5 keepers
keeper avg .444
For their fifth album with the full-on new-millennium six-man roster the Irons dropped a double album at a formidable 90-minutes (with three tracks over the ten-minute mark); it's a lot to digest and a slog in places, but there are some great tracks, even deep into the second disc. Of course the opening one-two punch are as good as anything they've done in the 2000's. There's nothing fancy going on in "If Eternity Should Fail"***** and there doesn't need to be; after a rather mysterioso intro it's tuneful but heavy as f---, with a fast rock interlude to break things up. The driving "Speed Of Light"***** sticks in my head immediately with a crunchy monster riff (similar to "El Dorado" from "The Final Frontier"). The rest of the first disk isn't exactly lacking in energy, as "When the River Runs Deep" flies along when not in arena rock sing-a-long mode, but like a lot of new millennium Maiden it does get bogged down in mid-tempo chugging. The title song closes the disk with a satisfying stomp, though ten minutes of it wears thin.
The second disk begins energetically with "Death Or Glory"****, essentially an updated version of "Running Free," and "Shadows of the Valley," another barn-burner, which the human air raid siren belts out mightily. Due to personal issues Steve Harris doesn't dominate the songwriting as much as on most Maiden albums, and he isn't credited at all on the album's outstanding opening tracks (Dickinson and Dickinson/Smith respectively). For my money Harris's best contribution to this album is "Tears of a Clown"****, a tribute to the tragic death of Robin Williams; its deliberate pace is actually a refreshing change of pace, and it's melodically and lyrically one of Maiden's best. Fortunately the other members, especially Bruce Dickinson, pick up some of the songwriting load. Dickinson is credited on most of the album's best tracks, and provides some of the most memorable, if sometimes hilarious, lines such as "I'll say a mass for you and wave, Shootin' plasma from my grave" ("Speed Of Light") and "Climb like a monkey out of hell where I belong" ("Death Or Glory").
But his most important contribution is the album's concluding 18-minute opus "Empire of the Clouds"****, the only true ballad I can think of in the Irons' catalog. Lyrically it's the story of the British R101 airship, which crashed in northern France in 1930 during its maiden voyage; "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (Gordon Lightfoot, 1976) is an obvious point of comparison. The song unfolds over several movements, some more musically memorable than others:
1. Somber opening, gradually building from Dickinson on piano to full band
2. Dramatic liftoff
3. Guitar theme #1, practicing scales
4. Guitar theme #2, practicing scales
5. Guitar theme #3, practicing scales, lead by someone
6. Chugging guitar theme, wah lead
7. Tense theme, storm narrative, Bruce struggles with his delivery
8. Percussive, angular, discordant theme
9. Aftermath, repeat opening theme
Though the track's music isn't quite as evocative as Lightfoot's pop-classic sea shanty, Dickison's lyrics seem more vivid, stirring, and poignant compared to Lightfoot's relatively prosaic recounting. And musically it does get more interesting as it progresses. While the piece's excessive length is the obvious reason the entire album wouldn't fit on one CD, the album is still better for it.
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