Genre : Power Metal, Heavy Metal
Label : Sanctuary Copyrights/BMG
Origin : United Kingdom
Rating : 9.99 / 10
Buy it now
There is a huge amount of lore available already on how the practical and creative processes have been shaped and formed that finally brought this release into the position of being able to collide with some precious sunlight in your immediate area.
It is known that the band members have employed a slightly different creative strategy than they usually tend to rely on. Now they came to the studio - the studio in which they recorded "Brave New World", as well - with competent grasps on the musical building blocks that the outlines of the song ideas seemed to be demanding, but they did not spend excessive amounts of time chiseling out and perfecting microscopic details, instead remained intent at keeping the spirit and Eddie unleashed throughout the recording sessions - what could go wrong?
As result of this new found approach, and, given the experience the members have under their belt with live playing, the production characteristics of the disk are quite close to a live recording. It indeed reflects-, and even cherishes the miniscule amounts - and not more - of mathematical inconsistencies that the music is not just ready-, but even is happy to tolerate on the surface of this style of playfully heated, adventurous, oftentimes escapist tell-a-tale rhetorics, because the meaning behind a chunk or a sequence does not have to suffer any type of relevant harm as result of being "just" approximated with superb organic skills that are driven in real time, and not by unmistakably precise calculations. Read on to know more.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not an orga-nazi, but you obviously would have much more things to manage under your fingers and under your neurons if you were to faithfully and rigorously cover a Fear Factory song from their new full length, -review here, IF - then you'd have if the idea were to strum on galloping chords as if there were no tomorrow to do again so on.
Not to imply that the agenda on this here release is such, as Iron Maiden always was known as a band with tremendous readiness to deliver narrative complexity, yet this complexity is more prevalent in variations on overall tone and intensity, not to mention trademarkish tropes of chasing a simple melody throughout a harmonic passage, yet the members of Iron Maiden rarely-, if ever choose to sculpt out a given sequence with deliberately manic levels of details showcased, like Symphony X likes to do. This is not a limitation: this is a choice. They COULD, but, since they know they could, they choose NOT to, and this is a legitimate choice.
The Book of Souls archives are coming to you in the form of a double disc, so obviously you'll have to spend quite an amount of time to come up with any sort of relevant cognitive recognition of what the delivery actually IS at ultimate face value. Regardless, it does not prevent your instincts to pick up on the vibe that the outing is legit to the marrow, soaked in the optimum valor to insatiably court all tropes and traditions that the Iron Maiden brand built itself to mega-stardom with. Whatever segments and tendencies you like this group the most for, there will be an abundant supply of those on glorious display, while the overall effect will immediately ambush your awareness on the unmistakable Iron Maiden registers, be those of speedy-, mid-tempo or outright slow paced demeanor. Be ready to gallop an avatar or two away per listening session.
You probably had the chance to recognize how Iron Maiden enjoys the act of taking a simpler, usually fragile, playful melodic idea, just to send it into a surfing session on top of various chordal passages of raging, simplistic efficiency, with an intention to offer further narrative shifts in its tracks. This idea of layering dueling guitars on the higher frequencies while the base is established by particularly full-sounding power chords, once again manages to declare itself as the equivalent of Iron Maiden's excellence in this very craft, a method of music that now almost has an inherent rule-set to it, yet these rules are so tastily selected and even perfected that the patterns expressed within its constraints are limited only by creative imagination, of which the members have no shortage of.
It is of no accident that the release had to be a double disc: it is not a matter of life and death, nor a matter of wanting to cash in. They indeed had this much of relevant things to say with this release, not to mention that the group doubtless is in the optimal position of being able to delight millions of fans around the globe - maybe even outside of it? - with an increased amount of high quality content delivered. Yes, the knowing of the content will take time, but sweet is the taste of such labor for the committed fan.
And what about "tEh" Dickinson? Grab your worries by the throat and pass a non-negotiable death sentence on them. All romanticism aside, here is the thing: Dickinson still kicks tremendous amount of ass towards all fathomable directions of the space-time continuum, his pipes are intact and ready to siren. Luckily for music lovers, the vocal chords are among the most resilient organs in a human body, that are quite resistant towards aging, and, it is very easy to tell that Dickinson had and has fun all the while during his prestigious singing career, it is not like he has to struggle to give out these sounds, it is his natural ability, his gift, and both God and Satan and even Eddie were kind enough to not bother Dickinson with having to battle with his voice. As far as I know, there was something of a cancerous tumor on his tongue though, which - logically - later been treated and eliminated. OH, the irony: here is your voice, but now is the time to appreciate your ability to articulate SOUNDS with it.
Luckily, Mr. Dickinson has fully recovered, and looks forward to front the tour that follows to support the new album.
The marketing behind the release is relevant and well executed. The official video for "Speed of Light" is what I consider to be a case of hyper-efficiently invented and realized fan service, and I do not mean it in the slightest of cynical sense at all. If you consider yourself to be a person who is open to the possibilities of checking out the latest to date that Iron Maiden was/is up to on the field of music videos, which probably is one of the most relevant entertainment mediums of our day and age, then you simply owe yourself the experience of checking out this clip. It truly is precise, fervent, and hilariously exploitative in its intentions, with 101% awareness of what buttons to press on an Iron Maiden fan. While I stand by my opinion that it pretty much is perfect for what and how it wants to express, one should not be embarrassed to recognize that it is one tremendous fan service as well, done though with high levels of both competence, and, with an understanding of what an Iron Maiden fan would "probably" want to see in an Iron Maiden video. It is a romantic power fantasy of Eddie, and, Iron Maiden gives a slight suggestion, now after almost 40 years of metal, that Eddie was/is/will be: YOU.
Eddie is the Iron Maiden FAN.
The video and the music is just perfect, and it will put a huge smile on faces, and the very ending of the clip truly pulls a card to 20, and manages to max it out to 21 with an ace. Here is the link to the video. And here is the link to the Speed of Light retro-styled platformer, which is an efficient marketing device at stimulating further interest in the music and in the upcoming tour.
Iron Maiden is back, and is not about to go anywhere (expect on tour, sic!), and thanks for all the seven heads of the fucking Beast for that.
Rating: 9.99 / 10
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