30 Mar 2013

Two Minutes to Midnight (2012)

2 Minutes to Midnight 
A Millennium Tribute to Iron Maiden (2012)

From the official website :

A two-disc set that covers the legendary new wave of the British heavy metal outfit's entire career, from "Killers" and "Number of the Beast" to "Wicker Man" and "Fear of the Dark," Two Minutes to Midnight: A Millennium Tribute to Iron Maiden, features a strong supporting cast of seasoned players, including Tim "Ripper" Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen), original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno, Chris Poland (ex Megadeth), Keri Kelli (Alice Cooper), Derrick Lefevre (Lillian Axe), and current/former members of Metal Church, Ratt, L.A. Guns, Fuel, Michael Schenker Group, Lizzy Borden, W.A.S.P., Mountain, and Lita Ford. As well Ratt, Slash's Snakepit, LA Guns, Fuel, Mountain, Michael Schenker Group ~ James Christopher Monger 

This is also one of the latest 2012 Iron Maiden tribute album release. The disc were organized by Versailles record, it is also part of the label's series of  "A Millenium Tribute to ...... " that covered Van Halen, Metallice, and many others.  The line up for our Iron Maiden tribute are pretty solid.

I mostly interested to Run to The Hills which featuring Chris Poland. The drum theme is slightly softer than the original. Lilian Axe former singer sings in clean and high pitches style. Chris Poland solos use a muddier guitar distortion. In Be Quick of Be Dead, band name React put a nice punk style version of it, the singer comes with female duet partner. In the very first track, The Number of the Best, it come with clever idea, a girl to do the spoken intro. Richard Kendrick of former Lilian Axe leads this song. American melodic guitarist Neil Zaza is team up with Tim Ripper Owen in Aces High, one of the highlight of the album. Then Mystic Force give a hard rocker heavy crunchy version in Revelation. Killer as usual is a versatile song to reproduce and Electric Sister modified it into punk-ish screamo version. Same goes to Children of the Damned that easily transformed into '80 slow rock ballad by Fierce Atmospheres, well it is indeed an '80s song. Then Canadian Mind Mechanics cover another good track in the album for a song Moonchild. There were even two version of The Trooper by two different bands, and another two version of Die With Your Boots On and Still Life.

This bulky double disc album covered almost all essential Iron Maiden songs. The bands range from well known heavy metal/hard rocker band gone into obscured bands. But the quality is quite good, they are all very close to original.  This CD perhaps to be use as Iron Maiden standard cover version. 3.5/5 rating. Styles: heavy metal, hard rock, punk

The song track order of CD are different in some version. They were two CDs, but I split it into three post just for technical reason that I want to label each song for song statistic.

2 Minutes to Midnight 
A Millennium Tribute to Iron Maiden (2012)
buy it here at AMAZON

CD 1
01 The Number of the Beast -  Lisa & Regan Kendrick (intro) Richard Kendrick & Chris Neufeld of Downshifter
02 Still Life - Ronnie Monroe
03 Wasted Years - Martian Honey
04 Killers - Electric Sister
05 Wrathchild - Leaving Eden feat. Tattoo Frank
06 Revelation - Mystic Force [Listen]
07 Die With Your Boots On - Threat Level [Watch Drum Recording]
08 The Evil that Men Do - Hachiman [Listen from REVERBNATION]
09 Rime of the Ancient Mariner - bugBRAIN
10 Children Of The Damned - Fierce Atmospheres
11 Two Minutes to Midnight - American Hellbilly
12 Hallowed Be Thy Name - SoupBone
13 Rainmaker - Devil May Cry / D3vilmaycry
14 Only the Good Die Young - Sonema
15 Running Free - Paul DiAnno
16 Iron Maiden  - Dark the Sky

CD 2
01 The Trooper  - Leaving Eden
02 Aces High - Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens/Neil Zaza/Richard Kendrick
03 Be Quick or Be Dead - React (female singer duet)
04 Moonchild - Mind Mechanics - listen SOUNDCLOUD
05 Remember Tomorrow - Agents of Exile
06 Losfer Words - Noise Disorder
07 Die With Your Boots On Pt2 - Sinful Lilly
08 The Wickerman - Richard Kendrick
09 Run to the Hills - Derrick LeFevre and Chris Poland [LISTEN]
10 The Prisoner - This Time Down
11 Can I Play with Madness - The Curse of Sorrow
12 Still Life Pt.2 - Antiquues
13 Fear of the Dark - Al Solo / Manuri
14 Man on the Edge - The Furnace
15 The Trooper Pt2 - Dimenssion
16 The Clairvoyant - Ravage

appear on promo but not included in the CD
 Caught Somewhere in Time - Power Quest
 Invaders - Antiquus
 22 Acacia Avenue - Satans Host
 Murders in the Rue Morgue - Dawn of the Final Day
 Hallowed be Thy Name - Waterlife Music


New all stars tribute to Iron Maiden from year 2012
A Millenium Tribute to Iron Maiden

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...