ian salsbury

Are somewhat glowing to say the least. The 3 main rock / metal UK mags (
Metal Hammer / Kerrang! and Classic Rock ) have awarded it 10/10, 5/5 and
9/10 respectively.

Up the Irons!

yama

: Metal Hammer / Kerrang! and Classic Rock ) have awarded it 10/10, 5/5 and
: 9/10 respectively.

: Up the Irons!

Reviews have been almost univerally incredibly good - probably the best
reviews any Maiden album has ever got. Now that I finally have the disc and
I have given it a couple of spins, I think hype is bit overblown, but the album
is definitely good stuff, better than DoD, though still somewhat imperfect.
Even the Breeg song which I at first thought as quite boring has grown on
me a bit.

replicant

Although I live in the U.S. I have a friend who writes for the music
magazines, and thus was able to borrow the disc early.

After the first listen, I was not impressed. But I was not discouraged,
given the fact that I didn't like Brave New World or Dance of Death after
first listens.

But this album is really growing on me, and overall after 4-5 listens I'd
say it's pretty damned good. I love Different World, These Colours Don't
Run, and Longest Day. Brighter than a Thousand Suns has started to grow on
me too. The others I'm still not sure about, but I haven't given up on them,
either.

My one complaint is that some of the songs could use some serious pruning
and cutting. Too many solos, instrumental passages, etc., that sometimes
take away from the momentum of the songs.

Still, with (at the minimum) three excellent songs, and others with
potential, I'm pretty happy and very psyched to see Maiden in Boston this
fall.

john

Even after many listens, neither of them has grown on me enough to
consider it a "great" album. Both have some really cool melodies here
and there (I really like the chorus of Ghost of the Navigator and that
guitar line in Dance of Death that separates the solos). There are a
couple of songs that I think are great - namely, The Thin Line Between
Love and Hate (because of the vocal harmony, the cool guitar melody near
the end that the vocal line imitates, and the fact that the song kind of
showcases Dave's playing), and Paschendale.

I've listened to this album several times over the past few days, and
I'm really liking it. There's not a single track on it that I consider
"weak" - some of it (as mentioned previously on this NG) sounds kind of
like Bruce's solo stuff. Out of the Shadows reminds me a lot of The
Gates of Urizen.

I don't think any of them need cutting - I enjoy long songs, with lots
of interesting time/tempo changes. I like a good guitar solo, too, and
of course the reason there are a lot of them is because they have three
lead guitarists (i.e. there are often three solos in a song). I have
absolutely no problem with the number of solos, but lately I've found
that most of the solos are a bit boring and uninspired. If you look at
their last several albums, there are very few solos that (in my opinion)
really stand out:

Sign of the Cross (both of them)
The Aftermath (Jannick)
The Educated Fool (both of them)
When Two Worlds Collide (Dave's solo... I don't think much of Jannick's)
The Wicker Man (Adrian)
Brave New World (both of them)
TTLBLAH (all Dave)
Rainmaker (Dave)
Dance of Death (Adrian's solo)
New Frontier (Adrian)
Face in the Sand (Adrian)
Paschendale (Dave's and Adrian's)

On the new album, they're all "decent" at best, in my opinion. However,
when you look back at albums like NotB, PoM, PS, SiT, and SSoaSS, pretty
much every solo on them is great.

For me, the excellent songs are Brighter than a Thousand Suns, For the
Greater Good of God, The Legacy, The Longest Day, and These Colours
Don't Run. The rest are pretty good, too, though not quite excellent,
IMO. I can't wait to see them in Toronto in October, especially since
they didn't play here on the Dance of Death tour (though I did catch
them at Ozzfest).

replicant

I would agree that neither Dance of Death nor Brave New World qualify as
great albums, of course for me the "great" standard includes albums like
Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time, or (for non-Maiden) Master of Puppets,
Operation Mindcrime, a handful of others.

That said, I greatly enjoy much of the material on DoD and BNW. I actually
like the former a bit more due to Paschendale (one of Maiden's all-time
greats, Montsegur, Dance of Death, and a few others. But BNW has its
moments, including The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Out of the Silent
Planet, The Wickerman.

The way I look at it is if an album has 3-4 truly enjoyable songs on, I'm
happy. It's very rare to find an album that's great all the way through.
Even on an album like Piece of Mind, I find Quest for Fire unlistenable, and
other songs less than stellar (Sun and Steel).

I actually bailed on Maiden during the Blaze era, so the first four songs
you've referenced here aren't familiar to me. Sign of the Cross is the
exception, I've heard a bootleg version with Bruce on the vocals and I think
it's an awesome song. Other Blaze era songs I've heard and enjoy are
Futureal and The Clansman. Are the two Blaze albums worth buying at all?

I agree about the 80's Maiden albums having great guitar solos. A personal
favorite of mine is the solo in Stranger in a Strange Land. Like many here I
wonder if three guitars is too many and may have muddled Maiden's sound a bit.

I would suggest that you find a way to hear them before you actually
buy them. Unless you are some sort of completist who has to have every
IM album, no matter the quality.

Tom

replicant

I'm guessing I'll probably pass on ever buying them, then. I'm not a
completist by any stretch.

ajax

There are songs on those albums that I consider excellent. Sign of the
Cross, Edge of Darkness, Lord of the Flies, Clansman, Lightning Strikes
Twice, 2 AM, Fortunes of War, Futureal. But then again, I'm a fan of Iron
Maiden's sound and songwriting. Those albums were very enjoyable.

The question was, "are they worth buying" And my answer is, from the
number of times I've managed to listen to them, and then the number of
times I actually enjoyed listening to them, is no, they're not worth
paying standard CD prices for.
Someone offers you their CD's for a couple bucks each, well maybe
then.


Tom

Buy any other IM CD you do not have before the Blaze albums. It will
be better.

Tom