liveDaily correspondent Colin Devenish reports: Three weeks into rehearsals for Iron Maiden [ tickets ]'s upcoming U.S. summer tour and newly returned lead singer Bruce Dickinson said it's like he never left."It feels really great. It really feels cool. To be honest with you it's like I stepped out of one door and walked into the other. It's great to be writing new songs," said Dickinson, 40, by phone from Lyon, France where he and Maiden's five other members are whipping their metal classics into shape.

''The first time we played any of the older songs was about a week ago. We never even bothered to see what they would sound like because they sound great, like we knew they were going to.''

Dickinson and crew kick off their North American tour July 13 and will circle the states before hopping back across the pond to complete the European circuit.

Working from a set list picked by fans via a poll at the Iron Maiden website (www.ironmaiden.com) that spans all 12 Iron Maiden studio albums, the six-piece will sport a triple axe attack and draw liberally from heavy metal anthems such as Number of the Beast, 2 Minutes To Midnight, and Run To The Hills.

In their heyday during the mid '80s, Iron Maiden was known for their elaborate stage show and Dickinson promised this time out will be no different. ''It's going to be pretty mega, big scenery, pyrotechnics, the whole nine yards. It's a five truck tour and next year is going to be an even bigger tour.''

Featured prominently on stage as always will be Iron Maiden's ghoulish mascot Eddie, who will be immortalized with the fall release of the Iron Maiden video game ''Ed Hunter,'' which will feature a soundtrack comprised of the same 20 songs picked by fans for the tour. Dickinson and his kids have played the game and he gave it a thumbs-up albeit with a caution to all the computer geeks out there.

''Here's the deal. As a really interesting foray into shoot 'em up games it's pretty cool. It's basically like an arcade game. If you're really heavily into PC gaming, don't expect state of the art, move wherever you want, virtual world. This is not one of those games. This is an arcade game. Get yourself a gun and shoot everything in sight.''

This combination of aggressive metal music and onscreen violence, while a thrill to countless closet metalheads, lends itself to scrutiny under President Clinton's recently commissioned Federal Trade Commission-Justice Department study on how video games, records and movies are marketed.

What fans won't hear on the summer junket are the new songs Iron Maiden have been hashing out for an album of new material set for release next year. Dickinson kept tight-lipped about any specifics on the latest tunes but did promise that Iron Maiden haven't gone soft.

''I don't really want to let the cat out of the bag, but I'll tell you what it's not going to be. ''It's not going to be some kind of soft, mushy commercial kind of record,'' Dickinson said. ''We're going to work on the Maiden sound. We've got a long way to go. I don't think it's ever been really captured on record. I'm looking forward to that. It's not going to be an album of favorite cover songs. It's all new original Maiden and it's heavy as sin.''