Maiden Heaven Vol. 2 - A Tribute Album to Iron Maiden by Kerrang Magazine 2016

Kerrang Magazine put out the 2nd volume of their Iron Maiden tribute albums in the magazine edition of June 2016. Just like their previous release, the album will called "Maiden Heaven Vol.2". Comprised of 15 tracks from Iron Maiden. In this release more new Iron Maiden songs from their later album were covered.

The album came with faithful version such as "Running Free" by Stone Sour, followed by "Speed Of Light" by Reigning Days. After these two songs, the cover version had gone more into creative zone with bands starting to interpreted the songs more freely. "Hallowed By Thy Name" by Escape The Fate still got the 80% vibes but a cleaner voice by the vocalist and slightly re-arranged make this version kind of different. "Fear Of The Dark" by Lonely The Brave got crunchy guitar in the intro while the vocals bit of modern rock sounding.

Trivium covered "For The Greater Good Of God", which is really re-energized the song. When the original song included in album A Matter of Life and Death, the whole album sounds pretty much the same, but in this setting, the song become unique and stand out. The usage of acoustic guitar added more layer to the album.

The most dramatic re-arrangement is "The Red And The Black" done by Steven Battelle. The original song had transformed into folk rock version with many folk instrument in it. Another extreme re-arrangement is for classic "The Evil That Men Do" by Creeper. The whole song is now piano accompaniment. Believe me, this is also works!

The usual "Number Of The Beast" done by Lower Than Atlantis is redo in modern setting, made us to think this is originally a alternative metal song. Anaal Nathrakh do "Powerslave" energetically, because the whole song is now in metalcore, death metal voice. Another very good re-interpretation is "Aces High" by Cry Venom, which demonstrated how the song can be improvised into many different version guitar playing.  The band Fozzy had done Iron Maiden songs before, their version of "Sun And Steel" is also  faithful version and enjoyable. Muncie Girls covered "The Wicker Man" in very chicky version, listen by yourself and see how Iron Maiden song turns into girl band version.

And what the heck Heck doing in "Trooper". This is by far the craziest version of The Trooper, changed into stoner metal version. Another stony feel is "Remember Tomorrow" by Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, controversial version. The last piece of this album is "Wasted Years" by Anathema, fortunately this is a sweet re-version of the original song. A clean acoustic version of this song is the closing act for this journey. Adrian Smith and co should be proud having their song reinterpreted into many different of styles.

A top quality Iron Maiden tribute album to have by the Irons.

Official Kerrang Magazine Preview

Kerrang!‘s Iron Maiden tribute album,  “Maiden Heaven Vol.2"

01 – Stone Sour – “Running Free”
02 – Reigning Days – “Speed Of Light”
03 – Escape The Fate – “Hallowed By Thy Name”
04 – Lonely The Brave – “Fear Of The Dark”
05 – Trivium – “For The Greater Good Of God”
06 – Steven Battelle – “The Red And The Black”
07 – Creeper – “The Evil That Men Do”
08 – Lower Than Atlantis – “Number Of The Beast”
09 – Anaal Nathrakh – “Powerslave”
10 – Cry Venom – “Aces High”
11 – Fozzy – “Sun And Steel”
12 – Muncie Girls – “The Wicker Man”
13 – Heck – “The Trooper”
14 – Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – “Remember Tomorrow”
15 – Anathema – “Wasted Years“