ARTIST: Iron Maiden
ALBUM: The Final Frontier
LABEL: EMI/UME
RELEASE DATE: August 17, 2010
A Bit of Nostalgia
Photo by John McMurtie
Written by Travis Reilly
Often, when an iconic rock act releases its 15th studio album, a savvy music critic spends more column inches discussing the band’s historical significance than they spend actually critiquing the music they’ve been tasked to review. This is because tenured artists become complacent and then their music suffers. Providing a great deal of non-vital context is one way in which a sympathetic evaluator might wax poetic for hundreds of words without ever having to type “mediocre.” Rock journalists were once fans too and no one really wants to slay their idols.
Iron Maiden is different than most bands with a 35 year repertoire because The Final Frontier is rather good. It’s not merely a “worthy effort from seasoned veterans”; there are no caveats, disclaimers, or asterisks. It’s a legitimately good album.
So we can dispense with any diversionary history lessons or personal anecdotes and focus instead on these ten quality songs.
Much of the Iron Maiden’s longtime success is directly attributable to composer, writer, bassist, and founding member Steve Harris but he spends the first few minutes of the album waiting in the wings. “Satellite 15… The Final Frontier” does what every excellent opener must: it sets the tone and cultivates anticipation. The song’s first half is simple, almost primal. Nicko McBrain’s drums are tribal and all three guitarists rev the engines on their six-string hotrods. After Bruce Dickinson’s operatically intoned first verse, the entire band kicks into overdrive and delivers a supremely satisfying bit of nostalgia.
Harris’ skills are more blatantly represented on track two, “El Dorado.” His galloping bass line might well be a methamphetamine-infused rendition of the opening riff from Heart’s “Barricuda.” Dave Murray throws the cherry on top with several sweet, progressively intense guitar solos near the track’s end. Narrative triviality aside (“Greed, lust, and angry pride / It’s the same old, same old ride”), “El Dorado” is a fine choice for a first single.
Like the vast majority of releases, The Final Frontier is not without a few lemons. “Coming Home” is a paint-by-numbers power ballad — a forgettable series of predictable arpeggios combined with ho-hum lyrical contrivances. Only an engaging solo near the song’s climax saves it from complete mediocrity. “The Alchemist,” plagued by contrived drum fills and Deliverance inspired dueling guitar work, is the worst offender. Mercifully, it’s also the shortest song.
“Mother of Mercy” is interesting because it’s where The Final Frontier permanently shifts gears. After a sluggish build-up over the song’s first verse, the band takes off in an unexpected direction around the ninety second mark. Iron Maiden sheds that old New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound and embraces a richer, more cerebral texture. Incorporating elements of progressive rock is unexpected, if not risky, but it pays off nicely in the album’s second half.
There’s a bit of an epic quality to each of the four lengthy tracks rounding out the album. Dickinson tells two engaging stories with his low-registry on “The Talisman” and “Starblind,” but “When the Wild Wind Blows” is the saddest, spookiest ballad (and one of longest songs Iron Maiden has ever recorded). It’s an appropriate finale. Each band member has an opportunity to shine with the layered multitude of instrumental solos.