out to my brother, who turned me on to Iron Maiden's latest release, "A Matter of Life and Death." I really haven't paid much attention to Maiden's releases since "Brave New World," and I don't have any good knowledge of their catalog since "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son."

Man, did I seriously miss the boat on this album... This release is so tight it's sick. I recommend that you buy it, bring it home, put it into your CD player - the one that is hooked up to the loudest sound system in your house - stand approximately 1.6 meters away from the speakers, and set the volume to "comfortably loud." Then press play, and enjoy the 70+ minutes of pure metal bombardment on your ears, head, and soul, after which you will peel yourself off of the opposite wall to rest in a pool of your own drool while contemplating just how much Maiden can still kick your a__! Definitely NOT safe to write this band off yet.

Plus, Maiden still has Steve Harris shredding bass and supplying the heart and soul of the band. Harris is an incredible bassist and songwriter (despite the pants), and an equally good metal poser (see total RAWK-out pic below - mad skills!!!).

By the way - next up for the Steve L. band will be The Flying Pig in Malvern, PA on July 20th. Hope to see you there!

Cheers!