Iron Maiden, Iron Maiden, Iron Maiden.<\/p>\n
Need a shot of it, but don’t have
\nNumber of the Beast<\/i> or
\nPiece of Mind<\/i> handy? I bring good news… Pharaoh formed
\nnear Philadelphia in November of 1997.<\/p>\n
I have been longing for a release like this: a band that plays
\nhomage to the great Iron Maiden, while maintaining their own
\nidentity. This band could have easily slipped onto any one of the
\nIron Maiden tribute CDs that have come my way (Dwell Records’
\nA Call to Irons<\/i> or Meteor City Records’
\nSlave to the Power<\/i> come to mind.) Of course, if you are
\ngoing to enter into the realm that Iron Maiden has immortalized,
\nyou have to do the material right.<\/p>\n
That means searing vocals that don’t go out of tune when holding
\nnotes. No problem. That means drums that provide a foundation. No
\nproblem. If anything, drummer Chris Black provides a more
\nprogressive metal feel to this material. The guitar riffs have to
\nbe interesting and the accompanying guitar solos have to expand the
\nsong into a new realm. Satisfied that requirement as well.<\/p>\n
“Solar Flight” is the best track on this CD. This track has, in
\nits favor, an upbeat tempo, Dickinson-ish vocals, interesting
\nguitar riff, a series of quick snare fills during the guitar solo,
\nand a keen awareness of phrasing the vocals in-between the guitar
\nriff. It easily could have been on an IM release.<\/p>\n
Sure, it is nice for the band to have established their own
\nsound. Drummer Chris Black throws in some double-bass, which IM
\ndrummer Nicko McBrain does’t play. Beyond that, though, this
\nrelease has hit me at a weak moment: inadvertently, I have realized
\nI have been without an IM fix for months.<\/p>\n
The CD concludes with a track called “Slaves.” Incidently, this
\nis the first song that guitarist Matt Johnson, drummer Chris Black,
\nand (now-departed) guitarist Keith Barnard wrote. It showcases the
\nsense of style that Pharaoh was able to carry into the other 8
\ntracks on this release. I like this band – – I think they will go
\nfar in the world of metal with the right exposure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6826],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37569","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pharaoh","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37569"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37569"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}