THE Iron Maiden Thread

[jammindude]

It was a bit off topic in the other thread, so I thought I should move my comments here...

As I had said, I have not heard that much reunion material.   I bought BNW when it came out, and it was OK...but I was underwhelmed.  I expected far more from the long awaited return of Bruce.   I heard a few other tracks over the years, but nothing that really made me turn my head.  Good stuff...but predictable Iron Maiden. 

Fast forward to last night, I decide to check out the newest album for the first time....and Satellite 15 The Final Frontier starts playing...




GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!!   This is the first absolutely JAW DROPPING MOMENT I've ever heard from the reunion lineup.    I think what I loved MOST about it was that it didn't sound like Maiden AT ALL.   A full two minutes into the song I was thinking, "There is NO WAY this is Iron Maiden...someone screwed up and posted the wrong music."   Then Bruce's voice came in and I was like...

So far, I am COMPLETELY digging this album alot more that I did any of the material I heard from BNW, DoD or AMOLAD.     It's the first thing I've heard that really made me want to check out the rest of the album.

[emtee]

I agree that A Final Frontier is the best thing Maiden has done in MANY years. Totally engaging album from start
to finish. When I listen to A Matter Of Life And Death next to this album there is no comparison. They hit it out of
the park which is very hard to do so late in a career.

[kirksnosehair]

heh, I strongly prefer "A Matter of Life and Death"  for me it's not even close.

[cramx3]

I agree, to me, A Matter of Life and Death is head and shoulders above the Final Frontier.

[yorost]

The Final Frontier is odd.  The first half is rather uninspiring, but the second half is one of their best half album stretches since their reunion.

[jammindude]

heh, I strongly prefer "A Matter of Life and Death"  for me it's not even close.

Actually, I heard most of AMOLD, and I have to agree that it was FAR more solid than its two predecessors.    But, OTOH, to my ears it sound a bit "Iron Maiden by the numbers" to my ears. 

I would have never expected Iron Maiden to do something that didn't even sound like Maiden...not this late in their career.   And the rest of the album didn't sound UNlike Maiden, but it was different enough to be fresh.  I LIKE IT!

[Mladen]

It's already a classic for me.

But then again, all of their reunion albums are. I guess this band just can't not deliver the goods.

[TAC]

Jammindude, I was also a bit..I don't know...I wouldn't say underwelmed by BNW, but when it came out, I guess I was skeptical. Is this a one off? Etc... I liked it, but my liking was very controlled.
Then DOD came out and I felt much better. In fact, I think they've improved with each album here.

As far as AMOLAD, I immeadeately put it in my Top 3.  I thought it was a tremendous accomplishment. I didn't know how they would follow it up. But I find TFF equally as strong, but colored a bit more brighter with slightly more dimension. As a lifelong Maiden fan, to have their two most recent releases in my Top 4 or 5 is saying something. You can just feel the band pushing themselves with each release.

[yorost]

I loved Brave New World.  When Dance of Death came out, I was so disappointed I completely skipped AMoLaD and didn't return to paying attention till Final Frontier.  ...then their two singles almost killed all of my renewed interest!   Good thing those are probably the two worst songs on the album.

[cramx3]

I dont think AMOLAD was Maiden by the numbers at all. I found that album to be an extension of the way thier music was evolving since the reunion.  It is very maiden sounding yet still different. I find TFF to be a continuation of thier evolution, but it sounds less like maiden. To me, thats what made me not like the album as much. Im not against sounding new, but I think it was too much different for me to fall in love with. I really only see The Talisman as a traditional sounding IM song.

[kirksnosehair]

[We're Blood Brothers] The problem for me [We're Blood Brothers] with "Brave New World" is that [We're Blood Brothers] Iron Maiden, who have always [We're Blood Brothers] been a somewhat formulaic [We're Blood Brothers] band in terms of [We're Blood Brothers] writing, really went back [We're Blood Brothers] to what I call "The Formula" a bit too [We're Blood Brothers] often on that disc.  "Dance of Death" also suffered [We're Blood Brothers] from this as well.  I thought with "A Matter of Life and Death" they [We're Blood Brothers] pulled out a few different [We're Blood Brothers] things that they hadn't [We're Blood Brothers] really done for a while [We're Blood Brothers] and it sounded a bit more [We're Blood Brothers] fresh in terms of writing, although I do [We're Blood Brothers] wish they had mastered it.  But getting back [We're Blood Brothers] to "The Formula" I think that it [We're Blood Brothers] reared its head again [We're Blood Brothers] on The Final Frontier and it just gets [We're Blood Brothers] a little bit old after a while. [We're Blood Brothers]

[MykeHavoc]

Brave New World + Underwhelmed = does not compute

[cramx3]

Brave New World + Underwhelmed = does not compute

I was not a maiden fan when it came out so maybe some of the long time maiden fans felt that way during the release, but I agree.  BNW is such an awesome album IMO.

[Jirpo]

AMOLAD is my favourite maiden record, followed by BNW and TFF. So yes TFF is amazing!

[7thHanyou]

Brave New World is really something.

Not only was it my first Iron Maiden album, it was pretty much my first real exposure to metal.  Yeah, I'd heard some isolated songs, but I didn't always pin them down as metal or bother to listen to them.  Metal was just noise to me.

BNW changed that.  It was epic, its lyrics were reasonably intelligent by most standards of modern music, and the songs actually sounded like compositions.  I couldn't imagine how it could possibly get much better.

What's really strange about that is that BNW has become one of my LEAST favorite IM albums, one I rarely listen to anymore.  That speaks to the strength of their catalog, I think.  It really does have some weaknesses.  It carries the repetition over from Virtual XI, but I think it even more adversely affects these songs.  Furthermore, some songs just sound like filler, and its closer is uninspiring.  As far as I'm concerned, it's The Wicker Man, Ghost of the Navigator, Brave New World, Blood Brothers, and Out of the Silent planet are the only really amazing songs here.  The rest I could do without, even if they're not bad.

As for TFF...

It's my favorite reunion album, and one of my favorites in their entire catalog.  I actually prefer the first half to the second--I think it rocks just as hard as their 80's material, but has the more intelligent lyrics the reunion albums have consistently managed.  That said, Where the Wild Wind Blows is one of the greatest things this band has ever done, period.  It alone is worth the purchase price of the album.

Loved DoD, probably more than BNW.  AMoLaD is my least favorite reunion album, but I respect it.  Gives me the same vibe as The X Factor, but I don't enjoy it nearly as much.

[Anonymous]

I love each reunion album for their various differences. I love BNW cuz its probably the closest out of them to the "classic" Maiden sound. I love that DOD has more accessible songs and also the more dark, proggyish stuff. I love AMOLAD but I listen to it the least. I think the whole album is great, but its so hard to listen to sometimes because the intros are all 4 minutes long. And I love TFF for its exploration of styles.

[skydivingninja]

[We're Blood Brothers] The problem for me [We're Blood Brothers] with "Brave New World" is that [We're Blood Brothers] Iron Maiden, who have always [We're Blood Brothers] been a somewhat formulaic [We're Blood Brothers] band in terms of [We're Blood Brothers] writing, really went back [We're Blood Brothers] to what I call "The Formula" a bit too [We're Blood Brothers] often on that disc.  "Dance of Death" also suffered [We're Blood Brothers] from this as well.  I thought with "A Matter of Life and Death" they [We're Blood Brothers] pulled out a few different [We're Blood Brothers] things that they hadn't [We're Blood Brothers] really done for a while [We're Blood Brothers] and it sounded a bit more [We're Blood Brothers] fresh in terms of writing, although I do [We're Blood Brothers] wish they had mastered it.  But getting back [We're Blood Brothers] to "The Formula" I think that it [We're Blood Brothers] reared its head again [We're Blood Brothers] on The Final Frontier and it just gets [We're Blood Brothers] a little bit old after a while. [We're Blood Brothers]

Pretty true, for the most part.  Maiden has a pretty standard formula for a lot of their songs, and in the same chord progression.  They've written great songs with those formulas, but a lot of forgettable and average songs as well.

[wolfking]

Bruce, Ian Anderson, Justin Haywood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfN-woMpD04

Jerusalem.  This is one of the most amazing vocal performances ever.  GuineaPig will love this.  Bruce hasn't lost anything.  Amazing he can sing like this still, yet Kevin made him sound old weak and tired on TFF.  I thought he was losing his voice when I listend to TFF, this proves that wrong.

[glaurung]

Old weak and tired? I thought Bruce sounded fantastic on TFF.

[wolfking]

Old weak and tired? I thought Bruce sounded fantastic on TFF.

No, one of his worst performances IMO.

[Jirpo]

I also thought he was amazing on TFF. He certainly was on the tour for it.

[Mladen]

Bruce, Ian Anderson, Justin Haywood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfN-woMpD04

Jerusalem.  This is one of the most amazing vocal performances ever.  GuineaPig will love this.  Bruce hasn't lost anything.  Amazing he can sing like this still, yet Kevin made him sound old weak and tired on TFF.  I thought he was losing his voice when I listend to TFF, this proves that wrong.

Yeah, but a bunch of songs on TFF are much harder to sing than Jerusalem.

[TAC]

I thought Bruce was great on TFF.

[kirksnosehair]

Yeah, his vocals are pretty good on TFF, although, I think if they are going to continue recording and releasing albums they may want to start writing some stuff in keys that are a bit more comfortable for him to reach.  He really does seem to be at the top edge of his range on some tracks, such as "Mother of Mercy"

[cramx3]

I thought Bruce was a bit off for TFF.  I love the guy and still liked his vocals, but I thought they were subpar for him on that album.  I believe he didn't do many takes and I thought I read he even did the Talisman in one shot.  If thats all true, then it kind of explains the album not having his best vocal performance, but we all know the guy can still sing.

[kirksnosehair]

I thought Bruce was a bit off for TFF.  I love the guy and still liked his vocals, but I thought they were subpar for him on that album.  I believe he didn't do many takes and I thought I read he even did the Talisman in one shot.  If thats all true, then it kind of explains the album not having his best vocal performance, but we all know the guy can still sing.

There is no doubt he can still sing, in fact, I saw Iron Maiden live on that Somewhere Back In Time tour not too long ago and he belted out the classics with NO issues at all.  And he was running around the stage like a maniac the whole night.

[TAC]

Yeah, his vocals are pretty good on TFF, although, I think if they are going to continue recording and releasing albums they may want to start writing some stuff in keys that are a bit more comfortable for him to reach.  He really does seem to be at the top edge of his range on some tracks, such as "Mother of Mercy"

Yeah I can see that. I thought he was great on Coming Home, though. Perhaps it has to do with the key.

[wolfking]

I thought Bruce was a bit off for TFF.  I love the guy and still liked his vocals, but I thought they were subpar for him on that album.  I believe he didn't do many takes and I thought I read he even did the Talisman in one shot.  If thats all true, then it kind of explains the album not having his best vocal performance, but we all know the guy can still sing.

Exactly.  Most of the vocals seem very rushed.  Probably my least fav Bruce performace ever on this album.

[jjrock88]

The wear and tear of singing heavy metal  for 35 plus years has got to be tough; but Bruce has done well.  It's evident that he takes care of his voice; more so than Geoff Tate.

[kirksnosehair]

I've been a fan for along time and saw Bruce the first time in 1982 on October 9th in New Haven Connecticut supporting Judas Priest on the "Screaming For Vengeance" tour.   Dude has been an incredible front man as long as I can remember.   No one can take those years of greatness away from him. 

His solo stuff is pretty awesome too.  I'm actually jamming to his Accident of Birth album as I type this 

[Zydar]

I'm in such an Iron Maiden period right now. I hadn't really listened to my Maiden collection for a few years but I revisited it last weekend, and listened through all the albums in a row. It made me realise why they're one of my favourite bands ever.

[Jirpo]

I'm in such an Iron Maiden period right now. I hadn't really listened to my Maiden collection for a few years but I revisited it last weekend, and listened through all the albums in a row. It made me realise why they're one of my favourite bands ever.

I never really stop listening to them! Well over the last 7-8 months I've been listening to them a bit less but over the last month they have come back!

[Zydar]

I'm in such an Iron Maiden period right now. I hadn't really listened to my Maiden collection for a few years but I revisited it last weekend, and listened through all the albums in a row. It made me realise why they're one of my favourite bands ever.

I never really stop listening to them! Well over the last 7-8 months I've been listening to them a bit less but over the last month they have come back!

I've had a "down period" with them, meaning that I hadn't listened to them for 2-3 years. Every time I started a song I got halfway through and I got bored, I guess. I think I burnt out on them 10 years ago when I got into them. But having been on a long break from them I guess it re-charged my love for them again. Plus I've discovered many bands in the meantime (mainly DT and progressive rock) so I've been occupied with those for a while. Now I've put DT on the backburner, hopefully the same will happen with them for me.

[wolfking]

I have listened to Maiden pretty consistenly since discovering them about 15 years ago.  All their stuff is always so fresh and really stands the test of time.  I've been actually digging TFF a lot lately, the second half is possibly one of their best albums runs ever.

[jjrock88]

Iron Maiden, just like Priest and Dio, never get old for me and I never get tired of listening to them.