Review Summary: Given time to gestate this could be the greatest thing the band has released since “Powerslave” – and that this not said lightly. However you get hold of your copy, one thing remains clear: you must own this album.
As arguably the world’s greatest metal band for 26 years now, you might think that by their fourteenth studio album Iron Maiden would be slowing down. You might also believe that there’s little new that they could offer – that you’ve heard it all before. You’d be sickeningly wrong; “A Matter of Life and Death” is not only one of the finest albums of Maiden’s illustrious career, but also of the decade thus far.
Yes, “Brave New World” did see Steve Harris and Co. make amends for their mostly below-par 1990s output and yes, “Dance of Death” cemented the Maiden brick back atop the wall of fame, but neither were as ambitious, unexpected or spectacular as this.
Album opener, “Different Worlds”, is actually completely misleading – similar in style to “Wildest Dreams”, it gives little indication of the beauty still to be unveiled. Instead it acts as a cloak to the rest of the record, one which when removed reveals an irresistible body of work underneath. Colossal in their scope, songs such as “These Colours Don’t Run” and “The Longest Day” pull the listener down into the blood-trodden battlefield before spitting them out into the solemn peace of the grave. Dickinson – whose vocals are stronger than ever - chants, screams and whispers wicked truths like an insightful overseer of a world torn affray. On previous albums the Air Raid Siren has been merely a deft storyteller, now he has transformed into a full-blown poet laureate.
The guitarists too, are in rambunctious moods – if you were to have a whiskey shot for every crushing riff or mesmerising solo, you’d be hospitalised by the end of almost any of the ten songs. And beneath all this, bassist Steve Harris provides lashings of the trademark Maiden gallop and Nicko McBrain’s drumming is possibly the greatest of his career. It’s still Iron Maiden, but more progressive and adventurous than you’ve heard them before.
The pinnacle of this impeccable musicianship is “For the Greater Good of God”, a nine-and-a-half minute Harris penned masterpiece – imagine “No More Lies” crossed with “Sign of the Cross” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”… yup, it’s that good. Yet what truly makes “A Matter of Life and Death” so incredible is that there are absolutely no fillers – nearly every song is one of the best that the band has recorded. Today the best song is “For the Greater Good of God”, yesterday it was the creepy album closer, “The Legacy” and the day before it was “Out of the Shadows”, a song heavily reminiscent of Dickinson’s solo work. The point is that every track is a winner.
This is not simply a case of “A Matter of Life and Death” being the best Maiden record since “Somewhere In Time”, it’s a case of just how many of their records that it’s better than. Given time to gestate this could be the greatest thing the band has released since “Powerslave” – and that this not said lightly. However you get hold of your copy, one thing remains clear: you must own this album.
