IRON MAIDEN

There was a time when I spent my summers picking fruit under the harsh glare of the Australian sun. These consisted of very early mornings, heat, humidity, sunburn, and tiny paychecks. I'd arrive home in the dark of the night, tend to my wounds, and then grab a few hours sleep and prepare to do it all again.

Being a kid, it was the only job I could get, and the only way to earn some spending money.

Iron Maiden holds an unfavourable memory from those times. In those days I was not a Maiden fan, and the friend who gave me a lift to and from the farm took particular delight in blasting Dicko and co at an ear-splitting volume as we sped away of an afternoon. His car stereo was utterly terrible, and suffice to say the only thing it really output at that volume was something akin to white noise. After toiling out in the sun all day, and with a raging headache coursing through my eyeballs more often than not, this was the last thing I wanted to experience.

And so, for me, Iron Maiden became firmly categorized in the 'do not ever listen to this band again' genre.

Fast forward to a number of years later, and I heard Maiden under far more salubrious conditions. I very quickly dispensed with my former predisposition and eventually embraced most of their catalogue.

My favourite of all their albums is Powerslave. It really is an album that has everything. There's classic metal numbers such as "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight", an epic in the form of "Powerslave" and a prog masterpiece in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The musicianship is phenomenal. There are so many classic riffs that it's hard to believe they all fit on one album.

Bruce Dickinson is in fine form with some great ideas on every track. When many contemporaries were singing about sex, drugs or the devil, Dicko gives us fighter pilots, ancient Egypt and a song based around a seafaring poem. It's a refreshing change.

Steve Harris gallops along with the precision we've come to expect, and the duo of Murray and Smith, a major factor in the golden years of the band, give us amazing lead breaks and a plethora of classic metal riffs. The lead on the title track "Powerslave" in particular includes some of my favourite lead moments from any band.

Iron Maiden did all this in a period where they were cranking out an album and accompanying world tour just about every year. One wonders how they generated such energy and creativity on such a schedule.

Although the return of Bruce Dickinson to Iron Maiden is something to cherish, Brave New World is equally special for offering the return of Adrian Smith. Indeed, arguably it's Smith's departure after Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, rather than Bruce quitting after Fear of the Dark, which really marked the beginning of the band's mid-career slump, because whilst the Blaze Bayley era is often derided it isn't as though the two Smith-less albums featuring Bruce on vocals were top-flight additions to the Maiden discography.

As it stands, Brave New World feels like the band picking up where they left off after Seventh Son, as though the intervening albums were just a bad dream. The expanded three-guitar lineup gives the band confidence to get back to more complex song structures and lavish, layered arrangements which they may otherwise have struggled to reproduce live, whilst Bruce sounds as fresh as ever. I wouldn't quite call it a classic, but I certainly like it better than Somewhere In Time, and that means it deserves to be embraced in the Maiden canon.

This is my least favourite record of Iron Maiden (although I must admit that I haven't listened to Virtual XI for more than a decade and this record is also a good candidate). Iron Maiden made use for the first time of guitar synthesizers which do dominate the record. The heaviness of metal is putted away and Maiden sounds far more like pop/wave music, which is often confused with prog. Great atmospheric passages should have been on this record, but -unlike "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" on Powerslave and the title track of the Seventh Son of the Seventh Son- they are absent on Somewhere in Time. Some passages are a sign for the greatness of the next record, like "Alexander the Great", but these does not save the record. The best track on the record is "The loneliness of the long distance Runner" which seems to have both the catchiest melodies as the most sophisticated ones.

I must admit that I'm a progressive metal sceptic and like to put most of those records in the power metal category which I often call "pussy metal". Metal is a great category because of its strength: take away the strength and the music fails to entertain me. The tech extreme is therefor in my favour. This record is one of the metal records which may have some progressive atmosphere, but never became as intelligent as progressive music should be. This record still contains the skills of the individual members and might please most fans, but I should not recommend this to anyone who isn't already a Maiden fan.

IRON MAIDEN: A BAND THAT IS STILL PROGRESSING GRACEFULLY. 

A lot can be said about Iron Maiden's extensive discography, but ever since 2000's BRAVE NEW WORLD Iron Maiden has taken their incredible heavy/power metal sound to a new level by adding a stronger progressive metal element to their overall sound where a lot of their songs exceed the 8min mark. THE FINAL FRONTIER is no exception to this movement where by Iron Maiden have taken the progressive metal movement into a deeper, more mature sound than some of their previous efforts like say NO PRAYER FOR THE DYING, PIECE OF MIND and FEAR OF THE DARK. I will say, and make no mistake, when I say Iron Maiden have always been prog related, but not to this extent. Overall, it's suits Maiden just fine and THE FINAL FRONTIER is a great success in my opinion. For instance, having the incredibly dynamic guitar sound with the holy triune MURRAY, SMITH and GERS in full force once again is very pleasing to the ear. Tracks like THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, STARBLIND, ISLE OF AVALON , Satellite 15: THE FINAL FRONTIER and of course the beautiful dense ballad WHERE THE WILD WIND BLOWS are key highlights on THE FINAL FRONTIER  album that exhibit the strong bewildering guitar combinations, which are fast and furious like a shot gun to the face while the drumming by NICO McBRIAN is still nothing short of superb. Age has definitely not slowed this monster of a drummer down. He can still slam on a few high hats and Tom toms if you will. Then of course, their is BRUCE DICKINSON who still sings like the operatic banshee with power and vigor. BRUCE simply blows the mind by how he is sings so charismatic-ally on the Chorus for THE TALISMAN 🎶 WESWAAAAARD THE TIIIIIDE!!!🎶 simply beautiful and full of spirit and that is what this album conjures up all together. It's a another great effort and Iron Maiden have proven that they are not slowing down in any way at all. So blast COMING HOME on your way home from work one evening and appreciate the strong spirited work by Maiden. You'll love it and it's a band tags has three lead/rhythm guitarists!! Come on, what's not to love. Not to mention Maiden have still to this day one of the best bassist in the business in Steve Harris, who really shines on every track with his loud and chunky sound. All in all, this album gets a well deserved 4/5. 

Happy listening in the name of prog 👍

'Killers' - Iron Maiden (5/10)

"Killers" could be seen as a transition album for Iron Maiden. Although the band had a relatively firm grasp of their galloping sound since the debut, Paul Di'Anno's punkish style and image had a pretty significant impact on the way Maiden carried themselves. "Killers" indeed picks up where the self-titled debut left off, but nothing is done with the same sense of sincerity and excitement. Perhaps "Killers" was needed in order for the band to finally opt out of their ties with Di'Anno and move forward, but we have here a record that falls under a terminal case of 'second album syndrome'. Iron Maiden's signature sound is here, but the magic certainly isn't.

Looking back on my fond memories of the debut, Maiden may not have had the degree of sophistication in their sound and lyrics as they are known for today, but, as the towering "Phantom of the Opera" would testify, they were capable of great things, fusing raw energy with technicality and pomp likely influenced by the progressive rock of the decade past. The idea of moving one step forwards, and two steps back seems to apply here. Although there is a slight progression towards a grittier heavy metal sound, the aggression and intelligence have been siphoned out. "Killers" puts all of its best tunes at the front; although "The Ides of March" functions as a simple, anthemic intro to the record, its martial rhythm leaves a greater impression than most of the songs here. "Wrathchild" has become a bit of a fan favourite, and there's no doubt that it takes the dubious prize of album highlight. Steve Harris' bass licks on "Wrathchild" are some of the best of his early career, and though Di'Anno's performance throughout the album feels generally inferior to his vocals on the debut, he executes some incendiary wails. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" follows up "Wrathchild" quite nicely, delivering a faster pace more indicative of the album as a whole. After that, the songs begin to blur together. Iron Maiden deliver many of the same tricks each song, and though it is made a worthy listen for their consistent tightness as a band, the songwriting lacks the excitement and distinctiveness most of us have come to expect from this band. The one exception later in the album is the relatively long "Prodigal Son", which actually ends up feeling like an unwelcome change of pace for the album. It's as if Maiden suddenly decided to toss out their metal direction in exchange for a painfully watered down prog rock style. Di'Anno's vocals notwithstanding, "Prodigal Son" sounds like something Rush could have done on "Fly By Night", then decided to toss away.

The first two Maiden albums are usually seen as being apart from the rest, if only because Bruce Dickinson had not yet entered the fold. Paul Di'Anno is a great frontman with a charismatic delivery, but his vocal work on "Killers" lacks the precision and ballsy guts it sported on the debut. His performance is decent, but he favours the 'charismatic' angle of his inflections far too much over the more melodic aspects here. As a result, DiAnno's vocals still feel larger-than-life, but there's not a single vocal melody on the album that really sticks, even after several listens. In short, the worst thing that ever happened to "Killers" was the fact that it was being expected to follow one of the best heavy metal debuts ever. There is still much potential in Iron Maiden's style- which remains powerful and exciting- but it's a tough sell to say that the album is really worth checking out for anything more than the fact that it's Iron Maiden. Luckily, it wouldn't be long before the excellent "Number of the Beast" was released under the vocal guidance of Brucey, but considering the sort of artistic success Maiden had with Di'Anno with their first record, it's pretty difficult not to feel disappointed.

And the metalheads rejoice?

It took a bit of time before I really understood this album. It has among the best batch of riffs that got streamlined into palpable song material. Thanks to punk, Iron Maiden was already a big cult phenomenon (I think a lot of people were sick of punk at the time), but NUMBER OF THE BEAST was probably the album that made most of the general public take notice.

And the notice mostly came about due to extreme reactions to the title track, which as I understand it, is about someone bumping into a Satanic cult. The controversy has always been overblown, but it doesn't help when the phrase ''666; the number of the beast'' is shouted ad nauseam in each chorus. Musically, it does a good pasting job with the riffs; it climaxes from the beginning and going from one riff to the next is smooth.

I think it was AFTER I had realized how much of a metalhead I really was, was when I really enjoyed the album. ''Invaders'' often gets discarded as the crappiest track when the only problem I find with it is that it doesn't quite work as the opener (I prefer ''Number of the Beast''). ''Gangland'' and ''22 Acacia Avenue'' are other tracks that got stuck in my head despite the general consensus that they're filler. It's all in the riff. The batch here keeps you on your toes, almost a thrash-fest before the concept of thrash metal existed.

But here's the big question for this site; what does this album have to do with prog? A couple of bits, actually. The penultimate ending ''Hallowed Be Thy Name'' is near universally praised for the epic heights it achieves (and it seems to channel Kansas for some reason), and the platitudes are well deserved. ''Children of the Damned'' is another one that takes the balladry material like ''Remember Tomorrow'' and punches a powerful riff statement right when it needs to.

Yes, this is strictly prog related; diehard prog fans need to seek out later '80s Maiden material for proggier adventures. NUMBER OF THE BEAST has its prog moments, but we're not fully there. To top it off, ''Run to the Hills'' has one of the most annoying choruses ever conceived.

'The Final Frontier' - Iron Maiden (8/10)

Iron Maiden's career is a perfect example of one that managed to not only achieve greatness, but maintain it with a relative consistency. Sure, there are a handful of albums from the nineties that are generally considered 'weaker' than the others, but when some fans of the band- myself included- regard a lot of their new stuff to be on par with the classic material, that's damned near unheard of. Upon the release of "The Final Frontier" (Maiden's fifteenth studio release to date), the band had been together for the better part of 35 years in one shape or another. Admittedly, their style has not changed much this time around, although given that their sound has earned them a cross-generational legion of fans, this isn't such a bad thing. "The Final Frontier" is an epic quest of heavy metal, and it's home to some of the best tracks the band has ever done.

Iron Maiden may have generally stuck to a signature sound throughout their career, yet especially since 2000's "Brave New World", they have been going down a more progressive path with their music. Maiden already had plenty of experience with the proggy, epic form of metal throughout the eighties; "Phantom of the Opera", "Alexander the Great", and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" all come to mind. With "Brave New World" however, the progressive direction they had always acknowledged began to take a greater step forward. Of the three new millennium albums that came before this, "The Final Frontier" rests at a general par. It may be a tit less consistent than "Brave New World" or even "A Matter of Life and Death", yet it makes up for it with its highlights. As "Dance of Death" impressed me most with "Paschendale" and its haunting title track, "The Final Frontier"s greatest contribution to Maiden's discography is through a few of its best moments.

Among these 'highlights' are the eerie opener "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier", an intensely atmospheric introduction recalling Dickinson's work with Ayreon, building up gradually and making way for a rock-oriented latter half. "The Man Who Would Be King" is a progressive powerhouse with some of the album's best guitar work. Above all else however, is the epic "When the Wild Wind Blows". Based on a similarly titled animated film, it's a sombre piece of music that tackles the topic of nuclear war from the everyman's perspective. Unlike a million thrash metal bands who may fetishize nuclear war as something 'epic' or extreme, "The Final Frontier"s highlight focuses on the feelings of confusion and helplessness that arise from the catastrophe. Within ten minutes, "When the Wild Wind Blows" enjoys an impressive emotional arc, ranging from the intimate to the balls-out epic. It was a real joy to hear something like this on one of the band's latest releases- one of my now-favourite Maiden tracks, and on I would rank up there with the band's longstanding epics.

The instrumentation is a little more laid back on "The Final Frontier" than they have been in the past. The guitar solos are still as fiery as ever, but Iron Maiden put less of an emphasis on speed here than they did on "A Matter of Life and Death" and prior. In its place, Maiden's proggy undertones have taken a step up. In the end however, these changes are minute in the overall scope. Iron Maiden are largely up to their old tricks once again, and though some fans will be disappointed to hear the development (or lack thereof) in the band's sound, their style still sounds fresh and vital.

Iron Maiden was one of the first bands I got into back around '82/'83. My friends' older brothers were bringing home all this hard rock and heavy metal and I found it really appealed to me. I remember my friend playing me some tracks from Number of the Beast and I was seriously hooked. But at the age of 12, my income was limited to a weekly real estate paper delivery that paid only $25 a month and cassettes were usually $9.99. However, it's thanks to my meagre budget (and the fact that my mother insisted that I put most of the money in the bank) that I was forced to buy cheaper cassettes ($6.99 to $7.99) and that is how my first Iron Maiden purchase came to be not Number of the Beast but their debut, Iron Maiden.

For a 12-year-old, the shorter tracks were the easier ones to absorb and get into: Prowler, Sanctuary, Running Free, Charlotte the Harlot, and Iron Maiden. The simple song formula, the heavy metal guitars... if there was anything progressive about these songs it went straight over my head. Hey, I was into heavy metal, not progressive rock. I hadn't ever even heard of progressive rock.

But there was something there in those longer songs that captured my attention. Remember Tomorrow had slow parts that weren't sappy. The bass guitar stood out. The electric guitars were mellow but effective at creating an atmosphere. The drums were subtle and controlled when necessary. Then there was the heavy chorus and rapid-paced solo part that abruptly stepped on the breaks and brought the song back down to the slow pace for the chorus. The change in dynamics appealed to me.

Then there was Phantom of the Opera. What an unusual song! Mostly an instrumental, this was not a lengthy jam session or guitar solo indulgence but rather a song that was crafted after a symphonic fashion. It was heavy metal but I could imagine a symphony orchestra performing this music (OK, at 12 years of age I didn't imagine this - I was probably closer to the age of 17 by that time). How many other bands were composing instrumental passages that were about the melody and building on the music rather than just music to support a guitar solo? Black Sabbath Volume 4, which I also procured for a cheap price at this time, came to mind.

Then how about the instrumental Transylvania, a kind of continuation of the Phantom of the Opera vein, segued into the melodic and mysterious Strange World? This was again metal with a symphonic feel composition-wise and a slow song that was not a sugary love song but a voyage to some imaginary place that crossed Greek women of ancient times in togas and holding grapes with an extraterrestrial sea and distant space vessels gleaming in the sunlight of a pink sky. Well, that wasn't exactly what the lyrics were about but that was the image that Strange World gave me and it has stuck ever since.

I have to say that it is very much thanks to this album that early on I learned to appreciate that hard and heavy music didn't have to be all AC/DC and Van Halen or a four-minute, ass- kicking like Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance and some tracks off Black Sabbath's Mob Rules. Because I encountered this creative approach to heavy music early on it was easy for me to appreciate the genius of Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, or pick out the brilliance of Metallica's Master of Puppets. Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden taught me that heavy metal could be compositionally creative and expansive, not just about energy and technical skill.

I give it four stars for the four longer songs I mentioned above. This may not be the taste of many prog heads but if you are OK with progressive metal then I think this album holds some great examples of some of the early works in true progressive heavy metal.

'Iron Maiden' - Iron Maiden (7/10)

I once spoke with another Iron Maiden fan who told me that he counted 1982's "Number of the Beast" as the band's 'true' debut. To him, Maiden couldn't be Maiden without Bruce Dickinson's trademark vocals. Of course, by the time Bruce had joined the gang, Iron Maiden were already running wild with potential. True enough, Dickinson's quasi-operatic tenor is now one of the band's most distinctive qualities, but this debut- and its sequel "Killers"- still hold up well. Even before they had truly made their mark on heavy metal, Maiden were already rocking.

I was first introduced to DiAnno-era Maiden through the mini-epic "Phantom of the Opera". Now a longtime favourite of mine, it's easily enough to foster some sort of interest in the band's early work. Especially regarding this track, it's not surprising that it took Steve Harris such a long time to find musicians willing to pursue this then-relatively progressive and technical brand of heavy metal. Fusing galloping rhythms with guitar harmonies and the atmosphere of progressive rock, "Phantom of the Opera" is a certain foreshadowing of what would later come for the band. Add in the trademark literature-based lyrics and you have a classic Maiden song, in spite of Smith and Dickinson's absence. Before even discussing the rest of the album, it's enough that one of the band's best songs is here.

"Phantom of the Opera" is above and beyond the most complex piece of music on "Iron Maiden", but the band gives a touch of sophistication to their aggression throughout the album. It's true that there is a sense of punk-ishness in large part thanks to the pummelling rhythm, but Steve Harris' progressive influences are in plain sight. Particularly on the eerie "Remember Tomorrow", Maiden divulge a sense of atmospherics that I've rarely heard in a NWOBHM act. On the other hand, there's raw carnage to be experienced in "Running Free" and the upbeat title track. One of the most common criticisms of this album is that Iron Maiden had not completely found their 'sound' yet, but in spite of the lineup differences, these guys seem ot have had a firm idea of where they wanted to go musically.

Naturally, Paul DiAnno's vocal performance will be the sorest part for Maiden fans, if only for the fact that he ain't Brucey. For one, he's certainly not as brilliant a vocalist as Bruce is, yet his carefree, almost brutish approach to singing works well for the rawer sound Iron Maiden were bringing at this point. I imagine the 'rawness' will turn off some of the band's softer, or more progressively inclined fans, but it brings a more organic sound to their music than most of their following studio work. The production is a real highlight on "Iron Maiden", in spite of the fuzzy distortion and busy performance, things come through feeling warm and 'in-your-face'. The best way I might describe the production is that this sounds most suited for the atmosphere of a small club show, whereas "Number of the Beast" onwards gives the impression of a bombastic arena affair.

It's obviously nowhere near as 'matured' or 'realized' as the Iron Maiden they would become with later albums, but this debut should not be discredited by fans or newcomers. Although the band we know nowadays as Iron Maiden only shares two members with this incarnation, the signature sound and style is here, not to mention that "Phantom of the Opera" still stands as one of their greatest compositions. Check it out!

Hail the chorus effect!

I do enjoy a lot of Iron Maiden's albums and i used to like Somewhere In Time a lot once, but listening to this now the main problem of this album is that it has no great material, the songs does not have the same impact on me as before. One thing that bothers me is the sound, i used to like it before, but it's too similar sounding, the guitars are heavy chorused and does not stop, or use a different sound at all. Dickinson's vocals are good but i don't like his operatic vocals on this album, i like his regular vocals better.

Some of the material is good and some is boring, it seems Iron Maiden went for a simple formula this time, the writing is not exciting at all and is hardly progressive. The songs contain some changes and some nice interludes, but it all sounds flat and not dynamic, most of the riffs are uninspired and that's what is bringing the whole album down. Few of the riffing are good but a lot of it is just boring 80's metal stuff. I used to like pretty much everything the guitars did in their early days, but nothing of it is remotely close here, the solos are not memorable, they are just there because the song gotta have a solo right?

This is definitely a classic Iron Maiden album though, and fans of the Dickinson era will worship this blindly, the band gave their fans all they want, Iron Maiden riffing, Iron Maiden vocals and Iron Maiden rhythms, but it is not enough this time. I admit there are a lot of enjoyable parts here and there, about every song contains one part or two and that's the problem, the good parts are spreaded on the entire album and are far apart, I find my self waiting to hear those thirty seconds that i like and the rest is nothing special, i would expect Iron Maiden to do better.

I have one song that i really like though, I knew this song before i got a copy of the album, and it remained my favorite here, 'Wasted Years' is a great song, it's different from the rest of the album, although i saw some reviews stating this song is cheesy and maybe the album's worst, i love it, it works, it has a good riff, good vocals, great energies and an amazing solo, just perfect.

I really wanted to rate this album higher but i can't, as much as i love Iron Maiden the album does not move me anymore. Although i can not say the band is playing bad, i wish the material was much stronger, because they are a beast and overall the band does work. The album's rating is 3 stars but i'm knocking out one star because of my personal feeling.