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Allmusic.com's review of Rock in Rio

With the reunion studio disc Brave New World failing to recapture the imagination and intensity of Iron Maiden in America and even in many places in the band's European homeland, going to Brazil seemed like a smart move. It was one of the few places that a quarter of a million people would turn up to see the act in 2001, and judging from the audience response, the band's set list didn't bother them much either. At times, you had to be wondering what they were listening to. Sure, the band's energy is in abundance here (it's hard to mail in a performance in front of so many people who seem to scream at every single move the band makes), but an entire disc's worth of material of the two here is wasted. What is the point of doing not one, but two songs from the black hole that sucked the will to live from metal fans the world over (aka "the Blaze Bayley period")? When Kiss re-formed, they were smart enough to not play the crap that made everyone want them to re-form in the first place, and nobody wants to see David Lee Roth get back with Van Halen to sing "Without You"; whatever possessed Steve Harris and company to even approach Bruce Dickinson and suggest he go along with it is almost as perplexing as Dickinson agreeing to it, yet here it is -- "Sign of the Cross" and "The Clansman" in all their boring anti-splendor. The inclusion of some of Dickinson's CMC solo stuff would have been ten times better if peripheral material they must. Not as unexpected, but only slightly less dismal, is the inclusion of six tracks off the aforementioned Brave New World, which was neither brave nor new. There might be one good song between the sextet that was presented if you look real hard. The majesty of the classic material saves the day, and even though they had a sympathetic foreign crowd by the short and curlies, the band was smart enough to close the set with the classic material. Simply put, you can't go wrong with a closing volley of three tracks from Number of the Beastand a couple more from the band's eponymous debut. The likes of "The Trooper" and "Wrathchild" sound even better next to anything the band recorded after Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, but that's faint praise. At the end of the day, Rock in Rio won't make you wish you were there, the barometer of what a great concert recording should do, but it will make fans nostalgic for the time that Iron Maidenwas a creative force. Sadly, that time seems to have eclipsed years before the band took the stage in Brazil that evening.

Rating: 2/5




... The fuck?
 
Yax said:
Allmusic.com's review of Rock in Rio

With the reunion studio disc Brave New World failing to recapture the imagination and intensity of Iron Maiden in America and even in many places in the band's European homeland, going to Brazil seemed like a smart move. It was one of the few places that a quarter of a million people would turn up to see the act in 2001, and judging from the audience response, the band's set list didn't bother them much either. At times, you had to be wondering what they were listening to. Sure, the band's energy is in abundance here (it's hard to mail in a performance in front of so many people who seem to scream at every single move the band makes), but an entire disc's worth of material of the two here is wasted. What is the point of doing not one, but two songs from the black hole that sucked the will to live from metal fans the world over (aka "the Blaze Bayley period")? When Kiss re-formed, they were smart enough to not play the crap that made everyone want them to re-form in the first place, and nobody wants to see David Lee Roth get back with Van Halen to sing "Without You"; whatever possessed Steve Harris and company to even approach Bruce Dickinson and suggest he go along with it is almost as perplexing as Dickinson agreeing to it, yet here it is -- "Sign of the Cross" and "The Clansman" in all their boring anti-splendor. The inclusion of some of Dickinson's CMC solo stuff would have been ten times better if peripheral material they must. Not as unexpected, but only slightly less dismal, is the inclusion of six tracks off the aforementioned Brave New World, which was neither brave nor new. There might be one good song between the sextet that was presented if you look real hard. The majesty of the classic material saves the day, and even though they had a sympathetic foreign crowd by the short and curlies, the band was smart enough to close the set with the classic material. Simply put, you can't go wrong with a closing volley of three tracks from Number of the Beastand a couple more from the band's eponymous debut. The likes of "The Trooper" and "Wrathchild" sound even better next to anything the band recorded after Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, but that's faint praise. At the end of the day, Rock in Rio won't make you wish you were there, the barometer of what a great concert recording should do, but it will make fans nostalgic for the time that Iron Maidenwas a creative force. Sadly, that time seems to have eclipsed years before the band took the stage in Brazil that evening.

Rating: 2/5




... The fuck?
Click to expand...

The fucking fuck?
 
Always remember to consider the source. Let's see what the same reviewer calls a good album.

Matt Pike might be the most metal person alive. His dogmatic refusal to kowtow to trends is unparalleled for a relative young'un. He was stoner before stoner was cool (for the second time) with Sleep, and with High On Fire, he adds a speedy dimension, yet retains that doomsaying guitar tone that's thicker than a sumo wrestler's ankles, showing that going somewhere fast beats going nowhere slow more often than not. On sophomore release Surrounded By Thieves, the first, second, and third thing you hear is his guitar, a solidly packed continuous riff that sounds like Motörhead's bass chug. It is relentless, even when Pike solos, which then allows the band to mimic Saint Vitus on amphetamines. All eight songs sprawl on for several minutes at a time, each one an epic that rolls like sinister thunder across the landscape; storm coming, you better hide. There's not much variation onSurrounded; the whole disc pretty much locks in at 11, grabs your jugular, and refuses to let go, but when you get locked into a groove this good, who needs variety anyway?

My emphasis at the end.

Source
 
I don't ignore negative reviews since it's kinda cool to see different opinions. But yea, I'm not sure why it's even worth giving something like this the time of day.

Not because it's negative, but because it's poorly written and relies on cheap bashing.
 
I don't think the reviewer paid much attention to the album anyway: "judging from the audience response, the band's set list didn't bother them much either". I suspect the reviewer was taking the opportunity to take a swipe at a band he dislikes rather than producing a credible piece of journalism.
 
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