(Sanctuary Records, 2006)This was the first time I had high hopes (or honestly, any hopes whatsoever) for an Iron Maiden album in a long time. Their previous one (Dance of Death) actually had a few decent moments, there was a lot of "hey, it's their big return to form" hype surrounding this one, and while it wasn't done by Derek Riggs, they actually got Iron Maiden level cover art for this one. (Even though the little logo that's all over this album with Eddie's head and the two rifles crossed is incorrect, since I've never seen an M-16 with the clip toward the end of the barrel...) I know better than to buy into "comeback album" hype, though, after St. Anger and the last four or five "comeback albums" Megadeth has pooped out, and if cool cover art made an album any good, I'd actually listen to more than two of those Slayer CDs collecting dust over there, so I remained cautiously optimistic.
And well... They almost had a really good album here. On some level, there's probably not an outright bad song on here, maybe even a few classics, but it's as though the writing process involved a lot of, "hey, that song we just finished is really great, but imagine how great it would be if it was TWICE AS LONG?" Of the ten tracks here, six clock in at over seven minutes, with two of those going over nine. And while Maiden has showed an aptitude for that kind of thing in the past, (I'm still amazed they could keep my interest for thirteen on "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" back in the day) they fall into a very Metallica-like habit here of repetition and bridge/chorus parts that would last as long as an entire song for a hardcore band. After a while, this can suck the life out of even a really good song, and for all I know, there could be the ultimate Iron Maiden classic song toward the end of this, but by that point, everything has started to run together, to the point where I've just kind of tuned it out as background noise. Not helping matters is the overuse of the exact same "Bruce singing softly over quiet guitars" intro on half the songs here. I'm with them through the first five songs (which are all really good, for the record) but the second half just completely falls flat. (And that includes the plodding "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg," which might be the most questionable choice of a first single/video that I've ever seen a band make. "Different World" was RIGHT THERE, man.)
And while we're nitpicking for things to complain about, the usual "co-produced by Steve Harris" thing is way too evident here. This is a band with three lead guitar players, but they're buried so far in the mix under the bass that it sounds like they don't even have two. Also, Bruce Dickinson's vocals, while still better than basically anyone else ever, sound weak as hell by his standards here, almost wheezy at points.
In conclusion, with a little less self-indulgence and a little more restraint, this could have been up there with Powerslave and Somewhere in Time, but they just didn't know when to quit. Still, while it's not the "OMG COMEBACK ALBUM!!!" that was marketed to us, I probably have been a little harsh here, since even with all its flaws, it's still not bad, and if I still made mixed tapes, there would still be maybe four or five songs which could possibly qualify to be put on one. Not bad, but not the legendary album they built it up to be.
Oh, and if you're not so cheap that you can't spend an extra three bucks or so, you get a DVD, too. (And at least a Best Buy, the DVD version is actually cheaper than the regular one) It's got a kinda cool thirty-minute "Making Of" documentary, with a rundown of what each song is about and what the process was to make it, along with a photo gallery and videos for "Different World" and "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg." Nothing to make up your mind on buying it, if you were on the fence, but still a fun way to blow 45 minutes or so.
Track Listing:
1. Different World
2. These Colours Don't Run
3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
4. The Pilgrim
5. The Longest Day
6. Out of the Shadows
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
8. For the Greater Good of God
9. Lord of Light
10. The Legacy
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