### Iron Maiden: Dance of death

#### 27/08/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

By the time you read this review, Iron Maiden will have finished their Final Frontier Summer Tour here in the states and Internet message boards will be overloaded with the battle cries of metal nerds arguing over the band’s 2000’s material-heavy setlist. In the metal world (which is a desolate, lonely, vagina-free place) no subject except for production sound brings about more conflict than the following aeternal issues ov grimness…

What is better, the band’s old or new material?

For all the greats, this conflict rages on. For some bands like Metallica, Anthrax, and In Flames it is clear that any and all new material like “St. Anger”, “Reroute to Remain” and “We’ve Come for You All” sucks a cheetah’s dick Others like Megadeth and Judas Priest keep us on our toes by releasing some outstanding new records like “Angel of Retribution” and “Endgame” while also putting out fresh, steaming shits like “Nostradamus” and “Risk”. Since Bruce returned to the band, and Blaze Bayley returned to nothingness, in 1999 Maiden have done the near impossible and released three records that don’t suck. Are they anywhere near as good as the incredible output of the 80’s? Nope. Is that really the end of the world though? I don’t think any band ever could recreate a streak of success like the one that starts with “Number of the Beast” and ends with “Seven Son…”. Hell, I even like the 90’s records with Bruce.

But I digress; of the three records released by Maiden in the 21st Century “Dance of Death” is by far the strongest. “Brave New World” has some excellent tracks in the first half of the record but the rear end stalls. “A Matter of Life and Death” is enjoyable but gets lost in wannabe-epicness and does not have the standout tunes that “Dance…” has. First and foremost of those is the World War I epic “Paschendale” which follows the successful “Fear of the dark” formula of starting off easy, kicking into high gear, and finishing back on the soft note. “No more lies” is another winner in that style and while the chorus is a bit annoying (how many times can you “no more lies” over and over again?) the band really tears it up during the middle and solo parts of the song. This is as close as Maiden has gotten to the rocking epicness of “Heaven can wait”, “Moonchild”, or “Powerslave” since Bruce Bruce returned to the team. The title track rounds out the triumvirate of long, intricate, and quality cuts on “Dance of Death”.

“Wildest dreams” is a decent opener and sounds like a Di’Anno era song. It always makes me think of “Running free”. Anyway, the chorus is catchy and I like it. “Montsegur” gets a little cheesy but the history nerd in me loves hearing a tune about the French crusade against the Cathar heretics in their own fucking country. Wikipedia that shit, it is really a crazy story. My personal favorite song on here is “Gates of tomorrow” which has another catchy chorus and some excellent riffing courtesy of the triple-team of Smith, Murray, and Gers. The entire band is on-point throughout the record and that is no surprise. Maiden are skilled professionals and their musicianship is rarely, if ever, questioned. My only complaint is that Nicko sounds a bit restrained from time to time on the drums. Let the madman go nuts already! I want tons and tons of insane fills. Unleash the McBeast!

This really is the closest the Irons have gotten to putting out a record as good as the classic era. “Dance of Death” has quality production and a pretty healthy load of very good songs. I am shocked at how much I enjoy it. It is not perfect and there is some unexciting filler on here: “Journeyman” bores the hell out of me. Still, I would recommend it to both hardcore and casual Maiden fans…both of which can be found at the local arcade or Games Workshop store.

- Information
- Released: 2003
- Label: EMI
- Website: www.ironmaiden.com
- Band
- Bruce Dickinson: vocals
- Dave Murray: guitar
- Adrian Smith: guitar
- Janick Gers: guitar
- Steve Harris: bass, keyboards
- Nicko McBrain: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Wildest Dreams
- 02. Rainmaker
- 03. No More Lies
- 04. Montségur
- 05. Dance of Death
- 06. Gates of Tomorrow
- 07. New Frontier
- 08. Paschendale
- 09. Face in the Sand
- 10. Age of Innocence
- 11. Journeyman