This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files as well as the live video for "Brave New World" and the mini documentary "A Day In The Life."

Iron Maiden: Bruce Dickinson (vocals); Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers (guitar); Steve Harris (bass); Nicko McBrain (drums).

Additional personnel: Michael Kenney (keyboards).

Recorded live at the Rock In Rio Festival, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, January 19, 2001.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

ROCK IN RIO finds Iron Maiden playing the 2001 edition of the Brazilian rock festival that's hosted the band since the early '80s. Recorded during the tour for BRAVE NEW WORLD, the first Bruce Dickinson-fronted record in eight years, this Maiden line-up sounds even more formidable thanks to a three-guitar attack featuring Adrian Smith, another returning alumnus. Destroying any hint of oxymoron regarding the term "thinking-man's metal," Maiden's impressive breadth of subject matter is on full display throughout this relentless 2-CD set. Delving into 20 years worth of material, the sextet delivers ripping tales of World War II fighter pilots ("Two Minutes To Midnight"), the occult ("Number Of The Beast"), medieval torture devices ("Iron Maiden"), and Native American genocide ("Run To The Hills").

Newer material draws from an equally broad range of sources. "Wicker Man" incorporates Greek mythology into its lyrics, "Ghost of The Navigator" alludes to the Flying Dutchman, and "The Mercenary" holds forth on the profits of war. With Dickinson serving as leather-lunged ringmaster, founder Steve Harris driving the pace with his thundering bass, and guitarists Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers weaving a latticework of guitar solos, ROCK IN RIO is vintage Iron Maiden.

Q (4/02, p.114) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...God knows they whip up a furious din, Dickinson peppering his between-song banter with pantomime exhorations to 'Scream for me Brazi-i-i-l!'..."

CMJ (4/8/02, p.15) - "...It's Iron Maiden, with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith back in the band and live...performing all the Maiden classics..."