Wednesday, Aug 30, 2006
I just bought Iron Maiden's latest album: A Matter Of Life And Death.
01. Different World
02. These Colours Don't Run
03. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
04. The Pilgrim
05. The Longest Day
06. Out Of The Shadows
07. The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
08. For The Greater Good Of God
09. Lord Of Light
10. The Legacy
It's
never easy to write the review of the new album of the legendary Iron
Maiden. The band is so big and famous that you'll always get comments
from the nostalgic people that will say that it was better before (a
point that is not especially wrong on a side) and comment from some
others ones who cannot understand that a band can change a bit its
musical orientation and will always request hits a la "Fear Of The
Dark". Unfortunately for them, "A Matter Of Life And Death", 14th
release is of the combo, is different… Really dark with a lot of
progressive elements, I think that the ones who want some new "The
Number Of The Beast" will be disappointed but all the ones who (like
me) believe that "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" is the best album of
the band, will like the new release…
Strangely, I only found one song, "Different World", that follows the
lines of "Brave New World" and "Dance Of Death". With its catchy
chorus, it fast rhythm (all the other songs are in general slower) it
will be easy for you to remember its melody and if this song will work
live, in my opinion it's definitely not the best song of the album…
Because on the other hand, "A Matter Of Life And Death" is full of long
(with an average length of seven, height or even nine minutes!)
mid-tempo songs, and those long songs follow the spirit of "Seventh Son
Of A Seventh Son". Dark and sad with some keyboards and a lot of
progressive elements, "These Colours Don't Run" or "For The Greater
Good Of God" for example are like the little brothers of a song like
"Moonchild". It's definitely not easy of access, it will never pass on
a radio or in a club but there is something good in those songs. It's
not an "easy" Iron Maiden and it's obvious that the band worked a lot
on this new release. The arrangements are complex, the riffs are all
but not commercial and since that I like progressive music I'm starting
to like more and more this new album. Evidently you'll still be able to
listen to the really special original Maiden sound but a song like "On
Lord Of Light" is so dark and different that the second part of the
song will be really surprising for the fans. Because of course, since
that the songs are not short the guys put a lot of variations, break
etc in the music.
The production is also really surprising, especially when you know that
Steve Harris said lately that it was recorded in a completely live
state to give to the listeners a pure "old school" sound. You will see,
it is really impressive and it works! Also, maybe if it's not the best
performance ever of Dickinson but I think that his voice is better than
on "Dance Of Death" and for sure, since that it's not so easy to sing
on such complex songs we can say one more time that this guy is just an
amazing singer of Heavy Metal. With "A Matter Of Life And Death" it's
really hard to find a negative point with the production, even the
"chaotic" cover with a "G.I." Eddie is a great and when I see the logo
of the album, I'm sure that we will have a lot of good surprises with
the stage of the upcoming Iron Maiden's tour…
For sure I know that some of you will be disappointed (and they will be
maybe right after all) because the Maiden's "hits" are missing but on
the other hand the new album is a lot better than (at least) their four
last albums. It's different ok and you'll need time to "enter" into "A
Matter Of Life And Death" but with time I'm ready to bet a lot of money
that a lot of the dissidents will change their opinion…
"A Matter Of Life And Death" is probably not the best album of Iron
Maiden and a lot of people will be disturbed by the fact that it's not
an album that it will be easy to listen to. But like with "Seventh Son
Of A Seventh Son" the band took some risks and at the end even if we
don't have any spectacular songs, a lot of the tracks of this new CD
are full of great things. This is different, never "happy" but these
dark progressive aspects that you'll be able to find on the majority of
the songs of the album are just cool. To finish, just remember this
last tip… Don't be fast with this album, listen to it again and again
and you'll see that at the end you'll agree with me to say that it is
really entertaining, at the opposite of "Dance Of Death", the
complexity of "A Matter Of Life And Death" proves that it's an
interesting album. "A Matter Of Life And Death" is the proof that Iron
Maiden still knows how to surprise us with some great original music.
Comments
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Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:03 pm PT
never played that .. nice
Posted Aug 31, 2006 8:02 am PT
Yeah, nice review. I gotta listen to this new one. Maiden's drummer said that this was the best Maiden record ever, so let's hope the hype doesn't fail us.
Posted Aug 31, 2006 8:40 am PT
it's a very good album indeed.
Posted Aug 31, 2006 2:25 pm PT
great review, hopefully we can get some more.
Posted Aug 31, 2006 2:26 pm PT
I thought it was a great album, not easy to digest though... the only song that I didn't like was The Reincarnation fo Benjamin Breeg... and maybe because I listened to it only a few times. I loved Different Worlds (very catchy), For The Greater Good of God (very moody! loved the intro!), The Legacy (amazing guitar work). And for the record, please, no more hits a la Fear of the Dark, I just wanted to say that... my favorite maiden albums will always be the debut album, and seventh son. Cheers! Great review!
Posted Sep 4, 2006 3:12 pm PT
i bought this album and i like it a lot. different world's my favorite one
Posted Sep 11, 2006 6:36 am PT
Damn good album, I really like it, I am gonna see Iron Maiden on June 2.
Posted Apr 7, 2008 9:22 am PT
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