Table Ready: Undead Eddie
From Live After Death(1985)
UP THE IRONS!!
I believe it was late 2022 when CMON Games, the company known for various table top/board games such as Zombicide, announced a collaboration with the legendary English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The announced models would depict various iterations of the band’s mascot, Eddie. As a major fan of the band, I pre-ordered the complete set as soon as I saw the listing without so much as a second thought.
I began painting them within 24 hours of their delivery. Which was a great feeling, as these models broke a hobby rut that had been killing me for quite some time. Fittingly, I used the Iron Maiden discography as my soundtrack for these hobby sessions. With that, this crossover of the Table Ready and Background Noise series’ was born!
The Eddie Project.
As I mentioned in my previously mentioned, when I started this whole project thing I decided that I would paint the models in album release order. With the previous entry being for Piece of Mind, the next models to be featured should have been Pharaoh Eddie and Mummy Eddie from the 1984 album, Powerslave. Well, as it would have it, I ran into a logistical issue with this plan. That being, I wanted to release this specific model(Undead Eddie) on Halloween. Because, for no other reason, it is the perfect variant of the character for said spooky day.
There is also the[cough] issue that… uh… the[cough] two Powerslave models aren’t…[cough] finished yet… So… yeah…
They both have paint on them! I just have not had the time to sit down and finish them… Pharaoh Eddie is almost finished actually…
Here Lies Edward T. Head
I have made this remark a lot recently, but the Undead version of Eddie is incredibly true to the album cover. Right down to the markings on the headstone. Though, the miniature version is a bit too small to include the H.P. Lovecraft quote. It does, however, include the marking “Here Lies Edward T. Head, RIP”. Which I tried my damnedest to photograph, but it proved to be futile as it would not come into focus.
This version of Eddie sees him breaking free of his bonds and emerging from his grave in a flash of otherworldly light and fire. I decided to veer away from the album artwork just a bit, and give the energy effects of this model a more green hue. Rather than the lightning effects used on the artwork. Seeing as I could not replicate the lightning effect coming from his forehead, and whatnot.
For Eddie, I stuck with the same colors that I used for the Killer variant, and I was feeling really good about how he came out. Until, that is, after I took these pictures and realized that I forgot to paint his belt… Man, dammit. So I will have to touch that up at a later date… I swear, you only realize this stuff when you take close up pics and actually analyze them. Trials and tribulations of miniature painting, amirite?
It was slightly less of a pain to paint his skin and tattered shirt than I expected. The flesh wash for the Duncan paint series goes on thicker than Reikland Fleshshade so it needs to be watered down. It does seep into the recesses well though, particularly around the rips and holes in the shirt. I really like how the back of Eddie came out for some reasons. It’s kind of weird to be proud of the back of a model. Seeing as the back of a piece generally isn’t the focal point.
For the base/scene that is around him, I first painted the ground in a dark-tone brown before adding crude splotches of a lighter brown, and then I dry-brushed on a mid-tone green. Then I added some white around the concentrations of energy or flame before adding Hexwraith Flame to those areas. I also washed the other areas of the brown/green with a Kroak Green Citadel wash and some Nuln Oil. I did all of these washes in succession so they would bleed together. This included the Hexwraith application.
I found myself falling back to Citadel paints for this model a lot more than the last ones. But only for the scenery. Nothing against the Duncan paints, I am still enjoying them. My comfort zone however, at least when it comes to basing, rests with the Citadel line. For the headstone, I used my go-to stone color Dawnstone, with a Nuln Oil wash, and lastly I did a drybrush of Niblet Green for a moss effect. The headstone inscription is very subtle and I had to be careful not to over-apply the paint, as to lose that detail.
All in all, I am very happy with how Undead Eddie came out.
Missing the belt aside…
Background Noise: Iron Maiden – Live After Death
Being recorded live in 1984 across multiple legs of a world tour, Live After Death is an incredible live album. Generally, when it comes to live albums, you kind of roll the dice as to what kind of quality you are going to get. This even rings true to present day. However, back in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s there was an abundance of bootlegged live recordings out there. And for the most part these sounded horrible. They were nothing like our modern bootlegs, shot with iPhones, that are somewhat passable. No, these were often being recorded with a single condenser microphone. Everything through a single mic; singer, drums, guitars, and even the crowd noise. It all generally sounds like ass. I have a bunch of these in my record and CD collection. I keep some of them around for various reasons. Though I have trashed many.
Bootleg talk aside, Live After Death is a faithfully produced live cut. All of the vocal parts and instruments can be properly heard with no muddling. And muddling is something you regularly get with live cuts. It may sound okay, but the bass levels may be too low to quite pick up and get lost in the sauce, or the the cymbals pickups may be way too high and overshadow everything else. Stuff like that.
Live After Death does not suffer from any of this, and it ranks high amongst my favorite live albums. It’s up there along with Metallica: S&M, Deep Purple: Made In Japan, and Chicago: Live at Carnegie Hall. To name a few. With the latter two sounding damned good for the era in which they were recorded. (1972 and 1971 respectively)
As I alluded to above, Live After Death was recorded during the World Slavery Tour, a world tour in support of the Powerslave album. So it features many songs from that release as well as the prior albums. While the band still plays many of these songs live now, this setlist would be downright amazing to behold live with the band in their youth.
| Side 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro: Churchill’s Speech | 1:09 |
| 2 | Aces High | 4:07 |
| 3 | 2 Minutes to Midnight | 5:52 |
| 4 | The Trooper | 3:59 |
| 5 | Revelations | 5:59 |
| 6 | Flight of Icarus | 3:21 |
| Side 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Rime of the Ancient Mariner | 13:03 |
| 8 | Powerslave | 7:06 |
| 9 | The Number of the Beast | 4:48 |
| Side 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Hallowed Be Thy Name | 7:17 |
| 11 | Iron Maiden | 4:11 |
| 12 | Run to the Hills | 3:52 |
| 13 | Running Free | 8:16 |
| Side 4 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Wrathchild | 2:54 |
| 15 | 22 Acacia Avenue | 6:04 |
| 16 | Children of the Damned | 4:19 |
| 17 | Die with Your Boots On | 4:51 |
| 18 | Phantom of the Opera | 7:01 |
When I was picking songs to feature in this post, I wanted to stay away from the Powerslave tracks. This was because I will be talking about them in the next entry of the series. So I decided to feature a few live cuts of tracks from the previous albums that I did not talk about in the previous four Eddie Project entries, and also add the studio versions for comparison.
You’re standing in the wings
Iron Maiden – Phantom of the Opera (Iron Maiden)
There you wait, for the curtain to fall
But knowing the terror and holding
You have on us all
Yeah, I know that you’re gonna
Scratch me and maim me and maul
And you know I’m helpless from
Your mesmerizing catcall
From the self-titled 1980 release, Phantom of the Opera is, much like the subject matter Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, an epic. This musical is my favorite musical, and prior to its departure from Broadway, I have seen it a handful of times. The Maiden song starts off with the bass and the guitars playing an intro before the song really hits its stride. When it comes to this intro section, the first time I heard it(and paid full attention), it blew me the hell away. I was probably in middle school when I was listening to this song on a cassette tape through my headphones. I had to stop the track and start it over multiple times.
Anyone who has ever owned a cassette player knows that this was a pain. It involved a lot of button pressing.
“Shit! Too far.” “Fuck! Not far enough.” Or even “dammit good enough, I can listen to the last few moments of Running Free again”
For Live After Death, Iron Maiden, while the same band in name, were quite a different band from when Phantom of the Opera was first recorded. Gone was Clive Burr on drums. In, Nicko McBrain. Gone was Dennis Stratton on guitar. In, Adrian Smith. And most notably; gone was Paul Di’Anno on lead vocals. In, Bruce Dickinson.
Below is the bands studio recording from ‘Iron Maiden’. It is the same song, but very different.
Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes
Iron Maiden – Run to the Hills (Number of the Beast)
Galloping hard on the plains
Chasing the redskins back to their holes
Fighting them at their own game
Murder for freedom the stab in the back
Women and children are cowards, attack
Run to the Hills was the first single from the 1982 powerhouse album Number of the Beast. The song describes the colonizers attacks on the native Indians in the newly discovered America. This song is a staple in just about every Iron Maiden concert, and may have served as a gateway song for many fans of the band in my opinion.
Like many Maiden songs, Nicko McBrain(or Clive Burr in the older albums) and Steve Harris absolutely drive this song. I remember seeing the original music video for this song on MTV way back in the day. Usually it was in the dead of night on Headbangers Ball or whatnot. Hearing the band play, like on a stereo, and seeing the band play, like on TV or in person, are quite different experiences. You can hear Steve Harris’ bass lines, but you cannot actually see his fingers moving without the visual aspect. The bridge section that follows the guitar solo always blows me away. How? Just, how?
When I picked up a bass guitar for the first time, I tried to mimic many bassists, as one does when they pick up a guitar for the first time. You immediately try to become your heroes. Ryan Martinie from Mudvayne, John Myung from Dream Theater, and of course Steve Harris were a few of my favorite bassists through High School. All of whom pluck the strings, mind you, instead of picking. I never wanted to pick. I don’t really like that twingy sound. But the sound of a plucked bass string sounds so good.
Well, I failed to mimic all three at any point during my attempted bass playing years. My fingers just won’t move that fast. No matter how hard I practiced. It did not help that I damaged the hell out of my dominant hand on numerous occasions in my youth.
Just sixteen, a pickup truck, out of money, out of luck.
Iron Maiden – Running Free (self titled album)
I’ve got nowhere to call my own, hit the gas, and here I go.
I’m running free yeah, I’m running free.
I’m running free yeah, Oh I’m running free.
Another from the self-titled 1980 release, Running Free is great example of how the band can take a step back and return to their roots. Even though their roots were, well, comprised of completely different roots. And by that I mean different band members. Running Free is a completely different song style compared to, say, the above Run to the Hills, or even Phantom of the Opera, which was on the same album. I love the live cut of this song because it really accentuates the backing vocals. The guitars have some great descending riffs in Running Free, and the live cut highlights them as well.
Also, this live cut really does showcase Iron Maiden’s great audience interaction. This is something that has continued for over 4 decades. Bruce has always been, kind of, a maestro of sorts on stage. He can command a crowd like no other. From his trademarked “Scream for me [insert city name]” to interactions like in this song. It is super fun to be at a Maiden show.
Once again, the difference between Paul Di’Anno and Bruce Dickinson’s vocals can be easily understood by listening to the original cut. While it is easy to imagine the Di’Anno era songs being sung by Dickinson, because they have been, it is almost impossible to think about the Dickinson era songs being sung by Di’Anno. I just cannot imagine Paul Di’Anno singing, say, The Trooper, Moonchild, or Fear of the Dark.
Iron Maiden Live
Iron Maiden shows are incredible. Period.
A lot can be said for seeing a band that has been making music and touring for decades, vice a young upstart group. The former has had the time to refine their craft, like a fine wine. Whereas the latter may sound a more more raw and unrefined. This is a natural progression.
I have been fortunate enough to have seen Iron Maiden live on multiple occasions in the last 15 years. And by sheer happenstance, I have seen them at every major arena in the New York Metropolitan area. Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, Prudential Center in New Jersey, UBS Arena on Long Island, and Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.
It’s hard to pick, but my favorite show would probably be my first Maiden concert back in 2012, at the Prudential Center in Jersey. This was on the Maiden England tour, where the band was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the the tour of the same name, as well as the album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Which is one of my most favorite of albums. At this show I also got to cross off a bucket list item, which was to see Alice Cooper, who opened for them.
This was my first Maiden show. But obviously not for lack of interest. I had been unable to to catch them before this show for many reasons. It always sucked when they would be close by, and I would be stuck at home or at work. That was not going to happen this time. Another important band from my childhood that I did not see live for the first time until recent years is Metallica. It’s weird.
I have a lot of favorite Maiden songs. But my absolute, number 1, favorite Iron Maiden song is Moonchild*. And they opened the entire show with that. So I was charged and ready to go immediately. As soon as I heard the, “Seven deadly sins. Seven ways to win…” I was in an almost full on panic. Moonchild is an ABSOLUTELY perfect opening song for a live show.
It was an amazing night.
*I intend on discussing the 1988 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and Moonchild at a later date.
There will be a break in Eddie Project releases, but have no fear! Eddie will return!
Next up: Pharaoh Eddie/Mummy Eddie and Powerslave
Robert
All of these are true except for one:
Robert is: a Hobbyist, a Music Lover, an RPG Gamer, a Mustard Lover, Chaotic Neutral, a Japanese Speaker, a Veteran, an Otaku, a Table Tennis Player, an Anime Fan, an Aviation Professional, a New York Rangers Fan, a Chaos Lover With Loyalist Tendencies.
