Iron Maiden

Dance of Death

A disappointing follow up

Review Score:

(6/10)
I heard great things about Iron Maiden's Dance of Death from reading the bands website updates. People involved in the making of this new Maiden installment were hyping this to be the best work from the band ever.

So on game day, I raced to the local HMV shop and picked up my copy. My first listen was on my computer at work with headphones and I had NO opinion whatsoever. I figured that it must have been the subpar environment. When I got home, I listened to it again on my home stereo. I'm sad to say that my feelings for this album has not changed much.

When Brave New World was released, I was blown away for two reasons. First, I was glad to have Bruce back. Second, the album was by far the best Maiden release since Seventh Son. The songs rocked!

Dance of Death, unfortunatley, had to follow BNW. If it had been released before BNW, I may have given it a better rating due to the fact that the last few Maiden albums have basically been [fluff]. However, since that did not happen, this will sit in mediocrity forever.

Since I feel that the songs on this album, for the most part, are rather repetitive, I'd rather only discuss the true standouts (bad and good)

The good:

Paschendale - A very good song with great music and it clocks in at almost 8 and a half minutes. Classic epic Maiden.

Journeyman - Now this is very different from what Maiden is known for. This is much slower and melodic than what I would expect from the band. But, with that said, we were promised songs that would not fit the standard Maiden mold and I guess we got it.

The Bad

No More Lies - repeats the phrase "No More Lies" so many times that it drives me bonkers. But I'm sure Maiden will turn it into a sing-a-long in concert which might make it tolerable.

The Lyrics - who wrote these songs' lyrics and why? We know the answer to the first question but they could have taken some more time and thought before throwing these together.

Bruce's voice - Not sure if it was the production work or not but Bruce's voice sounds either tired or strained. I know he is getting older but, to me, it sounds like he recorded this at the end of a tour with no time off.

Well, I'm sure people here will disagree with me and think that this is the best thing since sliced bread but I've been a Maiden fan for 20 years now and I know what they are capable of doing. To me, this was not Maiden at their best. Maybe we need Bruce and Adrian to break apart again and record another stunning solo album like "Chemical Wedding" before the next Maiden album even becomes a concept.

Maybe I'll change my mind after many more listens but at this point, I fear that I may just shelf it for now and throw "Somewhere in Time" in my CD player to remind me what Maiden can relly do.

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