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here's MY review. I'm posting it mainly because it's on a different wavelength.
Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death
Released: September 8th, 2003
Track Listing:
1. Wildest Dreams (Smith/Harris)
2. Rainmaker (Murray/Harris/Dickinson)
3. No More Lies (Harris)
4. Montsegur (Gers/Harris/Dickinson)
5. Dance Of Death (Gers/Harris)
6. Gates Of Tomorrow (Gers/Harris/Dickinson)
7. New Frontier (McBrain/Smith/Dickinson)
8. Paschendale (Smith/Harris)
9. Face In The Sand (Smith/Harris/Dickinson)
10. Age Of Innocence (Murray/Harris)
11. Journeyman (Smith/Harris/Dickinson)
Ah, the latest maiden. Everyone, including me, was expecting Maiden to slay everyone by releasing a true epic. The expectations were crashing through the roof. Then outcame the single, Wildest Dreams, and i started to have my doubts. But then again, it's maiden, you can't really form opinions by just judging singles!
So anyway, i went out, bought the album. Put it in my cd player, skipped the opener; listened to Rainmaker. Nice track, great opening riff. Fast Forward to 3 hours later, and i'm thoroughly disappointed. One of Maiden's best? No. An epic? No. A great album? No. A good album? Maybe. Disappointing? Absolutely.
Place this album alongside such maiden masterpieces as Killers, Seventh Son, Powerslave, Somewhere In Time, Number of The Beast and you'll know what i mean. By no means a "bad" album, but you'd seriously expect and definitely want more from this legendary metal act.
Upon first listen, you really can't be blamed for loving this album. But the second time around, it seems nothing more than Brave New World outtakes. I'd probably compare Brave New World and Dance Of Death to Metallica's Load And Reload. Although Maiden probably didn't have any intention of things eventually panning out in this absurd and rather disastrous manner, it's happened. The only thing positive about this album is that Bruce Dickinson sounds as amazing as he did on Maiden's finest hours (read 7th Son, Number of The Beast, Powerslave et al). His voice soars and he sings in an almost belligerent manner. If his vocals were average or ever below par, i'd probably have thrown this CD in the dustbin. YES. A maiden CD in the bin! Smith, Gers, Murray have seemingly lost their touch to write catchy, "stuck in the head for ages" type of riffs. Almost all the good riffs that i heard on this album sounded as if they'd just taken riffs from Brave New World and their earlier albums and modified them. The solos however are another good thing. Though not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination, they are pretty neat. The songs aren't badly written, it's just that they've been executed in a seemingly despicable manner. Some maiden clone band could probably end up writing a better album. Whereas Maiden had the catchiness yet still the heaviness of previous albums, this one seems stunningly "happy". You could probably play this at some 12year olds birthday and it wouldn't seem out of place.
Maiden never lost the basic of their unique sound, and probably never will. Now i'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that it's about time Maiden made some rather significant yet subtle changes to their sound. Either that, or they should just hang up their boots. Considering that their masterpieces were released back when the world was warming up to the band, and when they were considered "great" and one of the "greatest acts in the world". They just seem to be content to sit atop their laurels at the moment. Nothing wrong with that; they can still go on and release albums such as Dance of Death, and they'd still be enjoyed. But that's it. They'd be enjoyed. No one is going to be inspired by them. They aren't going to break any new ground. Maiden have always prided themselves on the fact that they're one of the best old-school songwriters in the world. I think now it's time they either hung up their boots and retired with that tag intact, or they could go on and decide to make a few more mediocre albums like this.
PS: No flaming please. Constructive criticism is overwhelmingly welcome.
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