What a treat we have here! I take a holiday weekend and return to a brand new Iron Maiden album! And released 5 years to the day of their last effort, the excellent The Book of Souls, no less! Wait, hold on I’m getting a call…yes…yes…what…I see…alright, thanks. Somebody from Pitch Black Records just called. It turns out this isn’t a new Maiden album after all. No, this is the latest album from Airforce, Strike Hard, featuring former Maiden drummer, Doug Sampson.
Sampson played for Iron Maiden on their legendary Soundhouse Tapes demo, as well as the Metal for Muthas sessions. He reportedly left the band after battling health issues, was replaced by Clive Burr, and the rest is history. Maiden went on to become one of the biggest bands of all time, while Sampson became merely a footnote acknowledged by the most diehard of diehards. That is until a few years ago when Sampson returned with Airforce.
Sampson never had the chance to play alongside Bruce Dickinson, but he’s definitely making up for it. Did you think the current singer for Cloven Hoof was a Dickinson clone? Wait until you hear Airforce singer, Flávio Lino. Lino could be Dickinson’s long lost Portuguese cousin. He carries each song as if he’s playing to a sold out football stadium. Add to that some galloping NWOBHM riffs and an overall anthemic vibe and you’ve got Maiden 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Unlike the most recent Cloven Hoof album, Strike Hard is Maiden-esque from beginning to end, but without any outright plagiarism. There may be some similarity in the song titles (“Son of the Damned” / “Child of the Damned” “Band of Brothers / “Blood Brothers”). There’s even a shade of “Where Eagles Dare” on “Don’t Look in Her Eyes”, though it’s not painfully obvious. No, each of these tracks sound like Maiden originals.
Most tracks stick in the mid tempo range, almost giving off a slight hard rock vibe. The riffs on “The Reaper” and “I Feel Your Pain” sound more in line with classic Priest, though between Lino’s vocals and the blatantly Maiden production, the immediate comparison is going to be Maiden. My choice cut is the high speed, high power “Finest Hour”. We’ve got molten, melodic leads set to a driving drumbeat. What more could you ask for?
The only thing Strike Hard lacks is the songwriting chops of classic Maiden and the production skills of Kevin Shirley. Other than that, its quite the doppelgänger to Somewhere in Time. Since nobody knows when Bruce and the boys will drop the long awaited followup to The Book of Souls, I’ll gladly play Strike Hard until then.
6 out of 10
Label: Pitch Black Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Accept