Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Iron Maiden - Brave New World CD (album) cover

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Iron Maiden

 

Prog Related

3.97 | 617 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

zaxx
3 stars Iron Maiden's second life clearly started with this album. "Brave New World" sees the return of frontman Bruce Dickinson, guitarist Adrian Smith... and even master illustrator Derek Riggs is back. The result is... strange. It's *heavy*... I mean forget "The Number Of The Beast", "Brave New World" has a much heavier sound than the heaviest of their previous albums (probably due to the fact they kept three guitarists from now on). The sound is heavier, but that doesn't mean that the songs are faster... no it's even the contrary, there are more epic songs, more mellow parts and more progressive elements. Even the songwriting has changed - almost every member of the band contributed to the writing of more than one song on the album. Not their best album, as there are still a few weak moments, but a good effort... and at least the spirit of Iron Maiden is back.

"The Wicker Man" opens the album with, of course, a rocker - not the best of Maiden's opening songs but a decent heavy track. "Ghost Of The Navigator" is an awesome song - it grows from its great guitar+bass intro and delivers an awesome melody with top quality performances from all band members. "Brave New World" is a good rocker with a few quiet moments. "Blood Brothers" is a typical Maiden power ballad, and this time even an orchestrated song - very refreshing. "The Mercenary" is a very catchy song with rocking guitars and powerful vocals - I would have prefered this one to "The Wicker Man" as the opener for this album. "Dream Of Mirrors" has a similar intro as "The Unbeliever" from "The X Factor" (same songwriters), but quickly the song turns into a dark epic (and here you can see how Bruce's voice was missing to Maiden songs as he delivers one of the best performance I've ever heard on a Maiden song). "The Fallen Angel" is a rocker, good but not memorable (although each time I listen to that song I think about Dr Feelgood, dunno why...). Then comes the centerpiece of the album - the 9+ minute orchestrated epic "The Nomad" with its oriental feeling, an original composition by the songwriting duo Murray/Harris - again awesome vocal performance and shivering guitar solos. Unfortunately, the last two songs - straightforward hard rock songs - have not the quality of the rest of the album.

Rating: 75/100 (3 1/2 stars)

zaxx | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this IRON MAIDEN review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.