Each to there own, but AMOLAD wasn't my cup of tea, long intros, generally over long songs that don't really get going, mid-tempo and plodding, lacking great hooks. Certainly don't agree its the masterpiece people talk about. No, im just not into the Kevin Shirley albums too much, i like the songs on BNW but not the live sounding/muddy production he is known for.
absolutely agreed; i cannot fathom how this album is considered a masterpiece. the same problems seem to pop up again and again with the latter day maiden material - the production, the repetition (chorus retardation as maidenslave refers to on his youtube maiden reviews), and most of all, the lack of well written melodies and vocal lines.
for a band with three guitarists, the mixing simply sounds muted; it should kick with all the thrilling energy of an act like the allman brothers band, multi guitar acts. but the guitars sound so sanitised. the drums sound like they were recorded separately from everything else, and the bass and drums rarely seem to meld and mix to create any kind of effective rhythm section.
"a matter of life and death" for me is bereft of melodic hooks for the most part, there are of course exceptions. whereas maiden wrote killer melodies, instrumentally and vocally, that seems to have dissipated for the most part. too many tracks on this album simply plod; similar sounding without much to distinguish and musical ideas decent but not at all to such a high degree to elevate this material to great.
of course its not a surprise to view this kind of reaction on a maiden fan forum, proclaiming it to be a revelatory album, but more mainstream press and more balanced blogs are a tad more informative and fairly written.
i find the album almost unlistenable; when played before or after other great albums by great acts, this album simply pales in comparison. "brave new world" i feel is the best of the latter day style, but from "dance of death" this mundanity has been ever more present. it reached its peak i thought with "the final frontier"; an overlong, tedious record, with some very good ideas buried under extreme musical lenghts.
"a matter of life and death" would be for me one of their poorest albums, along with "x factor", "final frontier", and "virtual xi". a very difficult album to sit through, and its replay value not very high.