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Iron Maiden - Brave New World CD (album) cover

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Iron Maiden

 

Prog Related

3.97 | 616 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
5 stars My first introduction to Iron Maiden only happened in year 2000 when I was listening to M97 - The Classic Rock FM radio station in Jakarta, Indonesia, while I was driving. I immediately called the station and got the song title and artist: It was "Flight of Icarus" from Iron Maiden "Piece of Mind". What an excellent song! To me, music is emotion and "Flight of Icarus" was successful in creating that emotion to me regardless the sub-genre of the music - and I didn't care, really. So I purchased the CD and I played track 3 repetitively - probably 6 to 8 spins only for track 3. Why do I like the track? It's really great music combining excellent guitar riffs, dynamic bass lines and great double guitar work. The vocal part is really clean and powerful. And of course. the chorus line is so memorable ."Fly on your way, like an eagle. Fly as high as the sun, on your way, like an eagle. Fly and touch the sun.". Wow! What a great music segment this one is!

"Brave New World" is the second CD that I purchased from Iron Maiden. It was influenced by friends of mine who at that time about Year 2000 / 2001 hung out together with me at the M97 Classic Rock Station in Jakarta. Mbah Sigit, my friend who'd been labeled as metalhead and die-hard fan of Iron Maiden from its inception, told me that "Brave New World" remarks the return of IrMa legendary vocalist Bruce Dickinson. So what? I did not know exactly but I purchased the CD anyway. To my surprise, it blew me away at first listen! The band is now six-piece with triple guitars. What a waste! What for hiring another guitarist while two is good enough? Well, I don't know. It's not my business anyhow.

The album opens nicely with straight rocker "The Wicker Man" with memorable lyrics "Your time will come". The following track "Ghost of the Navigator" is truly an energetic and impressive track. I like the combination of electric guitar rhythm, high register notes vocal line, and . stunning guitar solo. The band's mastermind, Steve Harris, also plays distinctive bass guitar. This is an excellent rock music that most rockers would adore. It's one of my favorite IrMa tracks. By this time I remember vividly how one of the bands that contributed to our regular monthly jam session i-Rock! Threelogy played wonderful cover of Iron Maiden. "Brave New World" is another excellent track with good melody, harmony and stunning guitar solo. Structurally, this track might be considered as prog - it's about 10% content only.

"Blood Brothers" is truly a prog track with excellent composition. It starts with great bassline and guitar. I really love this track as it has rich nuances with key rhythm section in the vein of Scotland traditional music. The flow of music is wonderful from start to end of the track. This is one of my favorite IrMa tracks! "The Mercenary" brings the music back to heavy stuff with great vocal line. "Dream of Mirrors" is another great track with prog elements even from start of the track where the music starts and stops immediately, allowing acoustic guitar to appear. The opening part is excellently and I cannot believe that band like IrMa opens the song with such style. It then moves to heavy music with higher vocal notes and rockin' rhythm section. "The dream is true ." segment reminds me to the music of Uriah Heep - David Byron era. Oh man .. I don't really care this band is prog or not but Iron Maiden really ruleszzzzz ...!!!! Sorry, in my locality expression I label it as top markotop! (meaning: top of the line! - in rock music, of course).

"The Fallen Angel" is another rocker with again with dynamic beats demonstrating excellent drumming, tight basslines and excellent guitar work. Judging from the duration of 9 minues, next track "The Nomad" is a prog one. Yes, my friend told me jokingly if a track consumes more than 8 minutes duration, it must be a prog song! But indeed, this track is prog one if I look at the non-linear structure and varied textures. Composition-wise, this is an excellent track. The long duration does not create any sense of getting bored with the stream of music this track is offering. I like the music interlude at approx minute 4:45 when the music turns mellow with bass guitar gives its fills combined with guitar. It's so cool man! Wow .!!! AT minute 5:45 (approx) the music turns symphonic at its best! I never believe Iron Maiden plays this kind of music! It's brilliant! Where is your music sense if you cannot enjoy this part, my friend?! Tell me! I'm totally nggeblak! (my mind is temporarily paralyzed enjoying the stream of music this track is offering).

"Out of The Silent Planet" starts wonderfully with combine guitars work. The music then flows in hard and heavy style, delivering powerful vocal line of Bruce Dickinson which sometimes augmented with backing vocals. The guitar solo parts at interlude are stunning. The album concludes beautifully with "The Thin Line Between Love and Hate" in straight hard rock style.

Overall, this album is a masterpiece of rock music: great songwriting, tight composition and great performance. Of course this is a masterpiece product because it's produced by Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Steve Harris (the band's mastermind and bass guitar player). This album has successfully stirred my emotion up - regardless being prog or not (who actually cares?). Even though I consider IrMa is a hard rock / metal band, but this album has at least 40% prog ingredients. This album is good to pump up your emotion and motivation. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Gatot | 5/5 |

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