The Lair of the Green Rob: New CDs to my collection (09/06/2008)

Iron Maiden have many incredible albums to choose from, but time and time again the one that gets mentioned as the absolute classic is the masterpiece that is 'Number of the Beast'. For the bands third album, due to the departure of Di'Anno, the band was joined by new vocalist Bruce Dickinson, bringing a whole new level of uniqueness to the band. Dickinson could belt out the vocals like nobodies business. Some of my favorite Maiden songs come from this album, like "22 Acacia Avenue", "Invaders", and "Run To the Hills". Though not my favorite album from Iron Maiden, 'Beast' definitely ranks high up there.

Metallica: Master of Puppets

One of the greatest albums of all time, and probably the greatest metal album ever recorded, 'Master of Puppets' shows Metallica in fine form. The material on this album is top notch from start to finish. There are eight classics to choose from here, including the title track, "Battery", the incredible "Damage, Inc.", the instrumental "Orion", and the iconic "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" just to name a few. I'm personally a huge fan of Metallica past and present, but this album will likely remain my favorite output from them forever.

Rush: Permamanent Waves

This is the first Rush album I ever really owned. I remember wearing my casette out playing this thing over and over again. The shortest album in the bands catalogue, there are only 6 songs to choose here, ranging from the classic ("The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill", and "Natural Science"... my favorite Rush tune) to the fan favorites ("Entre Nous", and "Jacob's Ladder"). The band are in fine form as the begin shifting gears from the side long conceptual pieces of yesteryear and move towards the shorter more concise pieces that they churn out to this day. It's great to have this one back in my CD rack and amongst the few other Rush discs I still own.

Richard Morse: Rychard

I haven't had a chance to listen to this one yet, and I can't find the album cover image to put up here, but I'm looking forward to digging into this one. Richard is of course the brother of Neal Morse and Spock's Beard guitarist Alan Morse. Neal plays on and produced this album and from the one review I was able to find, I believe that my money has been very well spent. I'll post an actual review when I get the time to give it the ear that it deserves.

Well, that is all I was able to get this pay day, althought next payday I will definitely be adding the new Metallica disc ('Death Magnetic') and hopefully a few other things I saw at CD Tradepost this past payday.