September 2, 2003 - Dance Of Death

It's a double release day! A little over three years after "Brave New World" Iron Maiden released their thirteenth album "Dance Of Death" on September 2, 2003. Maiden continue as a six-piece and continue to play lots of longer songs just like last album. Let's see what the latest from these metal hall of famers has to offer!

The album begins with "Wildest Dreams" and they jump right into a pretty typical Maiden main riff which is of course led by some decent guitars. Bruce Dickinson still sounds pretty solid singing a typical verse and with three guitarists I have no idea who is playing what but there's some solid harmonized guitars. Dickinson sings a decently catchy chorus overtop a fairly simple riff. After a couple rounds one guitarist nicely segues things to a new part, but the solo/payoff is pretty disappointing honestly. A decent song overall but a bit of a weak opener. Up next is "Rainmaker" and there's a pretty epic and cool chorus guitar riff to start things off before they settle into another typical main riff as Dickinson sings in his epic voice overtop. The verse and chorus are both pretty simple and unexciting by Maiden's standards, but thankfully there is a lengthy solo that spices things up. One guitarist starts it off with a pretty sweet solo, then the other two follow with a cool harmonized solo! They spice up the final verse with some more cool guitar and I just wish they had the energy of the last round for the first couple! Track 3 is the first of four songs that are longer than seven minutes on this album and it's called "No More Lies". They open it with an epic riff that has acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass all playing the same riff and it's quietly pretty epic! The third guitarist and the drums join in as they nicely start to build things up, but things stay quietly epic as Dickinson begins a slow verse that matches the mood nicely. Harris plays some synths in the background that nicely add to the epicness and after along first verse they slam nicely into a loud chorus that has an epic riff, but Dickinson just shouts the name of the song in a kind of bland chorus. The next verse is full electricians typical Maiden, but the epic synths remain and things sound pretty solid! After another chorus it's time for a back-to-back-to-back solo! The first guitarist stays fairly simple in his opening solo, but the next two solos are both pretty awesome with nice shredding bits! They tie it nicely back to the main riff and I thought this was easily the best song so far, they built this song up very progressively and nicely done! The next track is "Montségur" and they dive right into a pretty cool main riff that is fast-paced with some epic harmonized guitar work and some pretty sweet drums by Nicko McBrain. Dickinson leads a pretty epic verse overtop some similarly epic guitars and he sounds pretty good letting it all out in a fast chorus as well! They repeat the chorus a lot, so it does drag a tad towards the end, but this is still a pretty sweet song that is fast and relentless the whole way through! Track 5 is the title track "Dance Of Death" and one guitarist starts by himself and they nicely build things up as the bass and the other two guitarists enter the mix. Dickinson sings a quiet verse overtop to nicely match the mood and after over two minutes McBrain finally joins in with some light drums. Harris plays some synths in the background to add to the epicness and after three total minutes they finally speed things up and transition nicely into a pretty cool new riff. After a louder round it's solo time and we get a back-to-back guitar solos that re both pretty cool, then the third guitarist takes a little time to set up his solo, and he promptly delivers probably the best of the three solos, and the first two weren't bad at all! They eventually return to the quieter part to end things as they began, and that part is decent, but the louder middle section was certainly the highlight. Up next is "Gates Of Tomorrow" and it's driven by a pretty catchy main guitar riff with Harris playing some cool bass behind. It's another long build-up, but eventually the rest of the band joins in for a typical(ly solid) main riff with Dickinson singing decently overtop. The chorus is a little repetitive and bland, but afterwards they go right into solo time and there's a really cool transition here! At the end of the first solo another guitarist syncs up with him for a harmonized finish, then that leads perfectly into solo #2, and it's got some great shredding! All in all a really unique and awesome solo! Track 7 is "New Frontier" and they jump right into a fast-paced and typical Maiden riff and there's some pretty epic lead guitar overtop this pretty solid main riff. Dickinson still sounds pretty solid 23 years after their debut and can still hold some long notes even if he can't go quite as high as back in the 80s. There's some more creative soloing on this song and when you have three great guitarists you can do things like have all three of them solo at the same time! It sounds pretty crazy and cool! This song checks all the boxes for a typical Maiden song, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing; I was headbanging the whole way through! The next song is "Paschendale" and McBrain starts us off with a light drum beat, then an epic guitar riff takes control and it's pretty captivating! This song is eight and a half minutes long and they show off their progressiveness as they move from this epic opening part nicely into a pretty sweet main riff. After a really cool verse where Dickinson nicely sings/tells a story they segue very nicely once again to a lengthy instrumental part that includes solo time. The build-up is solid, and the two solos are both pretty epic and awesome. After a short new verse by Dickinson the third solo does arrive and after a faster, pretty sweet solo they bring it all back to the rockin' second section, and then closing it out with a return to the quiet, epic opening part. A very well constructed song! Track 9 is "Face In The Sand" and it starts pretty slow as things seem to be building to something, but the payoff is fsr away as this opening build-up goes on for two minutes! Dickinson finally comes in to sing the first verse and he sounds decent, but the music is pretty bland for Maiden. There's (oddly) just one guitar solo, bit it is a pretty sweet one and definitely the highlight of what is otherwise the worst song on the album, in my opinion. Up next is "Age Of Innocence" and it's got a slow pace as well with Harris playing some cool bass to start us off before all three guitarists play their own slow, epic guitar riffs that all mesh pretty nicely! Dickinson sings a solid verse overtop and eventually things shift smoothly into a faster and louder riff that is more typical Maiden. It leads into a pretty straightforward chorus that is not their best one, but it's still decent. Solo time is much longer with lots of great guitar work that definitely lifts this song up a bit. They end it predictably but the instrumental middle part was pretty sweet. The final song on the album is "Journeyman" and all three guitarists play acoustic guitars in a first for Maiden! The lead riff is pretty cool, but the other two acoustic riffs add so much extra stuff going on, but everything fits together quite nicely and sounds quietly epic! Harris adds some epic synths to the mix as well and this is certainly atypical, but I quite like the fresh change from the usual routine! Eventually Dickinson sounds great singing slowly overtop and he belts out a repetitive but well-sung chorus and even then things stay completely acoustic as this is easily the first Maiden song to have no electric guitars at all! After a couple rounds I was totally ready for acoustic solo time, but it's just an instrumental break with no soloing, and boy is that disappointing! The song is still pretty cool, but what a missed opportunity there!

That is the end of "Dance Of Death" and Air thought it was a solid album by Iron Maiden, but not an amazing one. It's pretty similar to their previous album, so easily better than the two Blaze Bayley albums and even "No Prayer For The Dying", but I think I actually like this one just a tad more. It doesn't surpass "Fear Of The Dark" though so just like their other six-piece album, 9th place will have to do. Can Iron Maiden keep it up?