Dance of Death - 2003
Tracklist -
1. Wildest Dreams.
2. Rainmaker.
3. No More Lies.
4. Montsegur.
5. Dance of Death.
6. Gates of Tomorrow.
7. New Frontier.
8. Paschendale.
9. Face in the Sand.
10. Age of Innocence.
11. Journeyman.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2Y8x0EEu7il0K2gCQIqVRh?si=Nlg1pduKSGWHA_iElvn3xgBrave New World released in 2000 to critical acclaim. It was the comeback album that the band sorely needed after the prior decade of underwhelming releases. The tour saw them head out on the road for 83 shows, though 9 additional shows did get cancelled along the road. The song
Teenage Dirtbag, which contains the line “listen to Iron Maiden with me” and uses a twist that the girl is also a big Maiden fan with tickets to their show, was released right at the start of the tour, which I have to believe was a mark of Maiden’s return to pop culture at the time.
So, it’s easy to say that the stakes were high with their return. Now, how would they follow that up? Was
Brave New World lightning in a bottle, or did they really have something that would be sustainable? The band reconvened at Sam West studios in London during January and February of 2003. Come to May and Iron Maiden went back out on the road for a short 55 show run called the Give Me ‘Ed Til I’m Dead tour. Much like Ed Hunter, this was a throwback to some songs that hadn’t been played in years, including
Revelations,
Die With Your Boots On,
22 Acacia Avenue and strangely
Bring Your Daughter… to the Slaughter. But in the 17 song setlist, one truly stood out. In the wake of Lars Ulrich’s lawsuit against Napster, this was a song that Bruce demanded the audience recorded and shared amongst their friends, as long as they bought and enjoyed the new album. That song was the upcoming single
Wildest Dreams, the studio version of which would not be released until after the tour concluded (and only a week before the upcoming album's release).
That album would release first in Japan on September 2nd, followed by the later worldwide release on September 8th. The album was called
Dance of Death, and honestly, if we’re doing the ‘judging the album by its cover’ thing, this album honestly should be worse than
Virtual XI, like holy goddamn. Several characters here have broken necks, little bit of a cluster
to be honest. There are original versions that omit the oversaturation of unneeded characters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_Death_(album)#/media/File:IronMaiden_DanceOfDeath_OriginalCoverArt.jpeg As it turns out, the original artist demanded to have his name removed from the album when the band went with an unfinished version of the artwork with alterations that Rod Smallwood had asked for. Yikes!
However, is the content within worth a listen? Let’s dive in!
Wildest Dreams, as I said, was the world’s first look at the new album. This is another fairly straightforward opening track from the Smith/Harris writing duo. The lyric is similar to Wasted Years in reminding us that life is short so it’s not worth sitting around moping, it’s time to take life by the throat and make the most of it. It’s not the most remarkable song musically, following a pretty simple chord progression. I do like the spacey bridge after the solo though. This one was definitely a song tailor made to be the big radio single from the album, and it certainly succeeds in that goal. The chorus has a big hook in the “I’m on my way” line, but all in all, while not a bad song at all, it just feels a little light on real content to dive into.
Rainmaker introduces the songwriting of Dave Murray to the album. This is one of your typical fast rockers from Iron Maiden, and the opening guitar hook is pretty damn cool. The chorus is super catchy, even if the lyrics themselves are rather repetitive. This uses the desert as an allegory for life, and explores the concept that the rain can completely change a desert landscape, and the rainiest moments of our lives can cause massive change for us. Couple this song with the more upbeat message of
Wildest Dreams and you have two tracks saying “we need to be the creators of our own path through life”. The cracks in our lives like the cracks are in the ground are sealed and washed away. I love this song. Even if it is a bit repetitive, the shortness of the track keeps it all moving nicely. Musically, it’s got a real dramatic edge to it, the solo is great, the harmony is pretty cool, I dig it!
No More Lies is the first track over 5 minutes on this album, and is funnily enough just a few seconds shorter than the first two songs put together. The opening riffs of this song remind me a lot of the vibes from the Blaze era, which I find are echoed in the lyrical content as well. This song is about someone knowing his time has come and feeling that he hasn’t finished doing everything he’d like to do, though feels he’ll get the chance in another life. The chorus itself suffers in the same way that many of those in the post-reunion era do, it’s only the title repeated several times over. However, I feel that here it actually works. This song is one that I feel made the best use of the three guitars in the early reunion era, as we get three back-to-back solos in rapid succession that kick ass! The song doesn’t even feel overly bloated, it all keeps moving nicely. Check this one out if you’ve been sleeping on it.
Here’s the first time in this deep dive series I’ve actually been able to write about a song knowing that I’m defending it against one particular member. Stadler, this one’s for you mate.
Montsegur is a heavy sucker of a song, written about the true story of the Cathars. This is absolutely The Fallen Angel done right. The main chorus section of “as we kill them all so God will know his own” might sound a little too upbeat for the lyrical content itself. In actuality, the battle of the Montsegur stronghold was a rather violent one in the Albigensian Crusade. Stadler has said this is the song that bothers him the most when it comes to repetition, but here, it really doesn’t bother me at all, especially when we’ve just had
No More Lies. The huge guitar lines that build beneath the pre-chorus and chorus are some of the most catchy riffs on the album, and even if you find yourself zoning out and just listening to the guitars, these sections are effective! The solos are fantastic, and I love the two harmony sections following it. Why this song was passed over for the live show, I will never know.
Speaking of songs that were absolutely built for live performance, we have
Dance of Death itself. The song’s opening line sets out the structure of the song perfectly, “let me tell you a story to chill the bones”. The whole structure of the song is based around one continuous story, almost like you could hear this being told around a campfire. The intro is pretty grand, building out as the story progresses, but nowhere near as strong as the adventure that kicks off around the 3 minute mark. This song has a quintessential Janick Celtic riff at it’s core, and the second you hear it come in, you know you’re in for it. The whole song is a huge build, and I’m entirely here for it. With the mention that this story takes place in the Everglades, it’s implied that the dance involves a Voodoo ritual. The ultimate message here is, once again, about taking your life in your own hands, with the narrator ultimately resolving that he will never go dancing again until he dances with the dead. WHAT A SONG!
Gates of Tomorrow is one that I don’t see a lot of people talk about, and honestly I’m not sure I understand why as I really like this one. Sure, the lyrics themselves aren’t the most coherent. This could be about a character trying to save imprisoned sous by cutting them free from purgatory to allow them to ascend to the heavens, or it could even be a warning about the internet (it was 2003 after all). I love the harmony build up to the solo, though Janick’s style here does seem to be more inclined to hit a quota for notes rather than anything more memorable. For many, I can see this would be a “B-Side”, but I just love the way this song sounds especially with the entirely harmonised vocal lines. This one I’d be keen to hear your thoughts on!
New Frontier is certainly a song that I don’t see as being all that strong, though it does have one huge distinction as being the only song co-written by Nicko McBrain to date. The lyrics are a little weak, to be honest. They’re very much written from Nicko’s born-again Christian viewpoint looking at the advent of cloning at the time and saying “only God can create a real human as only he can give you a soul”. The soloing in this song absolutely turns it around, with a great twin attack from Adrian and Dave, the latter of which absolutely making use of three guitars. This one is definitely a bit filler for me. Sorry Nicko, maybe try again?
Back to the epics, and here’s one that I’m sure you’re all familiar with.
Paschendale is one of the very best war epics that Iron Maiden ever wrote. The first verses alternating between the eerie calm of Adrian’s tapping lead and the bursts of the heavy main riff already symbolic of the periods of calm between open combat. The song opens out into some of the most poignant lyrics that Iron Maiden have ever written, speaking of the absolutely horrific conditions of trench warfare, telling of Allied troops mourning the loss of their friends, and ultimately closing with lines that speak to absence of hatred between the soldiers on either side.
Paschendale is about a battle that happened in Belgium between July 31st and 10th November 1917, however this could be about any battle during this horrific war. This is honestly one of the most emotional songs that Iron Maiden has constructed, and it might be one of the best. It certainly stands as one of the very best from the post-reunion era.
Face in the Sand is a pretty great song as well. I love the shift from fairly calm to total drama in the intro, which sets up the theme of the song very well. With
Dance of Death being the first album after the events of 2001, it seemed inevitable that this kindof song would have to be here. Much like Brave New World, this is a song about the current state of the world, particularly post-9/11. Everyone is waiting for a bigger disaster, waiting for news on TV, but not listening to what’s actually happening. This is a pretty big song that’s worth the listen. It’s also the only song that Nicko has ever used a double bass pedal on, as much of the song keeps a constant pace with the kick drum. Consequently, this song was never played live as Nicko felt his performance suffered.
Continuing these themes is
Age of Innocence, which is a little hard to take seriously after the Nicko McBrain version. This is Steve’s response to very differing reports on criminal activity in the UK at the time, where it was showing that the crime rates where going down, but other reports were saying “yes, but the crimes themselves are far worse”. And as the third verse states “petty crime gets rewarded with a holiday”, as many criminals convicted for minor crimes were headed to conditions better than those they started from. Researching this song does point to the darkness of the time. The song itself is pretty basic, with the riff being more or less the James Bond theme’s bassline. However, it’s still worth a listen as that chorus is pretty beautiful. This is the other song I’d put in a pretty low rank for the album, though I do prefer this to
New Frontier.
Journeyman is the closing track for the album, and it absolutely breaks the conventions of every other song on the album by being a fully acoustic track. It’s one of the hardest ones to say much about, as there aren’t really any main riffs or solos to speak of. Most of the song takes on a very simplistic approach, with Bruce singing of cheating death while being cheated by death, and that all of life has been a dream. The song itself is just beautiful though, and really worth the listen. I’d recommend checking out the live version from Death on the Road tour over the main album version. There’s also an electric version which was on the
No More Lies EP.
And that’s
Dance of Death. A massively enjoyable album, even if the quality does fluctuate a little. Is the album better than
Brave New World? Probably not for most listeners, but there are certainly songs here that I’d prefer to listen to. It’s an album that proved they were back for good, and they were still improving together. I see a lot of people give this album a very low ranking overall, and I honestly don’t feel like it’s fair. I just did a quick album ranking and for how I feel right now, this sits in the top 5 of the 17 Iron Maiden albums to date.
But hey, that’s enough about me. What about you? Love it? Hate it? Wanna vent about it? It’s your turn to have a say about
Dance of Death. Keen to see what you have to say.
Sorry again that this one took so long to get out, and I don’t promise that
A Matter of Life and Death will come any quicker unfortunately. Life just finds a way to get in the way, doesn’t it? Just know I’ll keep cranking through whenever I get the chance and I’ll be with you as soon as I can. Deadeye out!