EMI
2010
1. Satellite 15... The Final Frontier
2. El Dorado
3. Mother of Mercy
4. Coming Home
5. The Alchemist
6. Isle of Avalon
7. Starblind
8. The Talisman
9. The Man Who Would Be King
10. When the Wild Wind Blows
Ahh a new Iron Maiden album... truly one of the few things that almost all metalheads look forward to, excepting maybe the most jaded 'only metal from the 80s was good' types. I must say that I had some high hopes for this one myself after their last album, A Matter Of Life And Death, which really hit home with me. Really I've liked all of their material since Bruce Dickinson & Adrian Smith came back into the fold, to varying degrees.
That all being said, my expectations of this one were somewhat deflated by the two advance release tracks, The Final Frontier & El Dorado. Both of these pretty much fell flat with me from the start and were, in short, underwhelming. These two tracks hardly had me ready to write off the album however as Iron Maiden's singles on the past few have not really been the highlights of the albums. Granted I liked Different World well enough, but I don't really know anyone who calls that track the best off of A Matter Of Life And Death and the same can be said of The Wicker Man and Wildest Dreams on their respective albums.
As can be expected, in my opinion at least, the album starts off a bit weak as these two tracks kick it off. The Final Frontier gets things off to a rather boring start with an exceedingly long and pointless intro that lasts for around 4:35 of an 8:40 track. None of this is particularly musical and more of trying to establish a 'creepy space vibe' or something. The funny thing is none of this album sounds as dark or moody as the intro might lead you to expect anyways. Pretty much useless here. Once you get to the meat of the song, the track is a swaggering sort of laid back rocker. The style of this one kinda reminds me of Iron Maiden's dark age of the 90s or maybe the beginnings of it in a track like Can I Play With Madness? Not really a bad listen once you get used to it, but not entirely what I want from Maiden either. I'd simply prefer something in more of an old school Maiden style I suppose or perhaps something more epic. I do have to admit this song has grown on me.
Following on it's heels, El Dorado does try to pick up the heaviness, but I've gotta say that it falls short. The starting bass line is kinda catchy, but reminds oddly of Heart's Barracuda. Strange. Beyond that the music isn't bad, but lacks something in the vocals department. Bruce's singing just really don't bring any energy to this song and I find the whole thing lacking as a result. The chorus in particular drops the ball as Bruce's wails sound extremely forced and don't seem to quite match up to the music to my ears.
Next up we have Mother Of Mercy which is, in a word, typical. You've heard this song before on newer Maiden albums with it's sort of celtic folky atmosphere and this can't help but feel like filler. This track also fails to drive the song with any sort of heaviness in vocals or music and is just too by the books in terms of their recent style. By this point I was really craving something with some balls that rocked me with some good wails and a raging bass line. Instead Coming Home follows in a similar atmospheric pattern, but even more geared towards being a ballad. Once again this fails to leave much of an impression.
After this The Alchemist does pick up the pace in relative terms, but the songwriting falls short, as is becoming the story of this album by this point. There's just nothing particularly memorable here as the song lacks hooks and once again just isn't particularly heavy for an upbeat track.
Beyond The Alchemist we pretty much shift into Maiden epic mode as all the track lengths come in at 7 minutes plus. Most noteworthy among these are the two tracks Isle Of Avalon and When The Wild Wind Blows. Isle Of Avalon boasts a good build, epic feel, and Bruce seems to wake up out of his trance of mid-range, almost spoken, deliveries to belt out some nice impassioned wails. Nice... and what I've been waiting for. Unfortunately it takes 5 other tracks to get there. When The Wild Wind Blows is also worthy of a highlight mention. Despite going back to a sort of celtic vibe again this one just has anthem written all over it, which is surprising for a track of it's length. The galloping anthemic qualities of this one are undeniable and I'm sure it would be powerful live with a crowd behind it. Simply put, this one is catchy as hell and a nice way to close out the album even if the album itself isn't always quality. The Talisman, Starblind, and The Man Who Would Be King are also pretty decent, but do not approach the memorability or power of these two.
In conclusion, I could just say 'hey it's still Maiden' and that'd be true enough for the more die hard fans. If you just want something that sounds like Maiden... yeah... it does. The truth of the matter though is this... in stacking this up versus a lot of other metal I've heard this year from other bands, it doesn't really fair all that well. The songwriting here is not of the caliber I would expect from the band and while they've set a high bar for themselves, this undeniably in my mind at least, substandard. Most bands have an off album really and for Maiden, this is one of them. At the end of the day for a band, if their misses are just 'pretty good' that's not all that terrible. This is just by no means a classic or one that I'm particularly excited about. I'll be totally honest and say I'll still buy a copy for myself as it is Maiden and not a bad listen. In all likelihood, you reading this, will as well... just don't expect anything mind blowing. At the very least there are still some solid new songs to the catalogue like the epics Isle Of Avalon and When The Wild Wind Blows along with a pretty decent rocker like The Final Frontier which is growing on me. Not exactly the style I want from a Maiden album, but a pretty good song judged on it's own merit.
Highlights: When The Wild Wind Blows, Isle Of Avalon, The Final Frontier
Rating - 3.5/5
2. El Dorado
3. Mother of Mercy
4. Coming Home
5. The Alchemist
6. Isle of Avalon
7. Starblind
8. The Talisman
9. The Man Who Would Be King
10. When the Wild Wind Blows
Ahh a new Iron Maiden album... truly one of the few things that almost all metalheads look forward to, excepting maybe the most jaded 'only metal from the 80s was good' types. I must say that I had some high hopes for this one myself after their last album, A Matter Of Life And Death, which really hit home with me. Really I've liked all of their material since Bruce Dickinson & Adrian Smith came back into the fold, to varying degrees.
That all being said, my expectations of this one were somewhat deflated by the two advance release tracks, The Final Frontier & El Dorado. Both of these pretty much fell flat with me from the start and were, in short, underwhelming. These two tracks hardly had me ready to write off the album however as Iron Maiden's singles on the past few have not really been the highlights of the albums. Granted I liked Different World well enough, but I don't really know anyone who calls that track the best off of A Matter Of Life And Death and the same can be said of The Wicker Man and Wildest Dreams on their respective albums.
As can be expected, in my opinion at least, the album starts off a bit weak as these two tracks kick it off. The Final Frontier gets things off to a rather boring start with an exceedingly long and pointless intro that lasts for around 4:35 of an 8:40 track. None of this is particularly musical and more of trying to establish a 'creepy space vibe' or something. The funny thing is none of this album sounds as dark or moody as the intro might lead you to expect anyways. Pretty much useless here. Once you get to the meat of the song, the track is a swaggering sort of laid back rocker. The style of this one kinda reminds me of Iron Maiden's dark age of the 90s or maybe the beginnings of it in a track like Can I Play With Madness? Not really a bad listen once you get used to it, but not entirely what I want from Maiden either. I'd simply prefer something in more of an old school Maiden style I suppose or perhaps something more epic. I do have to admit this song has grown on me.
Following on it's heels, El Dorado does try to pick up the heaviness, but I've gotta say that it falls short. The starting bass line is kinda catchy, but reminds oddly of Heart's Barracuda. Strange. Beyond that the music isn't bad, but lacks something in the vocals department. Bruce's singing just really don't bring any energy to this song and I find the whole thing lacking as a result. The chorus in particular drops the ball as Bruce's wails sound extremely forced and don't seem to quite match up to the music to my ears.
Next up we have Mother Of Mercy which is, in a word, typical. You've heard this song before on newer Maiden albums with it's sort of celtic folky atmosphere and this can't help but feel like filler. This track also fails to drive the song with any sort of heaviness in vocals or music and is just too by the books in terms of their recent style. By this point I was really craving something with some balls that rocked me with some good wails and a raging bass line. Instead Coming Home follows in a similar atmospheric pattern, but even more geared towards being a ballad. Once again this fails to leave much of an impression.
After this The Alchemist does pick up the pace in relative terms, but the songwriting falls short, as is becoming the story of this album by this point. There's just nothing particularly memorable here as the song lacks hooks and once again just isn't particularly heavy for an upbeat track.
Beyond The Alchemist we pretty much shift into Maiden epic mode as all the track lengths come in at 7 minutes plus. Most noteworthy among these are the two tracks Isle Of Avalon and When The Wild Wind Blows. Isle Of Avalon boasts a good build, epic feel, and Bruce seems to wake up out of his trance of mid-range, almost spoken, deliveries to belt out some nice impassioned wails. Nice... and what I've been waiting for. Unfortunately it takes 5 other tracks to get there. When The Wild Wind Blows is also worthy of a highlight mention. Despite going back to a sort of celtic vibe again this one just has anthem written all over it, which is surprising for a track of it's length. The galloping anthemic qualities of this one are undeniable and I'm sure it would be powerful live with a crowd behind it. Simply put, this one is catchy as hell and a nice way to close out the album even if the album itself isn't always quality. The Talisman, Starblind, and The Man Who Would Be King are also pretty decent, but do not approach the memorability or power of these two.
In conclusion, I could just say 'hey it's still Maiden' and that'd be true enough for the more die hard fans. If you just want something that sounds like Maiden... yeah... it does. The truth of the matter though is this... in stacking this up versus a lot of other metal I've heard this year from other bands, it doesn't really fair all that well. The songwriting here is not of the caliber I would expect from the band and while they've set a high bar for themselves, this undeniably in my mind at least, substandard. Most bands have an off album really and for Maiden, this is one of them. At the end of the day for a band, if their misses are just 'pretty good' that's not all that terrible. This is just by no means a classic or one that I'm particularly excited about. I'll be totally honest and say I'll still buy a copy for myself as it is Maiden and not a bad listen. In all likelihood, you reading this, will as well... just don't expect anything mind blowing. At the very least there are still some solid new songs to the catalogue like the epics Isle Of Avalon and When The Wild Wind Blows along with a pretty decent rocker like The Final Frontier which is growing on me. Not exactly the style I want from a Maiden album, but a pretty good song judged on it's own merit.
Highlights: When The Wild Wind Blows, Isle Of Avalon, The Final Frontier
Rating - 3.5/5
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