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The heavy Metal monster
Iron Maiden is back with a new album Dance of Death. The long wait is
finally over. The previous album Brave New World left me, a long time
Maiden fan, waiting for something a bit heavier and wilder. Although
BNW is a good album it lacks some attitude. This time I expected Maiden
to fix that and kick more ass. “This time they should do it right!
Now or never!” was my thought. So I was more than thrilled when
Dance of Death hit the streets and I bought my copy as soon as I could.
Here’s my review of “Dance
of Death” song by song. I won’t give you a deep analysis
of the lyrics or anything like that. I’ll just write what I feel
and what my first impressions were:
1. Wildest Dreams
- Maiden played this song on their tour last summer so I heard it before
I got the album. “Wildest Dreams” is a light and
“happy” Maiden rocker in the spirit of “Tailgunner”.
“Wildest Dreams” is nothing new under the sun and
definitely not amongst the best album openers.
2. Rainmaker
- Hmmm…is this really Iron Maiden or something from Bruce’s
Skunkworks album? Is this even heavy metal? It’s more like hard
rock to me. “Rainmaker” is a radio friendly and
quite ok hard rock song with a catchy melody. Too popish and neutral
for my taste though. Girls might like this one.
3. No More Lies
- A typical Harris-beginning since The X-Factor and “Afraid
to shoot strangers”. Booooooooring! I’ve heard too
many of these already. I hoped they wouldn’t do these anymore.
I usually skip this kind of beginnings. I want a song, not over 2 minutes
long intro! Then the fast part
starts. Hmmmm…this sounds ok but nothing really happens; crank,
crank, crank, crank, crank and that’s it. Then the chorus comes.
This was not what I wanted to hear ever again; chorus repeated a million
times: “No more lies!”, “No more lies!”, “No
more lies!”, “No more lies!”, “No more lies!”,
“No more lies!”, “No more lies!, “No more lies!”.
I would have believed there’re no more lies after two times already
but I guess they wanted to make sure. Why do they have to repeat it
so many times? The same thing ruined “The Mercenary”
on the previous album not to mention the horrible “The angel
and the gambler” on Virtual XI. The melody is ok and the
2nd and the 3rd solos too. After the song I can’t remember anything
but “No more lies!”, “No more lies!”, “No
more lies!”. Pretty faceless stuff, if you ask me.
4. Monstsegur
- WOHAAA! Now, this sounds very good but whatta hell? Is this “Fallen
Angel” from the Brave New World??? It sure does sound like
it. This is the best song of the album so far. I might even say it’s
a very good song! But what are these “happy” parts in such
a heavy and dark song? IMO, they don’t belong there and cut down
the value of this song a bit. Thumbs up for this one!
5. Dance of Death
- Ugh, not that slow beginning again!! Please! Please? Anybody there?!
Ok, I have to live with it then and wait over 2 minutes for the song
to start properly…again. Then it starts. Hmm…the guitar
melodies sound forced and not very original. Actually they sound rather
stupid. The song has some good parts but also horrible ones like the
ones where Bruce sings with the melody before the solos and in the end
of the song. Nothing special here.
6. Gates of Tomorrow
- “The angel and the gambler” part 2? Oh no! Why
copy the worst song Maiden has ever made?!? This is definitely not a
good thing! The first 2 minutes is quite bad then the song gets better.
The song is like something from the Skunkworks combined with Virtual
XI and BNW. “Gates of Tomorrow” grows to be an
ok song towards the end but doesn’t manage to do much else.
7. New Frontier
- Nicko’s first song! This sounds rather good right from the beginning.
“New Frontier” is a basic Maiden rocker with a
good spirit. Maiden should play this one live! “New Frontier”
lacks some attitude but clearly is one of the better songs on this album.
Way to go Nicko, good work!
8. Paschendale
- WOHAAA again! A great beginning! Now, this kicks serious ass! The
beginning doesn’t last too long; perfect! “Paschendale”
is a war song and a good one. 8,5 minute long song manages to keep you
on the edge the whole time. This might the best song of the album! Very
good!
9. Face in the Sand
- Did I accidentally put on Bloodbrothers?? The boys have run
out of ideas with this one. I don’t really have much to say. “Bloodbrothers”
is enough to describe this song. I just wait this one to end quickly.
10. Age of Innocence
- “Age of Innocence” is an ok song with nothing
to really shake you. I can listen to this one though. It’s great
background music when you’re washing dishes or cooking. They should
have made this heavier! There’s a short bridge with some good
attitude after the solos but it’s quickly ruined.
11. Journeyman
- A mediocre ballad. I usually don’t like ballads of this kind
and I don’t start liking them now. This song doesn’t do
much. Maybe if you’re in certain mood it could work. I expected
something else to end the album but you can’t have everything.
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Conclusion: Dance of Death doesn’t
manage to meet the high expectations and scores way below its predecessor
Brave New World. DoD isn’t heavy enough and lacks power. I must
say I’m very disappointed. I would say DoD is not more than a
mediocre album as a whole but it does have a couple of great songs.
If you’re a hardcore Maiden fan,
buy this. If you’re not, I suggest that you listen to it first
before you buy it.
Eddie the Axe Murderer is back but
this time in a wheelchair with a rubber axe.
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