Iron Maiden-The Final Frontier Review

"The Final Frontier" track listing:

1. Satellite 15....The Final Frontier
2. El Dorado
3. Mother Of Mercy
4. Coming Home
5. The Alchemist
6. Isle Of Avalon
7. Starblind
8. The Talisman
9. The Man Who Would Be King
10. When The Wild Wind Blows

With "The Final Frontier," Iron Maiden continues the winning streak the band has been on since the dawn of the 21st century. It's a mostly excellent 70-plus minutes of metal, with plenty of twists and turns both lyrically and musically. It's also got some notable flaws, one of which — unfortunately — launches the album.
"Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" has an overly long instrumental intro that, while initially interesting, soon bleeds a lot of the energy from the song, despite Nicko McBrain's engaging drum part. Then, as Bruce Dickinson begins singing of a space traveler "blown off course," it begins to feel like a heavy metal version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." When the second part of the song finally kicks in, it's with a riff that strikes me as a little more Judas Priest than Iron Maiden. It's pretty rare that the lyrics rescue a song, but in this case, there's a great twist in which we discover that the titular "final frontier" isn't just outer space, it's the hereafter that our doomed spacefarer is heading into.

Just when I started to worry that the band was going to drift away from their core sound, "El Dorado" kicked in, with a "Wasted Years"-style guitar line and Steve Harris' trademark bass gallop kicking into full gear. It's an excellent stomper with lyrics about a thief looking to deceive you with visions of "pyramids of gold." Bruce Dickinson is absolutely amazing in the song's chorus and the guitar solos — well, this is an Iron Maiden album, do I really need to finish that sentence ... ?

The war tale "Mother Of Mercy" and "The Alchemist" also feature classic Maiden sounds, though "Mother" is a little more reminiscent of the band's more recent work. If you're looking for prog-rock symphonies that will keep you hanging on every note, you'll find them in both "The Talisman" and the apocalypse tale "When The Wild Wind Blows."

On the other hand, there are tracks like the Celtic legend-laced "Isle Of Avalon" that, despite some interesting instrumental interludes, feel a little bloated. That said, the slow "Coming Home" is the one track that failed to hold my interest, though it clocks in at a comparatively short five minutes, 52 seconds.

Janick Gers, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith's guitars are, as always, a multilayered pleasure to listen to, though it often seems that the band doesn't really take complete advantage of the options that a third guitarist affords. The rhythm section of Steve Harris and Nicko McBrain takes some interesting — and frankly funky — turns in the mid-section of "Isle Of Avalon" to great effect.

Producer Kevin Shirley more than earns his keep, with a warm sound that gives every instrument ample room to breathe, while never covering up Dickinson in the slightest. I especially like the drum sound, which has a nice resonance to it, without being either tinny or overblown.

Though "The Final Frontier" doesn't find Iron Maiden heading where no band has gone before, at its best, it shows off the band's finely honed prog-metal skills to near-perfection. This disc is deservedly going to be on a lot of metal reviewers' "best-of" lists at the end of this year.

Highs: "El Dorado," "Mother Of Mercy," "The Alchemist" and "The Talisman."
Lows: "Coming Home" and the overly long "Isle Of Avalon."
Bottom line: An excellent disc that continues Iron Maiden's 21st century winning streak.

Reviewed by: EdgeoftheWorld

Source: MetalUnderground.com