Dream Theater
The Number of the Beast

THE REVIEW

After the lackluster "Master of Puppets", the much-hated-but-loved Dream Theater, thirsty for music (or clowns until death...), continue to bring great albums from history to the live stage. It's now the turn of "The Number of The Beast", the famous masterpiece by Iron Maiden. They improve quite a bit compared to the previous "Master of Puppets". Finally, Labrie sings in a "metal" manner, perhaps because he has a vocal tone similar to that of good old Bruce Dickinson. Rudess blends in sometimes yes and sometimes no, while the usual three monsters (I'm talking about Petrucci, Portnoy, and Myung) do their usual excellent job.

It would be pointless to list the tracks, as many metalheads now know this album by heart, but the Dream Theater versions are very interesting. "Invaders" is excellently played, and LaBrie is in shape. "Children of the Damned" is enriched by Rudess's piano, finally right on point and never out of place. "The Prisoner" is played superbly and is very fun to hear played this way, with an interesting keyboard solo. It's amazing how these songs don't lose power despite being played with just one guitar (let's remember that Iron Maiden has three of them...). And then "The Number of the Beast" is pearlescent in its executive perfection. The perfect execution of the tracks continues, except for "Run To The Hills", where LaBrie doesn't quite make it with the voice. "Gangland" is fascinating, while "Hallowed Be Thy Name" is evocative.

A very good reinterpretation of this classic. Dream Theater give us a personal and renewed performance of this timeless album.