- Product Code: 592 3402
- You will get bonus-scraps: 20
- Availability: In Stock
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€ 19.90
- Price in bonus-scraps: 199
The thirteenth full-length album by the legendary British Heavy Metal band.
"Dance Of Death" is probably the most controversial album of Iron Maiden so far, as well as the most Progressive and most heavy album of Iron Maiden ever.
When picking this album up, we could not help but notice the artwork. And art is not so good. Iron Maiden hired David Patchett to create the art with CGI. Apparently, his time cost the band enough money; the band stopped him because they thought the work was good enough as is, which the artist claimed was still in its prototype stages. The artwork would be notorious for its epic fail among the Metal community and placed on some worst artwork lists of Metal fans. Good thing this album is not judged solely on its cover, because “Dance of Death” is one of the better Iron Maiden albums!
"Dance Of Death" recalls prime Iron Maiden but with renewed vigor. Iron Maiden recorded the album the old-fashioned way: on analog tape, which adds a layer of warmth to the LP. "Dance Of Death" never sounds sterile or processed, unlike so many other Hard Rock and Metal bands recording in the digital age. But the record clocks in at nearly 70 minutes, making it somewhat long and demanding. Still, that’s a relatively small complaint for such a strong album. They still sound like they did in the 80's! Pure brilliance. One thing extremely unique on the album is that it has a great deal of orchestration and an almost Arabic-style vibe too, especially in "No More Lies" and "Dance Of Death". The rhythm guitar really tuned down heavy on the song "Montsegur". There were other powerful songs such as "Wildest Dreams", "Rainmaker", and the graceful epic "Paschendale". "Journeyman" is a 7-minute song with an acoustic, and it is real cool.
This album is not by any means a concept album, but the central theme of Death is recurrent in one form or another. This is their second studio release since the return of vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith in 1999. The album features the band's first ever fully acoustic track, "Journeyman", as well as their only song co-written by drummer Nicko McBrain, "New Frontier". The album was recorded on magnetic (analogue) tape.
Aside from the artwork, the 13th album by Iron Maiden is still a solid listen. After listening to “Brave New World” though, this album had to top the most successful album since 1988. Although it does not succeed in usurping that magnum opus, Iron Maiden proved that they still had a lot of energy left to write good music.
All in all, "Dance Of Death" is a pretty excellent Iron Maiden album. Many older fans will complain that there is nothing really new and ground-breaking here, but the band cannot release a "Piece Of Mind" or a "Powerslave" every time they put an album out on the market. "With Dance Of Death", they have done a brilliant Metal album that will still please some of the older generations, while introducing the newer fans to the world of Iron Maiden's great music in an even better way than "Brave New World" had already done.
EMI Records Ltd., 2003 (592 3402). Made in EU. First press.
Tracklist:
1.Wildest Dreams 03:52
2.Rainmaker 03:48
3.No More Lies 07:21
4.Montsegur 05:50
5.Dance of Death 08:36
6.Gates Of Tomorrow 05:12
7.New Frontier 05:04
8.Paschendale 08:27
9.Face in the Sand 06:31
10.Age of Innocence 06:10
11.Journeyman 07:06
Total playing time: 67:57