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Saturn
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:46 pm Post subject: Metal Hammer track by track analysis of The Final Frontier |
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http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/iron-maiden-the-final-frontier-review/
Apart from the reviewer needing to use his thesaurus a bit more, this all sounds promising to me.
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B.C. Bud
Joined: 27 Feb 2009
Posts: 1267
Location: Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| ^Agree completely, I'm very excited about this release. my only problem was the reporters use of the term"Jethro Tull-ish". I don't want to hear Jethro Tull(I like Jethro Tull) I want to hear MAIDEN. The reporter sounded a touch fan-boy-ish but other than that it sounds quite promising. |
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Saturn
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| Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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I was being a bit unfair to him, but he's actually a real Maiden supporter and has been for years.
As for influences, Jethro Tull etc, without Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, UFO, early Genesis, Deep Purple, Sabbath etc Maiden would be well Maiden, wouldn't sound they way they do - there's influences from all those bands and more running through Maiden's work right from the beginning and only now, or perhaps since FOTD have they been more overt in showing those roots exposed, without the 'metal' being overshadowed.
The maiden sound is not very original, let's be honest, but not much in music is, but at least Maiden have stayed true to those influences they started with and still continue to challenge their audience by incorporating them into their new material.
You only have to listen to Steve's favourite albums, Argus, Nursery Cryme, Aqualung etc to hear where all those long songs and quiet intros come from.
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Earthbound
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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Location: Nowhere
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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Found this on another board:
| Quote: | Taken from webspace:
After 4 years maiden gets back on the shelves with their 15th album of their fantastic career.
Just one listen is never enough to judge any album, let alone such a long one (76 minutes and 37 seconds) which will need way deeper listening sessions. WE'll give you our first impressions and emotions anyway of this "The Final Frontier".
First thing we want to say is: the hardcore fans can relax: Maiden still love to play, and with this album they show they want to risk again, to experiment and to gift the fans with fantastic moments like just a few other groups can do.
As for the critics or those who haven't like the post reunion albums...well maybe them won't even listen to the album, committing a mistake since we are in front of one of the most interesting albums of the last decade.
There's a progressive side that emerges here and there, there are riffs and moments inspired by blues and seventies (Purple and Led Zeppelin are there, at times), there are 5 long songs in the second half of the album that are brilliant and make the listener to feel so involved in it.
There are less repeated chorus than in the past, less orchestrations compared to the last album, the guitars are starring in this album and the structures that the three axes put together are very enjoyable. Dickinson varies his singing a lot, using the medium-high frequencies less than in the past and globally the album is faster and with more rhtyhm thatn the previous "A matter of life and death".
The bad things? Well, first the single:
El Dorado is not representative of the mood of the album and could have been better if it was shorter. There are those 2-3 songs that could have been left out (all in the fist part of the album) that aren't really comparabile and up to the level of the songs that follow.
The slow intros and arpeggios in the beginning of the songs are standardised and even if functional to the songs they are now too predictables.
Difficult to understand why the songs on the tracklist where placed this way since the album really takes off and gets to a whole new level after the first 5 songs...but now we stop talking in general and let's focus on a proper track by track.
WE are aware these are just our opinions to take them with a pinch of salt...these are the emotions we felt during a one hour and fifteen minutes of listening.
1)Satellite 15...the final frontier:
We haven't understood a single thing in the first 4 and a half iminutes: a futuristic and effected drumming (we thought of "Eat the rich" by Aerosmith) with electronics effects opens the song, Bruce try to find a space singing while the song developos in a structured way that could remind us the Dream Theater of Metropolis part 2 especially when the alternation of snare drum and double pedals (or so it seemed although nicko used it only on face in the sand) makes us think of Petrucci and co. At half song starts the "Iron Maiden" like song, a classic mid tempo that has a Hard Rock feeling to it. 2 solos leads us the to last part of the song with has an ending that it's re-taken in the second one.
A great way to start the album.
2)El Dorado
we all now this one now and the beginning is the final of the previous track. Although being more metal, this song could have been better if it was shorter. The impact is very live, like the whole album anyway...and we know that the post reunion maiden have nowadays a live approach in the studio without too much clean sound.
Live this will be a great song, in studio we are happy to hear it ending.
3)Mother of mercy
This one has a arpeggio intro (one of the many we were talking about in the introduction)and as we said this is one of the songs that we could have easily lived without. This is a mid tempo that some nostalgic fan would define Heavy but that honestly doesn't take off due to an anonymous refrain.
The solo it's not bad but we find asking each other why this song occupies the third spot on the tracklist.
4)Coming home
This is a ballad that leads us to Bruce Dickinson solo, that has some familiar bits in "Man of Sorrow" style and that could have been under the hands of a Desmond Child...so you get an idea of it.
Globally it's a very well structured and thought song, with a nice refrain and overall is a good track although it's a fall in the rhythm of the album that doesn't make it take off yet.
5)The alchemist
Just by reading the tracklist we could guess that this would have been the fast track of the album. The rhythm is very fast indeed even if the song isn't aggressive or rageful.
This song makes us awake from the sleepy feeling we were starting to have although being at the fifth track we start to think that maybe this album is not much inspired.
The melodies and speed of The alchemist come to and end and luckily here we will discover that the REAL interesting part of the album is going to start.
6)Isle of Avalon
The first big song of almost 10 minutes is one of the most beautiful song of the Final Frontier.
It starts with the trademakr slow intro that takes off with a uptempo part after 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Then the song surprises us with a a break at the fourth minute that reminds us of Rush with organ sounds under the solos in the middle part of the song. The ending reminds us of the Powerslave title track and the excitement now it's back at full force just thinking about how great this song is and how many interesting things the guys put in this track.
7)Starblind
Another adrenalinic song with prog rhythmics that shows a great Bruce Dickinson on medium high notes. A sort of Led Zeppeling riff gets in the song right after 4 minutes and introduces the solo part in which the rhythm changes several times.
A mood that reminds us of Infinite Dreams under the refrains of the last part makes us absolutely enjoy this song again, for another hit of the album that is now on a completely new level compared to the first half...these songs seems to come out from a jam session in which the guys really enjoyed surprising the usual Iron maiden fans.
8)The Talisman
Reminding us of "The Legacy" we start getting inside the eight track of the album. Dickinson narrates theatrically (with the usual slow intro) and then after 2 minutes the song becomes a strong up-tempo with an high register singing by Bruce. The classic maiden gallop is back, the fantastic refrain gets in getting along with the guitar melody until the six minutes mark when a Deep Purple break arrives. Another very interesting song.
9)After a sort of melodic power metal intro this song is then filled withanother strong up-tempo. A fantastic break after 4 minutes cuts what we have heard so far turning into a middle part almost blues with very well structured solos.
Excluding the big surprise at mid song the song is quite linear and it's another hit of this album that it's getting to end.
10)When the wild wind blows
To be the third longest song of Iron Maiden history the ending to the Final frontier must be something really special..and it is.
Blood Brothers and Dance of Death echoes follow each other until at three minutes and a half a Holy Diver-like riff kicks in. The song is played on mid-tempo with slow parts and unexpected changes of register and with a vocal line that surprises again after 7 minutes of song.
This song has a vintage and seventies atmosphere and it's a fantastic way to end the album.
This album is a work that it's a sort of Brave New world meets A matter of life and death, it's very free from pre-concepts and it's structured to be listened to many times as it's not immediate.
Who loves Iron maiden for their coherence and their post reunioh albums will be happy to have listened to The Final Frontier.
The final frontier will make people talk and will be considered another arrival point of this band that has been said to be dead too many times and that has always proved their critics wrong.
Ethernal respect for Iron Maiden, hoping the The Final frontier won't be their really last frontier but with the with that there will be more of them in the next few years. |
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Saturn
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:48 am Post subject: |
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I've read that before, clearly a bad translation from google translate or something there's several French reviews badly translated and stuff like that going around the web.
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Scorpio
Joined: 09 Sep 2007
Posts: 935
Location: somewhere in time, somewhere in the uk
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| Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Saturn wrote: | I was being a bit unfair to him, but he's actually a real Maiden supporter and has been for years.
As for influences, Jethro Tull etc, without Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, UFO, early Genesis, Deep Purple, Sabbath etc Maiden would be well Maiden, wouldn't sound they way they do - there's influences from all those bands and more running through Maiden's work right from the beginning and only now, or perhaps since FOTD have they been more overt in showing those roots exposed, without the 'metal' being overshadowed.
The maiden sound is not very original, let's be honest, but not much in music is, but at least Maiden have stayed true to those influences they started with and still continue to challenge their audience by incorporating them into their new material.
You only have to listen to Steve's favourite albums, Argus, Nursery Cryme, Aqualung etc to hear where all those long songs and quiet intros come from. |
I always thought that Steve's favourite Genesis album was Foxtrot.
Ever since I first heard a priest album I thought that that was where Maiden got the bulk of their sound, the twin, loud guitars etc.
Yep, mix Priest with Genesis and you have Maiden.
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desultory
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 900
Location: Danish pastry land
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| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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There are 3 things, which gave me cold sweats, mentioned in that review thing Earthbound posted.
1) the mere mention of flippin floppin Dream Theater in connection with a title track of an iron Maiden album really made me cringe. Always will. Twat band.
2) the Coming Home description is like a slap in the face. Man of Sorrows-like shenanigans paired with bloody Desmond Child. What gives?
And last, but not least.
3) "a sort of melodic power metal intro" to MWWBK.. I hope the bloke who did this has some sort of hearing disability cos if he's anywhere near being spot on I'm gonna need to do drugs during that intro and the other stuff I mentioned.
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Saturn
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| Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:12 am Post subject: |
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Sheesh give it a chance dude, don't be one of the negative crowd of people who dismiss something they haven't even heard.
It's one person's review; listen to it yourself with an open mind, I know I will, despite all the reviews I've read already.
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desultory
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Posts: 900
Location: Danish pastry land
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| Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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I will. I anticipate hearing the thing for myself and not read about what some french jester thinks it sounds like.
You see, my beef was with what was written about the songs and not so much the songs themselves.
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