Part 2:
To make the album sound even more raw, Steve opted not to have it mastered. For those who don’t know, mastering is the final stage in the production process and is a lot like putting the final coat of paint on a car. EQ, compression, stereo imaging, and other techniques are applied to give the album a nice sound and volume across different formats. In the age of digital recording, it can technically be bypassed and that is exactly what Maiden did. The result is an album that sounds exactly as it did when Maiden left the recording studio.
It’s not clear when the album title came about, but it was suggested by Bruce as a reference to an old British war film. The suggestion likely came once the album had been finished, as it perfectly captures the album’s themes. A Matter of Life and Death, the film, is ultimately a love story in a war setting. While most of the album deals with war, there are also hints of optimism in songs like Out of the Shadows and themes of love in songs like For the Greater Good of God. It’s also the fourth Maiden album without a title track. Supposedly some songs were considered for the title, namely The Pilgrim and The Legacy, but ultimately these were not used.
The cover is a much more literal take on the album’s theme, featuring an army of the undead led of course by our beloved Eddie. Interestingly, and for the first time ever, Eddie doesn’t seem to be the focal point here. I actually remember seeing the cover for the first time and not being able to find him at first, I was shocked at the idea that his only representation in the artwork was on the tank. On the other hand, it’s a return to a familiar style after the more modern look of the last few albums. For this album, the band recruited Tim Bradstreet, best known as a comic book artist who has worked on titles such as The Punisher. The result is a return to the comic book style of the 80s covers and, thanks to Bradstreet being a big fan of Riggs himself, feels more like a classic Maiden cover than anything since the early 90s.
As I mentioned earlier, Different World was an obvious choice for first single but the band surprisingly decided not to go that route. Instead, they decided on a bolder move and released The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg as the first single. It was put out initially in the form of a video for fan club members, before being put out for wide release. It was their longest single to date and so long that it was ineligible for the UK singles chart. The artwork was designed by longtime Maiden collaborator Melvyn Grant and to many was even better than the album artwork. Naturally the single came with quite a bit of controversy, as some fans felt it wasn’t strong enough to warrant a teaser for the entire album. On the other hand, it was a great PR move because it allowed the mystery of Benjamin Breeg to be used as a promotional tool. An entire website was made featuring paintings supposedly created by Ben Breeg and a biography written by a relative. The website has since been taken down, but at the time it was an early example of viral marketing to promote rock music. Something that is extremely common today.
Around this time, Different World and Brighter Than a Thousand Suns were also made available for streaming on Maiden’s website. Eventually, Different World was also officially released as a single. Where the video for Benjamin Breeg was simply footage of the band performing the song in the studio interlaced with archival footage of the band throughout their history, the video for Different World was an animated clip similar to the one made for Wildest Dreams. The single also marked the last time Maiden released a non-album b-side. A cover of Focus’ Hocus Pocus was included on some versions with a fun vocal from Nicko. The band actually also recorded a cover of Tush by Z.Z. Top, Angel of Death by Thin Lizzy, and Space Truckin’ by Deep Purple but unfortunately none of these were used. The former two have yet to see the light of day, although Space Truckin’ was eventually released in 2012 on a Deep Purple tribute album.
The album itself was released in August 2006, a couple months after being recorded. It was a similar release schedule to Dance of Death, but without the summer tour in between recording and release. It was a continuation of the increased commercial success Maiden were seeing in the new millennium, managing to hit #4 on the UK chart and #9 on the US Billboard (their first album ever to crack the top ten). It was a hit with fans and critics alike and was praised for its unified feel and the band’s willingness to continue to progress at such a late stage in their career. It was a huge hit among fans and is a fan favorite to this day. The less than successful experimentation on Dance of Death had finally come together in a way that was universally praised. If Brave New World showed that Maiden could still write competent music, A Matter of Life and Death showed that they could still capture their past glories. It was not all praise, however. Some fans criticized what they felt were unnecessarily lengthy songs and the frequent soft intro format also drew criticisms. Several songs also had fairly repetitive choruses, which has always been a common complaint about Maiden. That being said, most fans identified with the album in spite of its flaws and it is still considered one of their greatest albums. It is often cited as the best album of the reunion era and even their best full stop. Maiden’s dedication to progressing and continuing to evolve was paying off. Very few bands release classic albums 20 years into their career, Maiden had suddenly done it a second time.
A Matter of Life and Death Tour (2006)
In October, two months after the album release, Maiden hit the road yet again to tour the new album. As mentioned earlier, a lot of thought went into the sequencing and flow of the album to create a complete experience for the listener. With this in mind, along with the fact that the band felt that they had created something truly special, it only made sense to play the album live in its entirety. This was an extremely bold move. At the time, playing full albums live was starting to become a bit of a trend, although typically it was older bands performing their classic albums. The idea of a band such as Maiden performing their new album live in lieu of the “hits” was a risky choice. Maiden were already known for spending a lot of set time dedicated to new material when they were touring for an album, which tended to get mixed reactions from the audience, especially in America. Ten new songs in a row, which much of the audience may not have even heard before, would be taking it to a new extreme. To the band, however, it was a logical choice. In his biography, Bruce states that they did it for the new generation of fans that were supporting the band. He claimed that many people discovered Maiden because of Brave New World and that the new albums were to them what the “classics” were to older fans. The new fans were the torchbearers for Maiden and the album would be played as a token of appreciation to these fans. Personally, as part of that new generation of fans, I could absolutely see where Bruce was coming from.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the decision received a mixed response from fans. There were many complainers online and it’s obvious in bootleg footage from the tour that much of the audience in each show wasn’t really into it. An infamous moment from the tour was when a fan threw a sign at the stage that read “PLAY CLASSICS”. Bruce grabbed the sign and ripped it up to the sound of cheers from the front rows (this can all be found on YouTube). Many fans, especially, the hardcore fans and those who enjoyed the album, were delighted to see Maiden taking a risk and playing every song live. Part of the excitement of a new album release has always been the question of which songs Maiden will perform live, especially since one of their unspoken rules is that a song will not be performed if it is not played on the initial album tour. Inevitably this can lead to disappointment when a favorite is not played, but that was not the case here. Furthermore, the band had just finished a tour that was exclusively focused on the first four albums, so it was an appropriate time to give the hits a break.
That being said, a handful of classics was performed after the AMOLAD portion of the setlist. Fear of the Dark, Iron Maiden, Two Minutes To Midnight, The Evil That Men Do, and Hallowed Be Thy Name closed out the show. Even this selection was slightly controversial, as The Trooper, Run To the Hills, and The Number of the Beast were not included, despite arguably being the band’s 3 most famous songs. While Run To the Hills had been dropped from the sets frequently in the band’s recent history, The Trooper and The Number of the Beast were thought to be staples and had been present in nearly every setlist since their release. The decision made sense though, as it made room for fan favorites that were not played on The Early Days tour. The Evil That Men Do hadn’t been played since the Brave New World tour and Two Minutes To Midnight hadn’t been played since the Give Me ‘Ed Tour. This was not exactly a long period of time, but it was better than getting The Trooper yet again. The absence of The Trooper was a bit of a surprise though, as it fit in with the war theme of the show.
Speaking of the war theme, the band went all out for the stage production. The stage was designed to look like a war zone, complete with barb wire and sandbags. It was as if they took the idea for Paschendale on the Dance of Death tour and turned it up to 11. The lights were darker with warmer colors being used. It wasn’t quite as large or elaborate as the previous two tours, especially Dance of Death, but that wasn’t necessary for this show. The focus this time was completely on the music and the presentation of the album. The centerpiece, of course, was Eddie, who arrived in a large tank during the band’s eponymous track. A second walk on Eddie appeared during The Evil That Men Do later on in a soldier’s outfit complete with a machine gun.
As was the case for the Dance of Death tour, the A Matter of Life and Death tour was pretty brief. They started with a a short 11 date US tour before finishing out the month in Japan and then heading to Europe. The European tour lasted about a month but with considerably more dates. Given that the tour took place during the winter, it was primarily in indoor arenas. They finished out the year with a proper UK tour, one of their larger UK tours in quite some time. Overall, one of the band’s shortest tours, although it was technically just the first leg.
Sadly, an official live album or video was never released from the tour, so it was a very special event for those who were lucky enough to witness it. There are some good bootlegs out there though, as usual. I’m going to upload some here but I have to go through them first to pick a good one. So stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, here's the band performing Brighter Than a Thousand Suns and Hallowed Be Thy Name live in Abbey Road studios:
https://vimeo.com/116793139This sort of footage is rare from the band, so it's quite a treat.
A Matter of the Beast Tour (2007)
While the A Matter of the Beast tour didn’t officially start until the summer European tour, the band did perform a few dates earlier in the year. They performed at Dubai and India for the first time, and also visited Serbia and Greece. At these dates, the band opted not to play A Matter of Life and Death in its entirety, which made sense as these shows were going to be many fans’ first opportunity to see Maiden live. It was still very much an AMOLAD focused show though, with five songs being played live, including three of the epics. There were no surprises in the set additions, just the return of The Trooper, Run to the Hills, and Wrathchild. The shows themselves were a success for the band and proved that they were still penetrating new markets. Their popularity in India in particular was growing at a fast pace, with A Matter of Life and Death being one of the highest selling Rock albums of all time there.
Following these sporadic dates, it was announced that the band’s upcoming European tour would partially serve as a celebration of The Number Of the Beast’s 25th anniversary. The tour would be renamed A Matter of the Beast and feature five songs from A Matter of Life and Death and five songs from The Number of the Beast. Considering most of these European shows would be performed at festivals in front of a more casual audience, this made a lot of sense. Unsurprisingly, these announcement was met with much excitement among hardcore and casual fans alike. Casual fans were excited to see more material they were familiar with, and hardcore fans were looking forward to potential surprises. Run To the Hills, The Number of the Beast, and Hallowed Be Thy Name were obviously in, but after that there were four songs that weren’t performed nearly as much and would be surprises. From the current lineup, Children of the Damned had only been played at select shows on the Brave New World tour. 22 Acacia Avenue was only played on the Gimme Ed Tour. The Prisoner and Total Eclipse had never been performed by the current lineup. Or maybe they’d finally do a song that had never been played live before. It was a long shot, but Maiden was full of surprises the past couple years, so anything was possible.
Eventually, the tour began and the setlist wasn’t quite as exciting as many may have hoped. It was exactly the same as what the band had played earlier in the year, but with the addition of Children of the Damned. It was certainly a rare song and a nice treat for the fans, but it only made for four songs from The Number of the Beast, instead of the promised five. Still, Children of the Damned hadn’t been featured regularly on a tour since 1982 (it was played sporadically throughout the 80s though). The five songs selected from A Matter of Life and Death were also unsurprising: the two singles (Different World and Benjamin Breeg), the Harris epic (For the Greater Good of God), and two other tracks from early in the album (These Colours and Brighter Than a Thousand Suns).
Once again, the tour didn’t last very long. It was a brief run through Europe and consisted of just 12 dates. Fortunately, some of it was actually filmed this time. The band’s appearance at Download festival in Donington was streamed on the internet and was filmed by the band with the intention of a DVD release. It’s unclear why the live release never came about, it was listed on Kevin Shirley’s website for a long time and there is footage of Kevin and Steve working on the mix in the Flight 666 movie. There has been speculation, however. For one, as can be seen in the live stream, a lot of the stage shots are blocked by the numerous flags being held by the audience. Secondly, it was still daytime when the band started the performance and the daylight prevented the full lightshow from being displayed until later on. There was also a slightly embarrassing moment during Wrathchild when Bruce fell on stage, although it’s hard to see how that would prevent the band from releasing the DVD. That being said, since it was live streamed, it can easily be viewed online. A polished fully mixed official version would be nice someday, but for now this is the best way to catch footage from the A Matter of Life and Death era of the band.
Donington:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL42k2rnB38The touring cycle for A Matter of Life and Death was uncharacteristically short. It’s hard to say why, other than the band simply wanting to slow things down as they got older. However, the continued success of Maiden albums and tours was about to reach a climax and this would be the last time a tour wasn’t a huge global affair.