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Iron Maiden
Dance Of Death


4.0
excellent

Review

by Pedro B. USER (364 Reviews)
October 28th, 2005 | 42 replies


Release Date: 2003 | Tracklist


Comeback albums for veteran bands tend to suck. All the spirit is long-gone, and the only true motivation is money. However, some bands manage to keep their reputation intact through the years. Such a band is Iron Maiden. When Iron Maiden MK5 (with Blaze Bayley) gave way to the long-expected return of MK4 (the formation that had played in 1990"s No Prayer For The Dying), expectations were high. And the band delivered. Sort of. As good as Brave New World was, it incurred in too many long-winded and slightly boring moments, that took interest from the album as a whole. So when Dance Of Death came out, I was extremely doubtful about whether there was some real quality to it. The weird, Eddie-less artwork and the clich"d song lyrics (Rainmaker, Journeyman, Gates Of Tomorrow) seemed to indicate otherwise. However, I found this one on discount and decided to give it a go.

As soon as I popped the record into my CD player""wawn, two, a-wawn, two, th"ee, faw!" Cor blimey! Iron Maiden are alive and kicking! After more than 25 years, the band continues to deliver with the same quality as always! Believe me, I am NOT exaggerating when I say that this is the best damn Maiden album since Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son! Iron Maiden seem to be back with a vengeance, and that"s certainly a good thing.

This album bridges the gap between Piece Of Mind-era Maiden and their more progressive later stages. The two initial tracks, the much-maligned Wildest Dreams and the excellent Rainmaker (with shades of Flight Of Icarus) are representative of the former, while longer tracks such as Paschendale or New Frontier are closer to the band"s recent past. However, these moments end up being slightly weaker than the more straightforward ones, constituting somewhat skippable tracks.

Another aspect that immediately comes across is how much better the band got in these five years or so. Bruce"s voice is now much more multi-layered, sometimes approaching Ozzy or James Rivera territory, and the Smith/Murray/Gers triad seems to have added a new, more rollicking dimension to their riffs and soloing. As for Harris"well, Harris is Harris! His technical yet uncomplicated playing remains unaltered since day one. The same can be said of Nicko McBrain"s usual steady beats.

Overall, this album sounds fresh. It may be surprising, considering how long Maiden have been around, but apparently the band wanted to respond to all those younger bands that so blatantly rip them off. This is why, ever so often, the band comes close to American power metal territory, without ever losing their more than established musical identity.

Sure, all the Maiden clich"s are here: a fast opening track, one with a hand-picked guitar intro (No More Lies), one that strongly recalls Where Eagles Dare (Monts"gur, which also has a very similar thematic) and so on. But not for once does this sound like a mere re-hashing of past glories. This is an album in its own right, and a good one at that. Gentlemen, you have my sword.

Likes: First three tracks, energy and vigour that the band display, Bruce"s vocals, the fact that the band didn"t sell out yet.

Dislikes: The occasional dull moment.


Recommended Tracks:

Wildest Dreams
Rainmaker
No More Lies
Gates Of Tomorrow

Final Rating: 4/5.



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user ratings (2078)
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other reviews of this album
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Comments:Add a Comment 
Bullion04
January 25th 2006


5 Comments


This is my all-time favorite maiden album, thus making it my all-time favorite album period. Personally, I don't think there is a weak spot on the album. One might argue the track "Montsegur" to be the low point, but once you learn the story behind the lyrics, it takes on a different meaning.
This album, IMO, is similar to Brave New World, only more mature, more orchestral, and without a weak point such as The Mercenary.

jhed13
January 26th 2006


32 Comments


Iron Maiden rocks. They need to make an Eddie movie or something. I got a lot of posters.

jhed13
January 26th 2006


32 Comments


And my favorite song on this album is Paschendale. I did a report on that battle one time.

madmunch
February 21st 2006


89 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Montsegur and No More Lies have to be my favourite songs on this album, but really the whole album's a winner

friend of the devil
March 16th 2006


6 Comments


long live the dance of death!... or long die it.. or something...

namaan
April 4th 2006


10 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Dance of death....saw the band on tour in 2003 at earls court in london...what a feckin show..it rocked......Paschendale played live is awesome



anyways, the album is good..very good. i particularly like Face in the sand and gates of tommorrow..i cant explain why i just do

Mikesn
Emeritus
April 4th 2006


3707 Comments

Album Rating: 3.7

Paschendale is one of my favourite songs of all time. Maiden's best.

mike-ibanez
April 17th 2006


11 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

It's a great album. I like Pachendale and Rainmaker.They're great. I hope their next record will be as good.

pattern_recognition
April 17th 2006


950 Comments


The beginning of Rainmaker is played somewhat similar to Sweet Child O' Mine.
*thumbs up*
Great album, but I think Brave New World was better.
Still, it's Maiden...you can't go wrong.

moffcronos
June 2nd 2006


27 Comments


This is a cool album, I had no idea it was out until a year after it came out. Montsegur is already a Maiden classic I think (and not because of any DaVinci Code crap either)

M A D R I G A L
June 7th 2006


103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

This album is great. The fact that they STILL produce quality music shows a lot about Maiden as a band. I absolutely love the soloing in "No More Lies."

Decapitated Assault
June 7th 2006


3 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Well you got to understan that Maiden is getting Older and BETTER! This album is great it has some mellow songs and some heavy songs. I really like it One of my favorite albums from them.

scpttrerulz
June 7th 2006


130 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Love the album. Its got epic songs. However Paschendale is one of my favourite tracks of the album. Its got some got great melody, good leads and killer drums. What's not to like?

Hunter555
June 21st 2006


424 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I love this album. Everyone told me Maiden was hardcore speed metal. I heard this album and I'm confused. It just sounds like Hard Rock. Were they Speed Metal 20 years ago or something? I'll have to get their earlier stuff.

PaulMako
June 22nd 2006


12 Comments


Maiden? Speed Metal? Anyway Fantastic album! BNW was an incredibal return to form for Maiden and this is a brilliant follow up. Hunter555 you NEED to get their earlier stuff but all of their back catologue is solid gold! (except im not a big fan of the Blaze era albums) either way, new album coming out in september! I CANNOT F'ING WAIT!

Hunter555
July 16th 2006


424 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Acually, I've got it, I just have'nt had the chance to go through it yet.

south_of_heaven 11
July 18th 2006


5614 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I heard 'Rainmaker' and loved it. I'm buying this soon.

RocknRoller2112
August 27th 2006


10 Comments


Im not sure if its my favorite track or not but when i heard The Age of Innocence i was amazed at how strong and powerful Dickinson's vocals were even after all these years...and for me it was really cool to hear a more personal approach in a song

Bfhurricane
August 27th 2006


6284 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Very good review! I was actually listening to this today, I absolutely love it. But I can't really stand Gates of Tomorrow, I think that's the weak point of the album, not to say its bad but i cant listen to it more than once in a while. I think Paschendale is songwriting at its very best, a perfect combination of brilliant lyrics and brilliant composition.

kill2live
September 11th 2006


19 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

this CD is awsome



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