A Matter of Life and Death - 2006.
Tracklist:
1. Different World.
2. These Colours Don’t Run.
3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns.
4. The Pilgrim.
5. The Longest Day.
6. Out of the Shadows.
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg.
8. For the Greater Good of God.
9. Lord of Light.
10. The Legacy.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1gdB9kn59KSAVG5VQcjdHi?si=N7GvWOKhSma8xA3_AGKjlwThe Death on the Road tour was a predominantly European run, with only 4 shows in South America, 7 shows across Canada and the US and 3 Japanese dates to finish out the run in early 2004. In fact, most of 2004 was spent away from Iron Maiden. The most exciting thing for the band that yar was the release of a DVD set called The Early Days, which featured three partial concerts from the Rainbow in December of 1980 with Paul Di’Anno, Hammersmith form March of 1982 (just before the release of
Number of the Beast) and the full show from Dortmund in 1983 which was the final show of the
Piece of Mind era. This also came with a 90 minute documentary about the start of the band up until that Dortmund ’83 show.
Iron Maiden also announced a new tour across the US and Europe called Eddie Rips Up the World tour. This special tour would focus solely of songs from 1980-1983, featuring some great deep cuts like
Murders in the Rue Morgue,
Remember Tomorrow,
Where Eagles Dare and
Phantom of the Opera. This run would also see them playing as part of the now infamous Ozzfest run. Bruce and Sharon Osbourne had been butting heads and ended up with her actively trying to ruin the show for the band, including running on stage with an American flag during
The Trooper and getting the audience to pelt the band with eggs. Reportedly, the band actually played much better after the disruption, though the show was paused for a little bit while Nicko had to clean off his drumkit from the shells. This tour also saw Dream Theater opening a show in France during the very early stages of their
Octavarium tour.
During that tour, Bruce would often remark that they be returning with a new album in tow in the following year. The band would start writing songs in late 2005 and entered Sarm West Studios in London with Kevin Shirley to record between March 1st and May 4th of 2006. The album was recorded in a very live manner, with only a small isolation booth made for Bruce’s vocals. Bruce would go on to say that a lot of what made it to the album came from first takes, even with the band wanting to push things as far as they would go, the recording process ended up 2 months ahead of schedule. Steve would state that the album was a lot heavier than they had gone before and much more progressive “not in a modern sense, but like Dream Theater, in a 70s way”.
This album would be the 4th not to feature a title track, following
Piece of Mind and the two Blaze albums. Instead, this album would be known as
A Matter of Life and Death, an apt name given the album follows a common thread about death, destruction, and the way Mankind seems to be doomed if no one does anything.
Diving into the album, we get another Smith/Harris track to open. This time, it’s
Different World, which is a reasonably upbeat way to open an album that has such a bleak outlook. The lyrics deal with the idea that everyone views the world through different eyes and perceives things differently, however does view that through a lens of uncertainty. The protagonist doesn’t know what they want and takes a hold of whatever comes their way in life, unlike
Wildest Dreams' “I’m grabbing it by the neck and going for what I want” mentality. The chorus does urge the listener to take the little things as small blessings and appreciate life. All in all, I think this is a great song, and I really love the harmony section. This is a bit different arrangement wise with most of the song happening in choruses, but that doesn’t stop it from rocking. Gotta say, with the last 3 Smith opening song, this one might be my personal favourite, even if
Wicker Man might be objectively better for most.
These Colours Don’t Run (Yes, they do indeed spell it with a U like I do) is the start to our much more bleak overview. This is a song from a soldier’s perspective, like so many Maiden tunes before it. However, this one is more about the soldier leaving to go and fight. The first verse talks about the promise of adventure that others could only dream of, so they go for the passion, glory, memories and money. But the second verse prevents the much more horrible reality, they paid for our freedom with lonely, unmarked graves. I have to say, this song has some really cool riffs. I love the buildup to the solo, which is proggy as all hell. Interestingly enough, the title stems from something that Bruce said on stage at Ozzfest, meaning that the Ozzy and Maiden camps were divided. It’s interesting to see it here on an album only a year later.
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns is a song that I’m surprised didn’t become a lot more relevant with last year’s Oppenheimer, as the song is all about the Manhattan Project. Before I dive into the lyrics, I want to harken back to what Steve said about this being a much more progressive album. That’s definitely felt with this song’s main riff, which is in 7/8 timing, while Bruce sings over it in standard 4/4 couplets. The song almost feels uncomfortable to listen to, and I think that was very much on purpose. I love the pre-chorus lyrics which contain some great references. “A strange love is born”, which ties into Dr. Strangelove, a black comedy about the nuclear threat of 1984. The pre-chorus continues on with “unholy union, Trinity reborn”. Trinity was the codename of the testing site where Oppenheimer and his team tested their weapons. “Whatever would Robert have said to his God of how we made with the sun”. Man, this song has a lot to unpack. I think the lyrics here, like the rest of the album, are genius. A quote from Oppenheimer himself before I finish this song off, “
In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humour, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.” This sentiment is echoed in the song’s last line, “holy father, we have sinned”.
The Pilgrim is luckily a lot less dark, and actually much more upbeat in terms of the musicality as well. This short rocker is somewhat loosely about the journey of the Mayflower, more broadly about the journey to find a better place. The line “holy battles take their toll” suggests this could have some connection to the Crusades as well. However you want to interpret it, it’s easy enough to say that this song rocks and Bruce is sin fine vocal form here, especially during the final chorus. This is the second shortest song on the album and the one I find the hardest to say much about other than this rocks.
The Longest Day is about Operation Overlord, the landing on Normandy. These lyrics are brilliant, painting the picture perfectly. This is one of the best songs on the album on all fronts, making somewhat of a sequel to
Paschendale on
Dance of Death. This one also offers some hopeful melodies through the darkness, which I’ve always found an interesting choice. This could be reflective of the differences between the two battles, given that Paschendale was an absolute slaughter that benefit neither side ultimately, the D-Day landings ended up being a major turning point in the war once the foothold was secured. Something else that
The Longest Day generously gifts to the listener is some fantastic triple guitar attack, with harmonies raging while the third guitar plays solo runs. I love the harmony in this song, and the repetition of the chorus doesn’t bother me at all, as I feel it’s like the soldiers on the beach praying for an end to this fight and finally making it through. It’s an absolutely epic piece, and one of my strongest highlights on the album.
Out of the Shadows is one of those rare power ballads from Maiden, this one speaking about the miracle of life with the first verse being about birth, while the second verse talks about the end and embracing death. The opening line of the chorus rings true about coming out of the darkness of pre-birth and into the sun of life. Out there is beauty, and surely there is pain, but we must endure it. My favourite thing in this song is the intro reprise halfway through. It’s such a catchy little instrumental section that always brings a smile to my face. It even has a lead bass run! Great song.
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg is one that took me a long time to come around to. Opening with a quintessential Dave Murray intro, this song just goes through an odd way to me, and is easily my least favourite on the album. I find it to kinda just go through the motions after the last 6 amazing songs, and knowing what lies ahead in the closing trio, it’s kinda easy to not love this one. There are some pretty cool riffs and Bruce definitely sings it well, but it just doesn’t hold my attention as much as I’d like it to. The viral marketing behind it all was fantastic though, with the launch of a Benjamin Breeg.com. Of course the story was entirely fake, and actually doesn’t really feature in the song but supposedly he lost his parents in a house fire in 1947 and was in and out of various orphanages and foster homes, but was a very gifted painter. Those closest to him said he painted what he saw in his nightmares, which were very disturbing to anyone who saw them. He mysteriously disappeared in 1978, and all paintings have since been destroyed. Of course, Breeg isn’t real, but it was a very cool bit of marketing for the first single from the album, which… why this one? Honestly,
Different World was the second single, and that made a lot of sense, but why not
Colours or
Out of the Shadows for the other single. Anyway...
Up next is the only song from the album to have been played after the 2010 reunion era centric tour,
For the Greater Good of God. Coincidentally, this is the only song written solely by one writer on the album, and that just happens to be Steve. This is a long sucker of a song, all about Steve’s views on religious fundamentalism. How someone who is meant to be a “man of peace” can become a “man of holy war” if following the wrong scriptures, and can easily end up with the blind believers going down the wrong path. The song’s greatest asset though is a absolutely fantastic section, leading to everyone having a solo. Steve really knew how to write great songs and utilise his bandmates to their full potential, with Nicko playing some great grooves all over this song and Bruce’s vocal absolutely soaring. The first chorus “tell me now what life/love/war is” is such a great Bruce moment. The harmony on this one is probably my favourite on the whole album too. Even if you don’t want to get bogged down in the lyrics of the son, this song is well worth a listen, and I’ll be forever bummed that we didn’t get that 2020 leg of Legacy of the Beast in Australia as I’d have loved to see this one.
Lord of Light is a very different song and it’s AWESOME! These lyrics are about the angel who rebelled against God for not seeing this “strange world” the same, wondering why humanity is so blind and keep killing each other. Lucifer is meant to be seen as the root of all evil, yet the song almost has sympathy for him, showing us our own evils and making us realise that we as humans are the ones responsible for our dark paths. As for the music, man, this song has so much Adrian written all over it and it’s great! The first solo with the harmoniser sounds perfectly evil, and man, that chorus! It could be seen as Devil worshipping, but this song is very thought provoking and I’d dare say one that’s worth looking to for an even deeper dive.
And we finish on a song that remains very high in my overall song rankings to this day,
The Legacy. The intro section tells of mysterious men in black and a strange yellow gas that plays with people’s minds. This acoustic section then opens out into an ominous instrumental of acoustic guitars and spooky volume swells, all combining into a massive orchestral riff. As Nicko’s drums kick us into the middle segment of the song (not appearing until 3:08!), the protagonist tells us of a secret mission that was masked under “peace achievement”, he laments that all he has done with his life was to make others’ much worse than they were before. “We could’ve given all of them a chance at least, to make the world a better place. Just think what a legacy you now will leave”.
Honestly, while the first 5:12 of this song contains some great mood and atmosphere, and hell, even great lyrics, it’s not really enough to warrant this being in my top 10 all time Maiden songs, is it? Well, hold on tight, because the remaining four minutes or so is a tour de force that I wish Maiden could have lived up to as an album closer since. The riffs we kick into are nothing short of amazing, with the solo backing reminding me of
Where Eagles Dare a lot, though the chaotic scale either side of the solo is one of my favourite riffs to date. The beautiful harmonies that surround the final vocals are absolutely captivating, and utilise the three guitars perfectly. The final lyrics are a perfect way of summing up everything that’s come on this album as well. “The only thing that they know, fight fire with fire, life is cheap. But did you stop to think that man is teetering right on the brink?” Man, I could wax poetic about four minutes of a nine and a half minute song, but I’d honestly prefer just to listen to it again, so I’ll stop and let you get your ears on it!
And that’s
A Matter of Life and Death. It’s still one of my top three Iron Maiden albums. Not the top of the post-reunion era, but top of the discography. I think everyone in the band does a tremendous job. The lyrics are some of the best they’ve ever produced and they cam packaged with massive riffs, killer drums and amazing lead work all around. I actually still like my least favourite song on this album, which is saying a lot. It’s
A Matter of Life and Death, and it’s just such a great album.
Or at least it is in my ears. I’ve had different opinions on these albums than the majority before, so I’m excited to see, am I wrong or is this actually a fantastic album? Until I return with
The Final Frontier, it’s over to you!