POP MUSIC REVIEW : Iron Maiden Concert Is a Treat for the Metalsome : The English quintet delivers an explosive show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, whipping the sellout crowd into a frenzy.

Keep your Guns N’ Roses, your Metallicas or any of those high-minded “arty” chart-topping hard-rockers. Real metalmaniacs know that if you really want to get your aggressions out and walk out of a show feeling gloriously drained, as if you’ve been through combat--go to an Iron Maiden concert.

The English quintet’s show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Thursday night was explosive, the kind of go-for-the-jugular, blue-collar hard rock metalmaniacs crave but really don’t get too often.

Outside metal circles, the band has never received the respect it deserves, particularly for its live performances. Maiden is often dismissed as a run-of-the-factory outfit that’s been stuck in first gear since it was formed 10 years ago. Detractors, though, probably have been listening to the Maiden’s albums, such as “Powerslave” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” and not attending the supercharged concerts.

Iron Maiden consists of singer Bruce Dickinson, drummer Nicko McBrain, bassist Steve Harris and guitarists Janick Gers and Dave Murray. The band has cranked out songs full of violent, demonic imagery, such as “The Evil That Men Do,” dealing with death and dragons, and some of the compositions are rooted in mythology and history. The group’s new album, “Fear of the Dark,” takes some interesting new turns, tackling such issues as AIDS (“Fear Is the Key”) and the futility of one-night stands (“Wasting Love”).

Dickinson is one of the more commanding, frantic front men in the business, with a voice that’s somewhere between a blood-curdling scream and an air-raid siren. OK, so he garbles lyrics; if you don’t already know the song, you’re never quite sure what he’s singing about. But you can’t complain about his intensity, which never wanes.

With Dickinson at the helm, Iron Maiden slowly whipped the sellout crowd into a frenzy. During the last part of the show, fists were punching the air with unbridled fury, and just in front of the stage, the pumped-up, hard-core head bangers battered one another with unusual abandon.

A key to the Maiden’s success is the ferocious twin-guitar attack, perfectly suited to the band’s sinister tales. As Murray and Gers play off each other vigorously, their guitars often sound like dueling buzz saws, creating the aggressive foundation of the pounding, relentless sound.

There were some clever theatrical touches too. Late in the show, a giant puppet of the group’s trademark skeletal monster popped up at the rear of the stage, leering at the audience. Naturally, it brought the house down.

Testament and Corrosion of Conformity opened. Testament was, in terms of musical quality and performance skill, several notches below Iron Maiden. None of its songs were real grabbers. The quintet connected with the crowd on occasion but couldn’t do so consistently enough to make the set memorable. This group could use a more charismatic front man.