Iron Maiden

Brave New World

Lots of good, but not great material. 7/10

Review Score:

(8/10)
This album was both pretty hyped and pretty disparaged from varying sources, as any comeback or reunion album is bound to be. In the end, this is a good album, not remarkable and certainly not one of Iron Maiden's better albums. But it's still highly listenable and all fans ought to check it out.

One of my main problems with the album is the production. The guitars are to clean and weak. They're about as thick as IM's guitars ever were, but they don't buzz or shriek much at all. So the sound is clear enough, but it isn't heavy enough. Other than the guitar tone the sound is fine, but the guitar tone is just about the most important part. Even if the production weren't something of a problem this would be one of their weaker albums because the songwriting just isn't as consistent. It also has some pacing problems. Too many of the tracks(arguably 6 of the 10) are quasi-balladic epics with extended clean sections, which prevents the album from generating the sort of energy it ought to. Although the songwriting isn't quite up to par, Dickinson's vocals are still very good, and the leads are some of the best in metal.(Though they've cut down a bit on the dual harmonies from the earlier days, which is a loss. Though I suppose this allows for a bit more variety, which is always nice)

Still, despite these criticisms, everything on here is at least decent, and most of it is quite good. The Wicker Man is a great Maiden speed metal track. The chorus is instantly memorable, the verses are very energetic and catchy and it's got great leads. All this is the recipe for a modern IM classic, which is precisely what this track is. Ghost of the Navigator is the first and best of the slow building epics. It takes a while to get going, but it's worth it, and it's actually quite evocative. Probably the second best chorus on the album. Out of the Silent Planet is great, probably the best track other than the opener. I really like the intro and Bruce's gives perhaps his best vocal performance on the album.(particularly during the verses) I'll admit that I didn't care for the chorus at first, but it's really grown on me. (though it's a bit too repetitious by the end) I really like Dream of Mirrors, though it too takes a while to get into. It's very slow building, once again, but it's got strong vocal melodies throughout, and it has quite a lot of impact when it finally gets going full speed. But then you've got The Thin Line Between Love and Hate and The Nomad. The former has failed to make a strong impression on me either way despite numerous listening, and the latter, while having a great instrumental bridge, is pretty meh otherwise. The Mercenary and The Fallen Angel are both pretty decent rockers but not terribly exciting or up to Iron Maiden's standards. The title track and Blood Brothers are a fair bit better than those 2, but they, once again, aren't truly remarkable, and are fairly slow and deliberate.(Blood Brothers, however, deserves some mention for having rather odd, vaguely Irish feel to it)

Well, that's about it. This is a good metal album, but nothing more than that. But, if you're like me, that's probably good enough.

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