Pop Reviews : Iron Maiden Goes for Jugular

Keep your Guns N’ Roses, your Metallicas or any of those high-minded, 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--like you’ve been through combat--one tried-and-true way is attending an Iron Maiden concert.

The English quintet’s show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Thursday, also featuring the bands Testament and Corrosion of Conformity, was explosive, offering the kind of go-for-the-jugular, blue-collar hard rock metalheads crave but don’t get too often.

Outside of metal circles, the band has never really received much respect. Maiden is often dismissed as a run-of-the-mill outfit that’s been stuck in first gear since it was formed 10 years ago. Detractors, though, have probably been listening to the band’s albums and not attending the supercharged shows.

With Dickinson--one of the more commanding, frantic front men in the business--at the helm, Maiden slowly whipped the sellout crowd into a frenzy Thursday. OK, so he garbles lyrics and if you don’t know the song you’re never quite sure what he’s singing about. But you can’t complain about his intensity, which never wanes. What makes Maiden’s sinister tales work is the ferocious twin-guitar attack, with Dave Murray and Janick Gers vigorously playing off each other, often sounding like dueling buzz saws, aggressively creating the melodic foundation of the group’s pounding, relentless sound.

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