5 keepers
keeper avg .500
Though it was their longest to date, the Irons' fourth new-millennium album backed up its generous length with consistently strong material. The album starts with cavernous jungle drums joined by a melody of moaning alien guitar wails, providing an evocative, atmospheric introduction to "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier"****. The "Final Frontier" second half of the track is an unsurprising but catchy rocker, and is just an appetizer for the riff-monster that is "El Dorado"*****, the album's obvious single in the vein of "Different World" (2006) and "The Wicker Man" (2000). Though it may be more like Queensryche at their commercial peak than The Irons in their prime, in a different time power ballad "Coming Home"**** could have also been a presence on radio, with a singalong chorus and some tasteful leads. Being about war, a familiar topic for its writer Steve Harris, "Mother of Mercy" is a wrenching, desperate slog, with some interesting Adrian Smith interludes to break it up, while speedy "The Alchemist" is comparatively mindless fun, really a copy of "Man On The Edge" (1995).
After this point, the 7, 8, and 9 minute epics start, though that's not always a bad thing. Though it's padded out by a bridge and a long but haunting intro, "The Talisman"**** is the kind of galloping barn-burner the Irons perfected on day one (or definitely by "Killers" (1981)), the middle of each verse punctuated by an angry diminished chord, while the similar "The Man Who Would Be King" is an inferior copy of "Wasted Years" (1986). Being written by Smith (and of course Steve Harris), "Isle of Avalon"**** starts with a tightly arranged intro, followed by more straightforward choruses; it's at the halfway point where Maiden finally embraces their inner prog-rockers and become 21-century Rush, playing a bridge in 7 for heaven sake (a first for Maiden I think), a pleasantly surprising left turn. "Starblind" features a cool distinctive stuttering riff, complemented with a heavily syncopated pattern by Nicko McBrain; it becomes a bit much at almost 8-minutes long. Speaking of long, the album closes with the 11-minute Steve Harris opus "When the Wild Wind Blows"; being an obvious successor to "The Clansman" (1998), musically it's a combination of Celtic folk and bible school songs (never been? well when I went they sounded like the intro).
Interestingly, this is the most Adrian-Smith-credited Iron Maiden album to date, with the guitarist receiving credit on 60% of the tracks (just ahead of 50% of "A Matter of Life and Death"). As an appreciator of Smith's writing in general, perhaps my positive assessments of this album could be coincidental with that affinity but who knows. Though I don't hear mention of as much love for this album as its two successors these days, it's my favorite post-80's Maiden album I've heard so far (that includes the impressive "The Book of Souls" and the acclaimed "Senjutsu").
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