A Matter of Life and Death: individual album judgement by yours truly

EDIT: I did some readjustments as I decided to rank the songs against the entire catalogue with a pretty much equal distribution of ratings and here’s my final verdict:

Different World -4
These Colours Don't Run -7
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns -10
The Pilgrim -6
The Longest Day -6
Out of the Shadows -5
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg -6
For the Greater Good of God -9
Lord of Light -10
The Legacy -10

Average: 7.30

This is an upper tier album at no4 best in Maiden's catalogue for me, based on individual song polls rankings. Since songs have been ranked against the entire catalogue, anything ≥ 4 is good.

I explain the methodology for my ratings here.


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Note: I love the fact that AMOLAD will be the one album by which all the rest will be measured! Maybe not Maidenfans' absolute best (we’ll see that) but definitely the best for the job.
 
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Different World - 6
These Colours Don't Run -8
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns -9
The Pilgrim -8
The Longest Day -8
Out of the Shadows -6
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg- 10
For the Greater Good of God -9
Lord of Light -10
The Legacy -9

Average: 8.3
 
Different World - 7
These Colours Don't Run -8
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns -9
The Pilgrim -7
The Longest Day -10
Out of the Shadows -7
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg- 9
For the Greater Good of God -9
Lord of Light -8
The Legacy -8


8,2
 
Different World: 9
These Colours Don't Run: 9.5
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns: 10
The Pilgrim: 9
The Longest Day: 10
Out Of The Shadows: 8,5
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg: 10
For the Greater Good of God: 10
Lord of Light: 8,5
The Legacy: 9.

9.35. One of Maiden's three best records as far as I'm concerned.
 
The region where I come from is Naxalism infested so whenever I look upon the cover art, I feel like it is in some way trying to convey the same issue. Though there aren't tanks hurling around but as they say, Art is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation.

maoistheartland.jpg

Religion and war have played a major role in human history and continue doing so even in the present times. The band has beautifully themed the songs around these two topics, though there's much more to the lyrics. For a long time, I felt Dance Of Death to be my favourite reunion album then again for sometime it was Brave New World for me but finally after pondering some time and giving the album a proper listen, I reached the conclusion that A Matter Of Life And Death totally does it for me, considering the fact that I once felt it to be the weakest link among the post-2000s albums.

The album opener Different World keeps it more straightforward and is one of my favourite 'short-rocker' type song from Maiden's 21st century catalogue. The Longest Day is a complete goosebumps-fest, easily in my top 5 Maiden songs. The entire built-up, the part when the entire band kicks in, the chorus and the brief instrumental right before a majestic solo, just awesome! The Pilgrim and The Legacy are among their most unique songs, especially the former which has some great 'oriental-sounding' melodies something they last captured only in Powerslave's title-track. Similarly, The Legacy has some of the band's proggiest moments, a perfect album closer. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns has got to be one of Maiden's heaviest songs, the main riff/harmony structure is excellent and there is even a brief galloping part in the mid-section which is mostly absent in the rest of the album, Dave just being a big bro and giving Adrian and Janick their chance to shine with soaring solos. Give me one good reason why it wasn't featured as a soundtrack in the film Oppenheimer! The intro to The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg could have been a bit shorter but when the rhythm part kicks in, it drives the song further very well. These Colours Don't Run has an interesting start with an awesome main riff, started as a hilarious chant during live performances before the album came out, it turned out to be a great song, something the band must bring back to play live. For The Greater Good Of God is much better than I remember, a very cool intro, great riffing, a unique solo and the middle section again shows hints of prog and is a total jam. While Wasting Love is Maiden's certified 'power ballad', I find Out Of The Shadows to be much better. The moodiest track on the album, has a great atmosphere and the introspective lyrics are just awesome! The second to last song Lord Of Light, though has a lengthy intro but it works out very well in creating the atmosphere, again the main riff is one of the band's heaviest. It is possibly their most underrated song of all time.

Concluding it, I will say that the songs in the album feel as one in a flow, something which makes it more coherent than the previous two albums. I my personal opinion, A Matter Of Life And Death is 'The X Factor but done correctly'.

(for my other album reviews - click here)
 
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  1. Different World: 4.5 - we left IM in 2003 with a teenage chorus; we reunite with them in 2006 with another teenage chorus; the song is representative of the album in that it uses the same riff as half of the rest of it
  2. These Colours Don't Run: 7 - love the riff and the hymn-sounding chorus; the "oh oh oh" were not necessary tho
  3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: 6/7 - great ideas, but recycled
  4. The Pilgrim: 6 - the structure feels shoddily glued together sometimes and the oriental riff is definitely out of place; good solo tho
  5. The Longest Day: 6/7 - again, great ideas, love the lyrics and the instrumental, but it's too repetitive
  6. Out of the Shadows: 7+ - not bad, a cool dark ballad, sometimes it feels more leaning to solo Bruce (Omega, Arc of Space...)
  7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg: 5/6 - the intro is great, the solo is great, the riff is good, the whole narrative they built around it was interesting... but it should've lasted a couple of minutes less, and the recycling of Different World's riff was avoidable
  8. For the Greater Good of God (16x): 4/5 - definitely the WORST track out of the album and a horrible Harris-solo track, and it's a shame because the lyrics are great; the intro is decent, the bridge is great and the instrumental break good, but the verse rhythm is too repeated to be of any interest; the chorus is demential: the guitar part is not even that bad but how the hell do you think it's a good idea to repeat it SIXTEEN TIMES
  9. Lord of Light: 7 - the arpeggio is recycled from Out of the Shadows which kinda recycled it from Children of the Damned, the aggressive riff is good; great chorus and intrumental
  10. The Legacy: 8/9 - Janick saves the day with Maiden's most theatrical piece
Overall: 6 /10 - they kinda reworked The X Factor which is good, the problem is that they reworked The X Factor's worst elements and that's not good
 
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Murder of Rue Morgue said:
  1. Different World: 4.5 - we left IM in 2003 with a teenage chorus; we reunite with them in 2006 with another teenage chorus; the song is representative of the album in that it uses the same riff as half of the rest of it
  2. These Colours Don't Run: 7 - love the riff and the hymn-sounding chorus; the "oh oh oh" were not necessary tho
  3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: 6/7 - great ideas, but recycled
  4. The Pilgrim: 6 - the structure feels shoddily glued together sometimes and the oriental riff is definitely out of place; good solo tho
  5. The Longest Day: 6/7 - again, great ideas, love the lyrics and the instrumental, but it's too repetitive
  6. Out of the Shadows: 7+ - not bad, a cool dark ballad, sometimes it feels more leaning to solo Bruce (Omega, Arc of Space...)
  7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg: 5/6 - the intro is great, the solo is great, the riff is good, the whole narrative they built around it was interesting... but it should've lasted a couple of minutes less, and the recycling of Different World's riff was avoidable
  8. For the Greater Good of God (16x): 4/5 - definitely the WORST track out of the album and a horrible Harris-solo track, and it's a shame because the lyrics are great; the intro is decent, the bridge is great and the instrumental break good, but the verse rhythm is too repeated to be of any interest; the chorus is demential: the guitar part is not even that bad but how the hell do you think it's a good idea to repeat it SIXTEEN TIMES
  9. Lord of Light: 7 - the arpeggio is recycled from Out of the Shadows which kinda recycled it from Children of the Damned, the aggressive riff is good; great chorus and intrumental
  10. The Legacy: 8/9 - Janick saves the day with Maiden's most theatrical piece
Overall: 6 /10 - they kinda reworked The X Factor which is good, the problem is that they reworked The X Factor's worst elements and that's not good
Click to expand...
Pretty much my exact opinion on the album: some (very) good ideas, but lazily executed. In this case, and contrary to the popular saying: more is less.
 
Well, my turn:

AMOLAD is for me the best post-reunion Maiden album, love the religion/war theme, the cover and the songs, I think the progressive approach of it makes it so unique and for many of Maiden fans a fan favorite if we talk about the post-reunion albums. With Dance of Death being my second favorite album from the post-reunion era, at first I wasn’t interested on listening to AMOLAD, but one day I gave it an opportunity and it became one of my favorites. This is my analysis song by song:

1). Different World: 6.5/10 I like the song a lot but it is the one that I like the least from the album, I think I don’t make a good chemistry with it, probably because the chorus is repeated a lot (for me). However, I love H’s solo and the main riff is great.

2). These Colours Don’t Run: 8.5/10 This particular song shows the big wisdom that Maiden songs contain, the lyrics transmit a lot of wisdom and a very great message about going to war, both solos are amazing and the intro particularly is just perfect.

3). Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: 11/10 Best track on the album for me along with Reincarnation, the lyrics are very well crafted, the theme is very nice and the riffs are just so heavy and raw, which I absolutely like. This being the only song where Jan and H take solos (but Dave’s don’t) makes it very special and unique, I think that the combination of Janick and Adrian’s styles fits the feel of the song perfectly (honorable mention to Adrian’s solo, best Adrian solo of the reunion era for me).

4). The Pilgrim: 8/10 I love the eastern vibe of the song, love the drum intro, the solo, the riffs and the lyrics are very well done, once again. Very nice song, props to Janick and Steve because this song is very well done.

5). The Longest Day: 9.5/10 Again, this song shows the big wisdom of Maiden songs, another great history lesson, when I listen to it I picture myself in the middle of a battle, the riffs give you a vibe of the D-day and the instrumental section in particular gives the song an even greater vibe of the war, a great song, one of the gems of the album.

6). Out of the Shadows: 10/10 I love this song, it can be considered as a power ballad, Davey’s leads are just lush, what a nice sound of Davey’s guitar, it gives me a Tears of the Dragon vibe (the chorus specially) and a Wasting Love/Children of the Damned vibe too, H’s solo is majestic, and the instrumental section is just perfectly well crafted, this song is the icing on the cake of this album, love it so much.

7). The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg: 11/10 This song is for me the best of the album along with BTATS, it is a Dave Murray masterpiece, this shows how great is Davey as a songwriter, the riffs, the solo, the intro, the lyrics, everything in this song is just perfect. Choosing it as a single was great, I think that this is the insignia song of the album, absolutely love this song, it shows the great power of this masterpiece album!

8). For the Greater Good of God: 10/10 I like the lyrics and the musical part of the song, I love 3-solos songs, this is the only one in the album with 3 solos, that’s why I like it a lot, it makes you reflect a lot about religion and all that stuff, the song is very good and again, the is instrumental part is the best part of the song for me.

9). Lord of Light: 10/10 Along with Out of the Shadows this song is an underrated gem, I like that this song is not so repetitive and has powerful riffs, great vocal performance by Bruce, the lyrics are very interesting and the musical part is just great. Both solos are very well crafted and listening to it makes you feel amazing, great song, love it a lot.

10). The Legacy: 10/10 Janick Gers comes with this beauty of song to close the album, the acoustic parts are just perfectly well done, the changes on this song are amazing, Jan’s solo is beautiful, and the lyrics are again interesting, this song again is very great, I love it a lot, great track.

To finish, this album is just so amazing and great, I’m happy that I gave it an opportunity and it became one of my favorites.

Up the irons!
 
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