VARIOUS ARTISTS – A TRIBUTE TO THE BEAST VOL. 2
Nuclear Blast - 2003
By Rodrigo Escandon
The first
Tribute to the Beast had an excellent collection of
Iron Maiden covers and I was hoping for more of the same with this release but in this case we are treated to a release half as good that still has some great moments but it is also hindered by some poor songs.
It has been my constant opinion that a cover should not sound like the original at all. If I want to hear the original then I will just play the original album. To me a cover has to be an interpretation of the original song with the sound of the band that is doing the cover. As far as
Iron Maiden covers go two of my favorites are “Hallowed be thy Name” by
Cradle of Filth and “Remember Tomorrow” by
Opeth. These two bands did exactly what I want out of a cover, they played them in their style and that is why those two are great. So is there anything like that in this release? The answer is yes but up to a certain degree.
Without a doubt the best song on this release is “Fear of the Dark” done by
Graveworm. By articulating violins, orchestral sounds, bagpipes and increasing the tempo, this song sounds new, fresh and exciting.
Necrophobic’s version of “Moonchild” is a raw and powerful version that sounds really interesting without the synthesizers from the original. “Strange World” by
Mago de Oz is a slower and more intimate version that is led by keyboards, flutes, violins, acoustic guitars and I love the folk inspired part that lasts about a couple of minutes.
Destruction could not have chosen a better song than “Killers” which just sounds like it belongs in their new one. Also included is the band
Wolf who sound more a lot like
Iron Maiden and their version of “Deja-Vu” will do nothing to dispel those comparisons but I highly enjoy this band and this song is excellent. Finally the version of “Wratchild” with
Stuck Mojo and
Devin Townsend is very original and quite enjoyable despite the fact that I don’t like
Stuck Mojo.
Those are the better songs found in this release. There were other songs that I have already heard from bands like
Therion,
Iced Earth and
Sentenced that I did not care to hear again or be featured in this release. The rest of the songs are ones that I totally do not enjoy. They either sound to much alike to the original (
Primal Fear’s version of “2 Minutes to Midnight”) or sound totally weak (“Wasted Years” by
Thunderstone).
Overall this album is half good, with some really great covers and some really bad ones and others that I just did not care for. However, this release is still better than most of the other
Iron Maiden tribute albums out there.
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