Why A Matter Of Life and Death is Iron Maidens best album

Eric Wright said:
I could really care less about Maiden's commercialism. Sure, they definitely are the most popular and mainstream metal band on the planet, but does that really matter when it comes to enjoying their music? Honestly this all stems from pretentious douchebags who like to make themselves look like they're intellectual and eclectic by bashing anything that people happen to like. A senior who had graduated last year exclusively listened to "underground black metal" and made a case on bashing everyone's taste in music on "intellectual grounds". I'm a classically trained cellist and lover of classical music (who are usually stereotyped to be snobs) yet even I hold Iron Maiden in great esteem for their artistic value. As an audiophile, I listen to music with my ears, not any preconceptions or prejudices.
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pretty sure Metallica is more "mainstream" than any other metal band.... Maiden easily have more "true" fans though
 
I also think it may be Maiden's best album. Well, actually AMOLAD and BNW.

AMOLAD sounds very much like an Iron Maiden album. But at the same time it sounds and feels very fresh. It feels like there were no restrictions on that album. The songs flow so well, individually and as a whole album. I love BNWs sounds and crispness, and also love AMOLAD's rawness. Like it's the album that contains everything iron maiden is. Like all their past music was made only to lead up to it.
 
Hey, NotePad! Come introduce yourself: http://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/new-posters-who-are-you.15269/

NotePad said:
I also think it may be Maiden's best album. Well, actually AMOLAD and BNW.

AMOLAD sounds very much like an Iron Maiden album. But at the same time it sounds and feels very fresh. It feels like there were no restrictions on that album. The songs flow so well, individually and as a whole album. I love BNWs sounds and crispness, and also love AMOLAD's rawness. Like it's the album that contains everything iron maiden is. Like all their past music was made only to lead up to it.
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Glad to see another fan of the reunion albums around here! I think the songwriting on both albums you mentioned, especially BNW, is a culmination of Maiden's entire career. Both have a level of craft that was not evident before on entire albums (save for SSOASS, my other favorite).
 
Yea since BNW the songwriting has been just absolutely the best it's been.

But I will add that I wish they would stay away from writing songs related to war or historical events. I'd like to see more lyrics that are relateable.

The theme of the first track on FF was kinda cool though. I love sci-fi so this was cool. But there were parts of other songs on FF that made me think the whole sci-fi theme was kinda a theme for the whole album. And then there's the cover. Does anyone know if this science fiction vibe is more then just my imagination?
 
I went into it expecting to find more obvious traces of sci-fi throughout, but now I think of it more specifically as themes of looking towards the future, being on a journey, and looking at a sense of finality. I'm not surprised there was so much speculation about this being their last album.
 
NotePad said:
But I will add that I wish they would stay away from writing songs related to war or historical events. I'd like to see more lyrics that are relateable.
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I think they should stay away from songs about war simply because they've done it so much. If it's something related to a battle and focusing on one specific element (like Aces High), I'm fine with it, but after AMOLAD we've had enough "war war war" songs.

Brigantium said:
I went into it expecting to find more obvious traces of sci-fi throughout, but now I think of it more specifically as themes of looking towards the future, being on a journey, and looking at a sense of finality. I'm not surprised there was so much speculation about this being their last album.
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Agreed. There's definitely not a sci-fi theme throughout the album, just like there isn't a sci-fi theme throughout Somewhere In Time. I was expecting it, though.
 
Hands down the best album for me since 7th Son. And definitely in the top 5 Maiden albums of all time as well (along with Piece, Killers, Beast and 7th). Brilliant top to bottom.
 
I really don't like the idea of music about war. It's not a theme I'm interested in at all. Yet, AMOLAD is my 2nd favorite Maiden album. I'm not exactly sure what that means about me...

I just think they've done the way things way too many times. And the whole 'epic' type thing they've done with Clansman, Paschendale, Nomad, the last 2 or so on FF, etc. But I still enjoy them. It's just tiring. I was kinda hoping to a Sci-fi vibe with FF actually, as a change, but it's only in a couple songs and may in fact be my imagination. I would love if Lord of Light had actually been about the Roger Zelazny novel. I know it's not, but i do think the lyrics can relate to it. Lord of Light is one of my favorite novels.

I know they sometimes write songs based on literature, and even movies. Some of those songs have uninspired sounding lyrics, but some are great. I wouldn't mind if they found inspiration from novels as great an original as Lord of Light or something else. It would be a lot better then the whole war and historical event thing they've been doing to death.
 
Lego said:
Personally, I felt AMOLAD much easier to relate to than TFF. Give me a ballad about birth and life over a ballad about flying a custom 757 any day.
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Agreed...while TFF has some amazing tunes, Starblind and Isle of Avalon in particular, the album as a whole hasnt held up much for me, esp Coming Home. Id rank both AMOLAD and Brave New World ahead of it for the Bruce reunion albums.
 
AMOLAD is for sure the best, or tied for the best, Maiden album. With BNW.

But FF is really impressing me now. Star blind? Amazing. The solos are really awesome. And honestly, Wild Wind Blows may be the most beautiful thing Harris has ever written.

With AMOLAD and now FF, I'm very impressed with the 3 guitarists. The solos get better and better, never feel out of place, and have so much feeling and emotion to them. Plus, they have more solos then ever!
 
Collin said:
Well let's see, the first time I listened to When the Wild Wind Blows, I cried.
When the riff at 2:23 comes in on the Talisman my spine shivers every time.
The Isle of Avalon is in my top 10, while the Aces high isn't, hell that one isn't even in my top 50.
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Too bad avalon was never played live
 
SixesAlltheway said:
Yeah, take Talisman for example. The first 2 min and 30 secs are an acoustic guitar and Bruce talking. I know it builds the story and what not but its incredibly boring to listen to (for me at least) why not start the song with the riff at 2:22 BANG, much more effective. There's a lot of instances like that where you could cut off 2 or 4 min from those 8, 9, 10 min songs and you wouldn't really miss anything...
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I used to think that way too. Then I realized songs that start off slow and get loud and/or fast later have been a metal staple since 70's sabbath, rush, & priest. And it still works. In the case of talisman the music mirrors the lyrics. During the boring part of the story (waiting for the ship to leave port) the song is quiet. Once the storms hit the music takes off!
 
I'm having a hard time getting into Final Frontier. I find myself mostly listening to Starblind and Where The Wild Wind Blows, at least more then the others. Coming Home I also really like. The title track is okay, and i like the intro because it is just so odd and not expected from Maiden.

Maybe I need to give the other songs more time to listen. But Wild Wind is just so powerful I have to skip straight to it. AMOLAD, i can say, is much stronger overall. Did anyone else really love DoD early on but tire of it quickly? I like DoD, but it didn't have lasting value, it was like BNW but not as strong. So I really do believe BNW and AMOLAD are Maiden's best albums.
 
It took me a long time to get into Final Frontier, especially Coming Home (long story!). As for Dance of Death, I'm probably the exception to the rule here, but it's one of my favourites.
 
Dance of Death has some great songs on it (Rainmaker, the title track and Paschendale) but has too many low points (Wildest Dreams, New Frontier, Age of Innocence). Also, the production makes my ears tire quicker.
 
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