BEAST IN THE MAZE

      This week on Beast in the Maze , we're taking a look at a not-quite-concept album from Iron Maiden, their fourteenth studio offering A Matter of Life and Death .     Featuring songs with themes of war and religion, life and birth, and light and shadow, this album sits in the middle (chronologically) of the modern lineup's releases, but is unique even among those for being a bit darker and heavier.      By the time A Matter of Life and Death  debuted, the band had begun exploring more progressive sounds as a default, and the albums as well as the songs within were gradually lengthening, on average, with the average song length here in the seven to eight minute range. The album is one which many people who only listen to the 1980s Maiden may overlook, but it's one which many listeners consider an underlooked modern classic - in fact, when Maiden toured most recently on the Legacy of the Beast tour, which was intended to be a restrospectiv...

  This time on Beast in the Maze , we've finally gotten into some live Phish material. This is a set from the mid 90's, with their most recent official album at the time being A Live One .  Consisting of a lot of songs from A Picture Of Nectar  and even a couple of Gamehendge songs, this set has some faster ones, some slower ones, some by-the-numbers versions and some unique takes. While we'll be doing two episodes on this concert, we decided to stick with the first set only on this episode, do a Maiden episode in between, and then come back and close it out with set two. Join us as we go track by track, as well as discussing the broader question of what makes a good concert, etiquette when other fans are being loud or distracting, the role of many of the Mike Gordon songs in the larger scope of the Phish catalogue including how they're used at shows, and of course, the spiritual/scientific nature of chocolate. As always, of course, we also reveal our pick for the next ...