Brave New World -2000
Tracklist:
1. The Wicker Man.
2. Ghost of the Navigator.
3. Brave New World.
4. Blood Brothers.
5. The Mercenary.
6. Dream of Mirrors.
7. The Fallen Angel.
8. The Nomad.
9. Out of the Silent Planet.
10. The Thin Line Between Love and Hate.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1hDF0QPIHVTnSJtxyQVguB?si=moxs_SV3S0SDbLkhqsh4NQIt’s safe to say that 1998 was looking bleak for Iron Maiden. The venue sizes were shrinking, and unfortunately so were the audiences. The golden age of metal seemed to be well and truly over. The band’s tour saw them playing soccer as a team, which was a cool gimmick. But somewhere down the line, the future for Iron Maiden wasn’t what they’d hoped with Blaze still in the picture. He had been having trouble with the absolute strain of touring and had dropped several shows because his voice was in bad shape.
Rod Smallwood was managing Bruce Dickinson at the time, and when the word came down that Blaze was getting the boot, Rod kicked it into high gear. Bruce had been enjoying a moderately successful solo career with Adrian Smith as his right-hand man. But they were still not playing to as large a crowd as they had with Maiden. When Rod suggested it might be a good move to have Bruce rejoin, Steve was hesitant, believing Bruce would have no reason to return, but as fate would have it, Bruce was open to it. However, it wasn’t as simple as reverting to the
No Prayer lineup. Steve and Bruce both wanted Adrian Smith back in the band. Adrian was also open to the idea but felt unsure on the reunion if it meant replacing Janick Gers. So, he didn’t. Iron Maiden would instead become a six man lineup.
When these meetings concluded and the deals were done, they knew they could shake the world again. 1999 saw the band back on the road from July to October on the Ed Hunter Tour with a setlist of classic tunes like
Aces High,
Wasted Years,
Killers,
Powerslave and
Phantom of the Opera all making nightly appearances. Iron Maiden was back in arenas across America and Europe. Now it was time to make it even more permanent. Finding themselves in France at the Studio Guillaume Tell, armed with 10 killer new tracks, they made an album that revitalised the legacy of Iron Maiden in the new millennium. This is
Brave New World.
The Wicker Man is absolutely the right choice to start off a new era for Iron Maiden. Opening with a simple chugging riff and then having the band join in for the chord stabs, this song is one of the most straightforward on the album. With lyrics about a general apathy in modern society, the titular wicker man doesn’t really have much of an impact on the overall meaning of the song. That said, there is one line that I’ve always misheard which would’ve had a great meaning to the song’s place in the catalog. The actual line is “hello to eternity and live for every breath”, which I’ve always heard as “Hallowed to eternity, I live for every breath”, which I interpreted as
Hallowed Be Thy Name (one of their highest points) to
From Here to Eternity (one of their lowest, imo), now we’re back in action and I’m here to make every moment count. Whatever your interpretation of this song is, nearly 24 years later (29th of May) this song is a classic!
Ghost of the Navigator up next. This is a huge song, harkening back to
Rime of the Ancient Mariner with the nautical themes, though this one is more of a metaphor for going through our lives and finding our own way. This is the first song with a Gers writing credit here, and really establishes a lot of what his writing style will be like moving forward. Adrian is a lot more straightforward and leaning more towards the single friendly material, where I feel that Janick goes in a much more epic direction, and usually with a guitar doubling the vocal melody. This song isn’t necessarily a favourite of mine, but it’s got some pretty big hooks, and establishes that more epic Maiden feel well.
Brave New World, the title track, follows. This is a Dave Murray writing credit, which means in the first three songs we get to have one from each! This track is loosely based on the Aldous Huxley novel of the same name, This song goes in a bit of a
Fear of the Dark direction (song, not album), with some straightforward guitars building to epic instrumental passages and held together by an anthemic chorus. This has one of the first huge three way guitar harmonies for the album, which I feel is a real focal point of the song and really defines what this era of guitar is going to be like. Bruce’s voice on this song is tremendous too.
Blood Brothers is a song that dates back to
Virtual XI and is a real emotional centre point for the album. Inspired by the passing of Steve’s father and the memories of those who have passed on being left for those who remain. The third bridge also brings up being ashamed of the current state of the world and, like
No Prayer and
2AM before it, asks for answers to the ways of everything. While Steve has a writing credit on every song on
Brave New World, this is his only solo composition, and it’s one that has really stood the test of time, joining
The Wicker Man as an absolute classic that is often brought back to the stage. This is absolutely one of my favourites, and I’m sure it’s up there for many Maiden fans, even those more sceptical of the reunion era. For those interested, there is a beautiful acoustic cover of Blood Brothers sung by Blaze on YouTube. Check out the link if you want something extra! (
https://youtu.be/Lju5yaKglr8?si=EkPPtVf2oDRpokAT)
The Mercenary is another song with origins in the Blaze era, and honestly one that I would have liked to hear his take on. Another Gers/Harris composition, this is about a bounty hunter according to Bruce, though very much feels like a continuation of
The Assassin from
No Prayer. While the chorus is beyond repetitive, the “show them no fear, show them no pain” lyric is strong, especially when coupled with the alternating guitar hooks between each. Really not one I can say too much about, apart from I love the way it boils down to just Nicko’s drum line after the solo section. Not a huge fan of the ending, but I think it’s a pretty ballsy song.
Dream of Mirrors is the first of three epics on
Brave New World and, unfortunately, the only one that saw live play. Lyrically, this is another song about premonitions and dreams, which actually shares a fairly similar with
Infinite Dreams.
“Scared to fall asleep again in case the dream begins again” -
Infinite Dreams“Scared to fall asleep and dream the dream again” -
Dream of MirrorsIn any case, while I don’t know this song hits the same heights that
Infinite Dreams did, I think
Dream of Mirrors is a very well out together song, with the structure of its two distinct choruses, different verses and bridges all coming together to give a truly epic feeling to the song. Huge props to Nicko who orchestrates his drum parts perfectly to give the perfect tension and release to each section. The bridge section is one of the coolest riffs on the album too. Not a whole lot else to say, but it’s a sick song. Quite a long sucker too, at a whopping 9:21!
The Fallen Angel is the shortest song on Brave New World, and one of the ones I have the least to say about. It’s a good rocker, once again based on the balance of good and evil. I like the whole vibe of the song and the “you and only God will know” pre-chorus is pretty catchy. The band attempted this one a few times, but as much as it seems like it would be a good live track, it didn’t seem to work out that way, and I’d say a lot of that comes down to the harmonised vocals that really makes the whole thing pop, and the sheer difficulty of the vocal as a whole.
Track eight is
The Nomad, the second longest song on the album. With a straightforward lyric about a mysterious nomad of the desert, the real highlight here is everyone else in the band. Bruce does sing it well, don’t get me wrong, but we’re all here because we were sucked in by the aggressive opening riff, sucked in by the middle eastern sounding lead, and then got absolutely swept away by the solos. The middle of the song is dominated by an absolutely beautiful clean instrumental that sounds so massive and cinematic that I’m gonna have to officially demand this makes the setlist if Maiden ever get around to doing their version of
S&M. Even if it was the basis for a lawsuit against the band as the whole section is very similar to Life’s Shadow by Beckett. Still, that song sucks and The Nomad is gold. For your convenience, and to spark further conversation, here's a link with the two sections for comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JzzWam9wUI
The Nomad ends with an orchestral hang that allows for
Out of the Silent Planet to begin right over it. The intro, which isn’t present in the single version, is probably my favourite section of the song, with a funky little lead riff that then turns into a beautiful clean version of the song’s main hook. The main song is a little unremarkable, with its politically motivated lyrics over a pretty simple riff. This is definitely not one I would have chosen as a single personally, I’d have probably gone with
Blood Brothers had it not been for its length. Maiden seems to have largely ignored this song live too. However, the solo section is pretty cool, and I have to say I enjoy the “out of the silent planet, we are” chant. Probably my least favourite from
Brave New World, but at least it’s got some cool hooks!
The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, on the other hand, has always been an absolute favourite of mine that not a lot of people seem to care for. All relating to the core concept of free will and asking the questions of when does one choose the path they’ll take, and at what point does it turn bad. I don’t know why I love this song so much, as it is really basic. Bruce is in fine form throughout though, and I love the almost entirely harmonised vocal approach. All the solos are really well performed, and I absolutely love the clean section that comes around twice in the back half of the song which has always reminded me of
I Will Always Love You when Bruce reaches for those high notes. I’d go as far as saying that this is my favourite album closer since Alexander the Great, six albums and 14 years earlier. IT perfectly encapsulates why Iron Maiden are still one of the best metal bands around.
As I said before, we’re about 10 days out from this album’s 24th anniversary. We are 25 years in with this iteration of the band, which has been serving of over half of the band’s career.
Brave New World still stands as a perfect record of why this lineup works so well. Even on songs I’ve marked as “its not my favourite” in this deep dive still have some great high points, and I’m only marking them as not my favourite on this album, versus some other tracks that are absolutely stellar. All of this to say, this is absolutely one of the most important metal albums post 2000 to me, and I’d say stacks up with the debut and
Number of the Beast as one of their most important albums.
We only have 5 main albums and the
Best of the B-Sides compilation left to talk about now, so this may only last another 6 weeks. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me through this deep dive. I'm looking forward to getting through some great material as we reach this final stretch.
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