In the live arena heavy metal can be implausibly powerful; it can rattle teeth from gums, set ears ringing like the clappers of doom and, when concocted by the gentlemen of Iron Maiden, virtually fracture your skull. Live After Death, meanwhile (a packed double disc set recorded during the band's extensive World Slavery jaunt of 1984 and 1985), is the awesome, irrefutable proof. Of course, expertly hewn slabs of solid rock carefully concocted in recording studios are all very well. But "The Number Of The Beast" and "Run To The Hills" were simply made to be blasted through 152,000 watts of PA system by five young men with undiluted testosterone pulsing through their bulging, whiplash veins. Bruce Dickinson's astounding lung capacity is frankly terrifying at times--he's certainly not a man you'd ever want to meet in a blow football tournament--while the band are virtually aflame. --Ian Fortnam