Encapsulating an Iron Maiden album into a few hundred measly words is a hard job. You have to mention the fact that now on their sixteenth album, they are arguably better than they were 40 years ago when Steve Harris started this whole thing. You could then throw in the fact that live they are still a life affirming experience and doggedly refuse to follow their peers into becoming a heritage act. After that you’ll probably get round to mentioning the music, which usually defies words anyway. With The Books of Souls, Maiden seem to have set out to make that process even harder, releasing a double album which is just over an hour and a half in length and includes three songs over ten minutes long. Here we go anyway.
A Modern Masquerade
‘We write songs with massive guitar riffs, but with the catchy hooks of an indie pop song.’ That’s how lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alex Cameron describes A Modern Masquerade. Having released their first single earlier this year, they are hoping those catchy hooks can lead them to a bright future.
45 Years
Cinema is often unfair to the elderly. There are few films that give an accurate representation of what it actually means to be old, at least not a growing old doesn’t involve them either going senile or just being a bit racist. However, with the discovery in recent years that as a group they will attend the cinema on mass, this has begun to change. The success of films like The King’s Speech seemed to activate the Grey Pound and we are now getting films that are more understanding of elderly life.
Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes – Blossom
Since leaving Gallows Frank Carter has struggled to make up his mind. First he was fed up of singing about hate and would never do hardcore again. Then, after a brief flirtation with the underwhelming Pure Love, he seemed to change his mind and is now back in the hardcore groove, with Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes. Their debut album, Blossom, sees him try to recapture the magic that made Gallows one of the most exciting bands on the planet.
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Bullet for My Valentine – Venom
In their own way, Bullet For My Valentine have played a big part in my musical education. They were the first metal band that felt like one of my own, a band whose debut album I went out and bought and it wasn’t thirty years after the fact. Of course, since then things have only seemed to go downhill and they’ve gone from the UK’s next big hope to being overshadowed by Bring Me The Horizon and their American peer’s Avenged Sevenfold. Which bring us to Venom, their latest attempt to prove they aren’t dead yet.
The Wolfpack
The Angulo families seven children have been raised without really seeing the real world. An active year was leaving the house nine times, while there were years where they would never leave at all. When Crystal Moselle met them walking down the street dressed like they had walked straight from the set of Reservoir Dogs, she found out about this story and determined to discover more. Henceforth, The Wolfpack was born.
Alien Isolation
Few games have ever caused me to experience the seemingly contradictory emotions of love and loathing at the same time. Alien Isolation may in fact be the only one.
Trainwreck
Being funny is hard. Being funny for two hours, is very hard. That’s the challenge laid at the feet of Trainwreck from the start and, like most Judd Apatow films, it is probably around half an hour too long. However, it does manage to be funny. A lot of which is due to a star making performance from Amy Schumer, who is also the first person to write a film that Apatow directed who is not called Judd Apatow.
The Gift
The Gift is a film that would do better without a trailer. A glance at said trailer would believe you to think you were about to witness a very simple home invasion horror. A man and his wife return to his hometown and are haunted by an old school friend. However, the film itself is much more intelligent than that.
Frank Turner – Positive Songs for Negative People
Frank Turner has had one hell of a career since the end of Million Dead back in 2005. He has played 1708 solo shows (as of Sunday the 9th of August 2015) and released six albums. That’s not even mentioning side projects like the brilliant Mongol Horde. In that time, he’s risen from playing the back rooms of pubs to a handful of people, to selling out arenas, all seemingly off the back of word of mouth and good songs. It’s a journey that now continues with Positive Songs for Negative People.
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Ramblings About Wrestling 