Iron Maiden

Dance of Death

"I Heard a Choir of Angels Calling Out to Me"

Review Score:

(10/10)
Iron Maiden have always had a penchant for romantic, epic and, lets' face it, often preposturous lyrics accompianed by often repetitive and lengthy music featuring assailing guitars, crashing drums, same old same old bass patterns and operatic vocals. But almost no one has ever done metal music better or with more feeling than the aging rockers. They play with life and vigor, especially after the reaqusition of classic vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith on 2000s' "Brave New World."

"Dance of Death" Maidens 13th studio offering, finds the boys of Maiden still in top form, picking up where "World" left off. Producer Keven Shirley is back, streamlining the band's sound but allowing the triple guitar attack more room for volume an presence while showcasing all three guitarists' exceptional talents. Guitarist Dave Murray has been with the band from the very start (and is my favorite of the three), and offers his talents on the cuts "Age of Innocence" and "The Rainmaker," which features the line in this title. If "Rainmaker" was given equal airplay in the U.S. as say, Linkin Park is now, it would easily ecplipse other singles. Like most of Maidens' music and "Death' in general, its' heavy, hard and fast but with more musical sensibility and melodicism than almost any other metal act playing now.

Guitarist Jannick Gers, while my least favorite of the three guitarists, still has formidable songwriting chops, and his best song is easily the thunderous and brash "Montsegur," not to mention the dark aged stylings of the title track. Also, Guitarist Adrian Smith shows what he can do with the kickoff track "Wildest Dreams" and the stirring epic "Paschendale." Also as a treat on death, drummer Nicko McBraine cowrites a song for the first time, the crunching and stampeding "New Frontier."

Also peppering "Death," are seven to nine minute epics that have always been on Maidens' studio efforts. And really the only one that fails to really engage is "No More Lies." "Paschendale," a WWI battlefield recount, rings with a sense of urgency while the eight-and-a-half-minute title track (detailing an encouter with a group of the dead) never loses steam or our interest. Volcalist Bruce Dickinsons' high flying vocals soar and give extra punch and earnestness to the lyrics, espescially on the tracks "Face in the Sand" and the quiet closer "Journeyman," which features acoustic guitars and melancholy strings, adding another dimension to the already dynamic "Dance of Death."

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