Maiden Heaven Update
15 of Kerrang's favourite bands have come together to pay tribute to the planets greatest metal band Iron Maiden!Following on from the 2006 Kerrang! Remastered CD in honour of Metallicas Master Of Puppets, this latest collection Maiden Heaven features bands covering tracks from Iron Maidens legendary career, and will be given away free in Kerrang! issue 1219 on sale July 16.
The CD includes world exclusive performances from Metallica, Machine Head, Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, Coheed And Cambria, Gallows and more!
Chatting exclusively to Kerrang!, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich tells the readers how much respect the Bay Area thrashers have for the Brit metal legends.
"Iron Maiden are 10% cooler than every other band," says Ulrich. "From their relationship with their fans, to their album covers to their stages, to their live presentation, to their photos whatever they did was always cooler than what everyone else did! I have always had an incredible amount of respect and admiration for them and obviously getting a chance to be part of this CD feels that that has come a full circle. We played Remember Tomorrow as it was basically the blueprint for songs like Fade To Black and Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and some of the more epic ballady type of songs that Metallica had done later. We had so much fun with this!"
Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn is equally excited to be a part of this project.
"When I was a kid Iron Maiden were a very big deal to me and the influence they had on Machine Head has been huge, he reveals. We decided to cover Hallowed Be Thy Name for this CD because it's just such a great song, in fact it's a classic. I just love the way the vocal line goes up and down, so dramatic. If someone who'd never heard them wanted to know what Iron Maiden sounded like I'd point them in the direction of Hallowed Be Thy Name."
Metal heroes Trivium are happy to admit their own brand of heavy tunes could never have existed without Maidens worldwide influence.
"Iron Maiden helped create what we know as heavy metal," states frontman Matt Heafy. "Their influence can be heard on classic and contemporary bands alike; their fan base spans across the youngest and newest of heavy music recruits all the way to the diehard, life-long metal elite. We chose to play the track Iron Maiden, as the song that screamed out our love for them musically, and we knew it would be a really fun song to jam out in the studio. It was an honour to be able to play one of Iron Maiden's tracks and have the opportunity to contribute to this amazing CD. We hope everyone has as much fun listening to it as we did making it!"
Meanwhile, Avenged Sevenfold who have been picked to support Maiden at their upcoming Twickenham Stadium show on July 5 say they are honoured to be part of this Kerrang! tribute.
"Maiden are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless," says vocalist M Shadows. "This also gives us a chance to expose this great song to some of our younger fans who maybe aren't as familiar with Iron Maiden."
UK hardcore punk rockers Gallows chose to contribute a version of Wrathchild to the collection.
"We're actually all huge Maiden fans and while learning Wrathchild we discovered a new found respect for the band as musicians," says guitarist Laurent Barnard. "Some of their riffs are pretty fast and Steve Harris has definitely earned his place as a bass legend! We're so happy we were asked to be included!"
This Kerrang! Maiden Heaven CDs arrival coincides with the bands European leg of their Somwhere Back In Time World Tour and follows on from the release of their own collection Somewhere Back In Time: The Best Of 80-89.
"Maiden much appreciate and are very flattered by all the time spent on this by a lot of great bands, says Iron Maiden's manager Rod Smallwood, and would like to thank them, and also Kerrang!, for the honour. Thanks everyone!"
Pick up your copy of Kerrang! issue 1219 on sale July 16 for your own copy of Maiden Heaven.
MAIDEN HEAVEN tracklisting
BLACK TIDE - Prowler
METALLICA - Remember Tomorrow
AVENGED SEVENFOLD - Flash Of The Blade
GLAMOUR OF THE KILL - 2 Minutes To Midnight
COHEED AND CAMBRIA - The Trooper
DEVILDRIVER - Wasted Years
SIGN - Run To The Hills
DREAM THEATER - To Tame A Land
MADINA LAKE - Caught Somewhere In Time
GALLOWS - Wrathchild
FIGHTSTAR - Fear Of The Dark
MACHINE HEAD - Hallowed Be Thy Name
TRIVIUM - Iron Maiden
YEAR LONG DISASTER - Running Free
GHOSTLINES - Brave New World