
Iron Maiden is currently on a North American tour. Bruce Dickinson will pilot Eddie and the band across the West for the next few weeks. For the current dates they are being joined by their buddies from The HU as the support act. The latter have released their version of Maiden’s “The Trooper” as an appetizer, sung entirely in their native Mongolian. A song about the glories of comradeship in the cause of a dangerous, but futile, war certainly sets the scene for an assault on the arenas of the United States and Canada!
The band use their touring line-up for the piece, which grows the like-live performance. Odbayar Gantumur establishes the pace, similar to the original, and then the rest of the band chimes in. A change of key to a celebratory, sharp-heavy range gives the sense of the glory of the fight, the piercing quality of the sounds of the battlefield, as well as the comforts of comradeship. When the strings, in the form of morin khuur, tovshuur and guitar chime in, the tone is set and maintained.
The verve provided by Galbadrakh Tsendbaatar’s vocals is exceptional. Over the years Bruce Dickinson has courted controversy by sometimes waving a Union Flag during performances, and even more controversy by omitting it where it was commercially beneficial. The HU don’t need flags to drive home their message, their skill as musicians sends all the right messages.