IRON MAIDEN - The Final Frontier

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Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier (Universal) 2010

1. Satellite 15.....The Final Frontier (8:41)
2. El Dorado (6:49)
3. Mother Of Mercy (5:20)
4. Coming HomeV5:52)
5. The Alchemist (4:29)
6. Isle Of Avalon (9:06)
7. Starblind (7:48)
8. The Talisman (9:03)
9. The Man Who Would Be King (8:28)
10. When The Wild Wind Blows (11:01)

Maiden's fifteenth studio album was given plenty of pre-release hype including a widely distributed MP3 of the track "El Dorado". The track showed the band continuing in similar terrain as their more recent albums, but also showed hope of a heavier album as the track is fairly heavy. I suppose when a band has been around 30+ years, there probably won't be a ton of surprises and some repetition of the past will be inevitable. That is certainly the case here. Overall, in the first five listens to the CD I found "The Final Frontier" to be a bit mundane, though certainly not a bad listen. The album opens strong enough. The eight plus minute long opener titled "Satellite 15...The Final Frontier" offers some slight twists on the usual Maiden sound. The beginning is an interlude of sorts, with guitars piercing bombastic drums before Bruce Dickinson starts singing nearly two minutes into the track. The song continues to build and finally kicks full throttle into a progressive Maiden brand heavy metal composition. The previously mentioned "El Dorado" is a more straight forward, heavy metal romp and a fine Maiden pantheon. After than the album begins to start blending into the background. Even with the excitement of a new Maiden platter, while spinning this CD in my car I found my mind wandering instead of ingesting the sounds of some new Iron Maiden. It's a very long album,with the 10 songs clocking in at nearly 80 minutes. At first I thought perhaps the remainder of the album was just a dud. That is not the case, it's just tough to ingest in one sitting. Before continuing to jot down more notes for this review I decided to start listening to the CD from different points rather than from always starting from track one. The next listen I started with "Mother of Mercy" after not listening to the CD for a couple days. I discovered that I quite liked the song for the first time, whereas on past listens I had stopped really listening by this point. What does all that mean? I have no idea really other than this is not Maiden circa 1985.

The second half of The Final Frontier is fairly strong. "Isle Of Avalon" is a standout track on this CD. It is a nine minute song that ebbs ad flows in tempo, once again showing a more melodic and progressive side to Maiden. "Starblind" is another example of Maiden's new progressive tendencies with some great guitar work, even if it isn't the galloping metal that Maiden are know for. Obviously Maiden's days of manic heavy metal are behind them if favor of more progressive hard rock. This is not surprising knowing Steve Harris' love of bands like Nektar and King Crimson. Bruce Dickinson's voice is a strong as it ever was, though there are far less high pitched screams than in the past. On "The Talisman", for example, he sings with a crooning melody at the beginning of the song then belts it out with true power for the remainder of the track. "The Alchemist" is a shorter song that for some reason shares its title with the stellar closing track on Bruce Dickinson's superb '98 solo album, "The Chemical Wedding". The album wraps up with an eleven minute, epic track titled "When The Wild Wind Blows". The song starts off almost as a ballad before transitioning into a groovy, mid-temp song that is a showcase for the band's musicianship.

With a catalog as big and rich as Iron Maiden's, I think they have a lot to live up to. Taken in chunks, I think that "The Final Frontier" lives up to their legacy, though I do think this one is nearly impossible to sit through in one listen unlike early Maiden platters. Long songs are not new to Maiden, though having five songs on one album that are all nearly ten minutes in length each is new. Those looking for the three to four minutes galloping heavy metal of the past will be disappointed. However, fans of more epic, progressive rock will find something to enjoy here. For me, I think the excitement of new Maiden will keep this one spinning in my deck for quite a while until the newness wears off. Once that happens I fear "The Final Frontier" will become a rare listen in comparison to the band's classic catalog.

Good review. I'm not sure I fully agree with you though (but then again, that would be rather boring), haha.

Dave the Boss wrote:

Good review. I'm not sure I fully agree with you though (but then again, that would be rather boring), haha.

Indeed.

What would you disagree with?

I don't think it's boring or lacking at all. I just accept the fact that Maiden is more of a Prog Rock band now than a Metal band. The band who wrote "Wrathchild", "Run To The Hills" and "Be Quick Or Be Dead" is gone. In it's place are 6 seasoned musicians playing music that pleases them. Harris has a well-documented love of 70s Prog and they were always heavily influenced by Thin Lizzy and UFO.

Tonally, Maiden has never had the heaviest guitar tone, and with the exception of Somewhere In Time, have usually employed a natural amp tone more than a hopped up "Metal" tone. In the current times with all the 7-string guitars and hot-rodded, computerized tones Maiden still goes for a natural, warm sound. This alone causes them to not sound necessarily "heavy" by today's standards.

For my money, Bruce is singing very well, the band is super tight, and I like Prog so, all things considered, I think it's a very good album.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I don't think it's boring or lacking at all. I just accept the fact that Maiden is more of a Prog Rock band now than a Metal band. The band who wrote "Wrathchild", "Run To The Hills" and "Be Quick Or Be Dead" is gone. In it's place are 6 seasoned musicians playing music that pleases them. Harris has a well-documented love of 70s Prog and they were always heavily influenced by Thin Lizzy and UFO.

Tonally, Maiden has never had the heaviest guitar tone, and with the exception of Somewhere In Time, have usually employed a natural amp tone more than a hopped up "Metal" tone. In the current times with all the 7-string guitars and hot-rodded, computerized tones Maiden still goes for a natural, warm sound. This alone causes them to not sound necessarily "heavy" by today's standards.

For my money, Bruce is singing very well, the band is super tight, and I like Prog so, all things considered, I think it's a very good album.

I feel the same way. Since Bruce left the band the first time their albums have been more progressive and even the songs got longer with each release after that. So the long songs don't bother me at all. They kind of done away with the repeating chorus' so thats another plus. I think this album goes by real quick. Theres so many different feels and changes throughout that it keeps my attention.

I haven't really gotten to get deep within the lyrics but the music I know almost by heart.

I am loving this album!!!!!!!! Totally top 5 or top 3 Maiden for me!!!! Every song is great. As PRD said, it doesn't FEEL like an almost 80 minute album

Actually I just put this on to listen to it after reading this. I still feel the same. Good stuff

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Actually I just put this on to listen to it after reading this. I still feel the same. Good stuff

Me too!!!! Got it on again!!!!

Another good review. I like prog stuff so I also dig this album quite a bit, and is more or less what I expected from them. I like every song on the album. I think they are all strong. Though there have been several times where I start the album from the middle rather than the beginning just to give those songs a good listen.

I feel the first 3 songs are the strongest on the album, the first song while I love it, I feel like you could cut it into 2 seperate tracks.

The more I listen the more it grabs me which is pretty par for the recent Maiden albums.

Im still spinning it, as when I put it up on my site Im clear on how i feel about this album

Addy wrote:

I feel the first 3 songs are the strongest on the album, the first song while I love it, I feel like you could cut it into 2 seperate tracks.

which I did when I transfered it onto my Ipod. I'm glad they have that option on itunes where you can split up a track.

I really don't know why it wasn't split up to begin with it is a seperate track.

Just got it today. Haven't listened yet. Looking forward to doing so.

I'm a casual Maiden fan, but I'm enjoying this album more than anything they've done since the reunion. I don't find the prog-influence to be boring at all (and I'm not even a prog fan!). I listened to this album yesterday for the first time and listened to it back to back. Sure, I wish it was more like their '80s heavy metal, but it's still good to my ears.

I didnt know you could split tracks on Itunes

Interesting.....

yea if you right click on the track you want to split and hit get info. Then click on the options tab. Then go to the bottom where it says start time and just figure out where you want the track to start. Its pretty easy.

OOooooo looks like I know what im doing this weekend with Itunes hehehe

It's luke-warm with me right now, as was their last one. I don't like all of the super-long songs. 5 songs over (some well over ) 8 minutes plus 3 more from 5:52-7:48.

I'll give it a few spins to be fair, but first listen it's so-so for me.

It's a shame because I simply love this band overall, and I want to like their new stuff.

I'm still digesting this but I do agree on 1 point the old Iron Maiden has left and yes to me they do sound more proghish. But I don't think they are totally prog thru the whole cd it is complicated to do what they do.

They are older so they have slowed down a bit on their heaviness IMO.

Wargod51

Im gonna take back the comment saying the first 3 songs were the strongest , Its the first 4 IMO

I like the album, and I plan to get at least 2 more Iron Maiden albums when finances permit (Somewhere in Time & Brave New World)

Just picked this up today and I like what I hear so far(the first 3 songs)

Chewie I love your red foreman pic heh

I don't think the songs are too long, there are just too many of them. A CD doesn't need to be filled to capacity. Chop off a couple tracks, get the running time down to around 60 minutes or less. That's plenty for a single album, the mind starts to wander after 50 minutes or so.

Back to LP length, that's the way to go.

detuned wrote:

I don't think the songs are too long, there are just too many of them. A CD doesn't need to be filled to capacity. Chop off a couple tracks, get the running time down to around 60 minutes or less. That's plenty for a single album, the mind starts to wander after 50 minutes or so.

Back to LP length, that's the way to go.

I feel the same way and not just on Maiden but all the bands that do this. Yes its nice to have a cd full of music but like you said about 45-50 minutes you kind of had enough. I even said the same thing when Phoenix Reign was working on our album. We have a lot of songs but really it just gets to be too much after a while.

Basically I'd rather have 50 minutes of great songs than 74 minutes of songs that are hit or miss.