Iron Maiden - new album details

peter1892

From www.ironmaidenonlineclub.com

Iron Maiden plan to release their new studio album entitled A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, in early September.

The band started writing songs at the end of 2005 after a short break from their hugely successful festival appearances in Europe and the USA. After Christmas the songs were completed and rehearsed when the band then got together with producer Kevin 'Caveman' Shirley at Sarm West Studios in London to start work on recording the backing tracks.

Kevin Shirley has now co-produced three of the bands studio albums alongside Steve Harris, as well as two of their recent Live DVD's and albums. From this the working relationship between Kevin and the band seems to get stronger and stronger. Says Kevin, "The Beast is back! I feel from the outset we all clicked on this one. We spent two months in the studio, from Go to Whoa - from Nicko's "tubs up" to final mixes and sequenced master! That's a tiny gestation period for an album. Producing Iron Maiden is like sitting in the head and driving one of those mammoth automatons from Star Wars or Saturday morning cartoons! And there's nothing that can stop it!"

"I feel incredibly privileged to have been around to see this album born and breathe life. There have been only a couple of occasions in my career when the ENTIRE process of recording felt so complete - and it is on display here."

As on previous projects all of the tracks were performed live and together in one room. No click tracks or computer tightening or manipulation has happened at any stage of the recording.

Says Steve Harris," I think in many ways this has been the easiest album in terms of recording that we've ever done. The whole process of writing through to recording was very natural. I think in terms of the material we've also pushed our boundaries yet again and I think it will please our fans but also really surprise a lot of people as well. The sound we've managed to get is very powerful for a Maiden record and all of us have pushed ourselves in our own ways to create something that we're all immensely proud of and I think working as quickly as we did with Kevin really was part of that process. We simply can't wait to take this out on the road. We've played some great shows and had a lot fun recently introducing some of our older songs to a new generation of fans. However for us personally we're incredibly excited about getting out and performing these new tracks."

Says Bruce Dickinson,"This album has to be our best since working with Kevin. There is such a wide scope of musicianship on this album and in parts this album is truly epic. I thought with the likes of Paschendale from the last studio album that we could only hope to surpass that but having now heard the album back as well as sitting with a few select people and hearing their reactions as well I truly believe we have managed it. Every one of us has put everything into this record and it's really paid off. However we've had such fun making it that it's almost difficult to believe what we've managed to achieve in the time it took."

The full track listing is as below.

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

1. Different Worlds (Smith/Harris) 4.17
2. These Colours Don't Run (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 6.52
3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 8.44
4. The Pilgrim (Gers/Harris) 5.07
5. The Longest Day (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.48
6. Out Of the Shadows (Dickinson/Harris) 5.36
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (Murray/Harris) 7.21
8. For The Greater Good of God (Harris) 9.24
9. Lord Of Light (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.23
10. The Legacy (Gers/Harris) 9.20

The band have just announced tour dates in Japan and the majority of the European dates at the end of 2006 are already sold out.
However please check the details of all of these on www.ironmaiden.com for latest information on ticket availability and for details of tickets just released from Production holds.

Doctor J

Didn't think much of Dance Of Death m'self, so I'll hope this is a step forward. I remain cautiously optimistic

peter1892

I liked both 'Dance Of Death' & 'Brave New World' a lot, so hopefully this new album will continue the improvement in the band's output since Bruce & Adrian returned to the fold. I'm really looking forward to both the album & the tour.

crazy angel

cool! cant wait, didnt even know they were working on a new album.

byte

I thought Dance of Death was OK. I don't have Brave New World though.

I look forward to this new album.

Ronan|Raven

I loved dance of death, some great tracks on it. Be interesting to hear how this effort turns out.

tj-music.com

Never really liked "Dance of Death" - too slick if you know what I mean. Not raw enough. On the other hand Maiden has never let me down as their songs are usually better than those of most of the other bands around.

Civilian_Target

Brave New World was meh, but I thought Dance of Death was excellent, and saw Maiden back on form. Lets hope that form hasn't changed!

pbsuxok1znja4r

Whether it's down to production or just having three guitarists, something about Brave New World and Dance Of Death feels heavier than any other Maiden albums. I think they're better for it. I just hope they've progressed a little in sound so it doesn't feel like yet another new album with the same old songs.