Some nice reviews about Iron Maiden

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Maiden Have Finally Reach Their Former Glory !, October 19, 2003

By
Gordon Kyd “G-Bone”

The 1990′s was a shocking decade for Maiden in my opinion, firstly with Adrian Smith leaving in 1989, the class of the band seemed to go with him. Ever note in his solo’s counted. Then “No Prayer For The Dying” which was a half arsed sounding affair, nothing memorable really on that album. Bruce Dickinson’s voice was also a shadow of it’s former God-like self and Yanik Gers was all notes without feel. Then “Fear Of The Dark” which had some awesome moments, definatly a better album by far from the woeful former, but still the Iron Maiden songwritting formula had reared up it’s ugly head far too many times for it to be missed and it was starting to sound old hat.

With Bruce leaving and Blaze Bailey stepping in on vocals, I knew the first nails in the coffin were in place before I even heard ‘X Factor’ but nothing could prepare me for such an appaling rehashed and predictable sound. This album sounded like a cheap garage covers band writting Iron Maiden songs. I smashed this album within a week of purchacing it and had to contain the bitterness that I felt for the band that had once given me such musical pleasure. You take Bruce’s trademark vocals away from a band like Iron Maiden, you take the life away with it. I strongly believed that ‘Seventh Son’ was going to be Iron Maidens last real album. Sad but true, I was a grieving lad, I just couldn’t handle what this mightly band had become.

I was facinated with Iron Maiden at age 7, when I first heard ‘Number Of The Beast’ and Bruce’s voice amazed me (even at that young age). When I picked up bass in the late 80′s, I became a diehard and Steve Harris became my biggest musical influence. He probably taught me more about the instument, even to this day, than anyone else and for that I hold him and the band in the highest regard, even though I stopped listerning to them come 1995. Having such a glorious run of killer albums in the 80′s, I just had to be content with that and move on from the band, as I could not relate to anything they released in the 90′s. I just moved on and I supposed the band became a fond memory of my past.

Then came the news in 1999 that not only Bruce but Adrian were returning to the band, recreating the the best Maiden line up in history. I bought ‘Brave New World’ as soon as it was released. To be honest, I was disappointed with the album because it lacked the spark and magic of the great 1980′s albums as well as an absence of twin guitar harmonies. To a certain extent, it was to be expected considering it had been more than a decade since this line up had been together. It also was very predictable but it was far better than anything they had done in the 90′s.

With the release of ‘Dance of Death’ I was prepared for another disappointment but was pleasantly surprised at how fresh this album sounds. Nowhere near as predictable as their last 5 albums, Bruce sounds as powerful as he did in at his peak and the songs are so meldodic. The Maiden formula is present in the song writting but somehow not as cliche as the last 5 efforts. The production is faultless, the songs are really catchy without being cheesy and the guitar work is very clever. It is quite a heavy sounding album with ballsy guitar tones and Harris’s bass is back up in the mix again. Nicko really never has missed a beat, even when the band was at it’s lowest a few years ago and the sound engineer has pulled a killer drum sound on this album.

The last album that sounded this good regarding songwritting and structure was ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’ back in 1988 which is a damn long time ago. Not many bands get a chance to get back to the peak of their glory days but finally, I think Iron Maiden have reach it again.

The only thing that is really weak in my opinion in regards to this album is the cover artwork. The grim reaper Eddie is fine but the silly looking computer generated characters around him look pretty pathetic. But it’s the musical contence of the album that really counts.

It just goes to show that nothing is as good as the sum of it’s parts as the return of Bruce and Adrian have shown that just a little bit of magic goes a long way.

A year ago, I never thought I would write a review of Maiden that is a happy as this one.

Never give up on a dream……..it just might come true

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