Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier
Release Date: August 17, 2010
Highlights: The Final Frontier, The Alchemist, Mother of Mercy, The Man Who Would Be King, The Talisman
Iron Maiden has always been a band that challenges their audience. Most bands cater to their audience when it comes to writing an album and touring but Iron Maiden is a different story. Iron Maiden fans are a very critical group of individuals to expect nothing but the best from the band and while this is the case, the band doesn’t base who they are and what they do on this fact. Iron Maiden takes risks and they reward their fans for their support and patience along the way. It may not always be an immediate reward but they always manage to deliver.
Iron Maiden has release their 15th studio album “The Final Frontier” which is a truly epic Heavy Metal album. Clocking in at 76 minutes and 34 seconds it is the longest running Iron Maiden album to date boasting songs that range anywhere from 4.5 minutes to an epic 11 minutes long and is in my opinion this lineup’s finest piece of work. The Janick Gers compositions are extremely strong on this release with “The Alchemist” being the best of them. This particular song plays just like classic Iron Maiden and really has a vibe that is reminiscent of “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” era Maiden.
The band’s first single “El Dorado” heavily borrows from Heart’s “Barracuda” in the intro but then sores to epic heights on it’s own. Bruce Dickinson is still capable of removing your face clean off yet give you goosebumps from the theatrical emotion of his vocals. “Mother of Mercy” has a galloping groove that has become a signature of Iron Maiden for many years but it is the Dave Murry/Steve Harris penned “The Man Who Would Be King” that receives the MVP award. This song is absolutely stellar and features that classic mellow into heavy ascent that is another Iron Maiden trademark.
As a whole, Iron Maiden’s delivery of the songs on “The Final Frontier” is quite stellar. I feel that this is probably the band’s best effort with this lineup as far as having consistently solid material. The songs all have a comfortable flow to them and the band sounds like they are in such a natural element. Iron Maiden is at their best when they have room to stretch out creatively.
While musically and lyrically the album is so strong, I can’t help but bitch once again about the production of the album. I will never understand how a band as fucking amazing as Iron Maiden can put out such poorly produced albums. The band hasn’t put out a great sounding album since “Fear of the Dark” and it’s really a damn shame. They had Kevin Shirley behind the board once again and I’m convinced that this guy has cotton stuffed in his ears. It almost sounds like I had towels over my speakers while listening to it. It sounds flat and muffled and there is no brilliance, no life to this album. Luckily the songs are so damn good that they cut through the crappy production. Will somebody please get Martin Burch out of retirement and back in the control room?
Aside from my gripe about the production, “The Final Frontier” is an album that completely surpassed my expectations of what a new Iron Maiden album would end up being. It sounds like the band has connected with this line up and found their ground to create another piece of classic Iron Maiden. Whether the other critical fans will agree will remain to be seen but then again, it’s not so much a matter of whether they will like it or not. It’s a matter of accepting the challenge to let Iron Maiden take you to another level. Trust me and trust them. You do want to go there.
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