Definitely not coherent, you can apply themes to reunion era Maiden albums if you have a mind to, but you have to shoehorn them in to some degree. I prefer to think of it as being vaguely in the same vein, and maybe over emphasized here and there, rather than well thought out and deliberately themed. Some things just fall into place especially well (like 'came to die in France' being the last line of the album on TBOS). Again, not sure it was set up intentionally, but it just fit, where it went.
The title track of TBOS is really the one I would venture to hang a theme on, but IESF nails the mood as well. That plain, bleak, black album cover too. It's not as obvious as calling an album The Final somethingorother, but definitely lends itself nicely to the inevitable speculation over whether it would be Maiden's last album.
Whether that's due to calling it a day, or age getting the better of one of one or more of the band's leading lights. One way or another, the writing is on the wall for Maiden.
