A review in Sweden's largest evening newpaper, Aftonbladet.
http://www.aftonbladet.se/puls/cd/recension/0,1338,2000051680,00.html
I'll try a quick translation of the review. Correct me if I'm wrong
Let's not beat around the bush.
Iron Maiden IS and institution and could record an album consisting of loud flatulence and still have their fanatical admirers to hail it like an imperial decree.
But...oooh no.
26 years after their record debut, the British eternal machine is stronger than in many years, and that "A matter of life and death" contains the band's strongest collection of songs since "Seventh son of a seventh son" (1988) is no exaggeration. Simply a statement of facts.
Where "Dance of Death" were a bit too much askew the iron maiden's 14th studio piece is a remarkabel composit and in reality it's only the opening Thin Lizzy "wink" "Differen world" that strays from the whole. Outside of this, the sextet paints with a palette that contains the complete spectrum of colours and all thinkable moods.
”For the greater good of God” offers sweet shivers á la ”The clairvoyant”, ”These colours don’t run” already feels like a classic and in this context even the not-so-obvious first single ”The reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” feels quite natural.
The consequence is a powerful suite of songs that not even a smudgy sonic background - frail enough to almost render lower marks - can
shoot down.
This is for real. Honest metal esthetics draped in fashionable velvet, soiled comouflage and black leather at the same time.
It is for life and death.
Best track: ”The longest day”.
4/5 marks.
I'm sorry for the translation, I'm doing it while my boss is roaming the hallways :wacko:
There's another review in the other major evening paper,Expressen
http://expressen.se/index.jsp?d=436&a=667894 , but I won't bother since it's obvious it's not somebody that enjoys metal that wrote the review. In short, he writes that it's the best effort in a long time, but not much more than that. 3/5 marks
I couldn't help myself :wacko:Here's another review, from Sweden's largest newspaper, Dagens Nyheter
http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2198&a=568767&previousRenderType=2 Again, translating isn't always easy but you'll get the gist of it
Maiden sets forth again
Finally, the reunited Iron Maiden manages an album that corresponds to their live competence.
Maiden was lighting fast in reclaiming their seat on the heavy metal throne when Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to the band in 1999. But none of the two studio albums “Brave new world” and “Dance of death” have convinced approximately as much as they have on stage. Both albums were uneven and suffered from constant repetitions.
Nobody will even dare to hope for another ”The number of the beast” or ”Piece of mind” from Maiden, but there’s no lack of ambition or even self knowledge. It’s the long, winding songs like "Dream of mirrors" and "Paschendale" that have been the culmination the last years and in studio product number 14 there are only 10 songs in over 70 minutes of playing time.
Maiden have never been known for their lust for major experiments, but they still manage to suprise a bit. The normally cheerful Englishmen have gone for a darker, more athmospheric approach. The recurring theme is war, a subject that is treated more seriously now than in their previous boyish adventure book style. There is no potential hit song – the opening act “Different world” tries half-heartedly, but is too mellow – and the, in Maiden terms, unusually intricate compositions require time in order to stick properly.
The closest comparison is the scolded “ The X-factor". But this time it’s not a mal-placed Blaze Bayley that does the singing, but everybody’s favourite fenceman/pilot/documentary maker/etcetera Bruce Dickinson. His vocal cords are still impressive, as is his authority at the microphone, but at 48 he hasnt’ quite realized his limitations and therefore he sounds a bit strained at the worst air-raid siren yells.
Apart from their front man, Iron Maiden aren’t really any super musicians, but they are tight band and there’s a thought in the music that few can manage and this weighs up the fact that the youthful enthusiasm is long gone. This is the product of a mature band with an enormous self confidence.
At its best the result simply is brilliant. "Brighter than a thousand suns" and "For the greater good of god" is Maiden at their highest form, varied, powerful, magnificent, nuanced and dramatic all at once. Despite the fact that both great songs are more than 8 and 9 minutes long, they don’t have a dead second in them. The level of the rest of the album is even and very high, but the rule of thumb of the album seems to be “the longer song, the better”. Rough “The Pilgrim”, at “only” 5 minutes is basically the only track that breaks the pattern.
Some of the latter sins can unfortunately be found on "A matter of life and death" too. Producer Kevin Shirley manages for the third album straigh to get a very dry sound, which is strange considering the bands energy live. Some choruses suffer very much from repetition upon repetition och soft intros may well be powerful, but not when it’s the norm, rather than the occasional song.
But all that is forgiven since the band finally decided to leave the boring safety behind and reawaken ambition.
The heirs have to wait a while longer, Maiden still rule.
Edit: Added another review and tried to correct the worst errors in the text.
