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So you’ve heard about Benjamin Breeg, have you? Benjamin Breeg represents undoubtedly the most successful marketing of any Iron Maiden album to date, and have ensured an unusual amount of publicity. Who is he? Where is he from? Who or what has he reincarnated to? These questions were answered August 28th, 2006, as A Matter Of Life And Death, Iron Maiden’s 14th studio effort, was released.
The album kicks off with a classic Maiden opener, ”Different World”, a song written by chief Harris and axe man Smith. A fast rocker with a catchy chorus, this song follow the trail of Maiden openers such as “The Wicker Man” and “ Wildest Dreams”. Nice solo, where of course the other guitars slams straight power chords. Without a doubt the best opening track since 1992s “Be Quick Or Be Dead” from the Fear Of The Dark album.
”These Colours Don’t Run” has a soft intro, then enters a hard rocking verse. The chorus is half-tempo, which is the same package as “Brave New World”. There will be jumping at the live shows here. A great mid section, where there is bound to be sing-a-long to the guitars, right before a blistering solo before going back to the soft sing-a-long theme. Another all right solo over it, and then into the classic Maiden part where Dickinson actually sings “Oooh, oooh ooooh” – we’ve heard that before lads…. And again it works! A killer tune, first war epic on the album.
Third song out is “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns”. The intro is a lot like “Paschendale”, and maybe some Tool in it as well - when the main riff attacks you, you’re stunned. Powerful, dark and mighty. Again you can hear Tool in it, especially with some of the voice effects when Dickinson starts a verse. At 2:33 the song slows down, only to build up again, and Bruce again shows why he is called “Air-Raid Siren”! After a beautiful solo, the song enters the lovely Maiden galloping rhythms we all love. Before entering the main riff, there is a killer part that takes the listeners back to Piece Of Mind. This is one of the strongest tracks on the entire album, some even claim this is one of their best songs ever. Classic Maiden for almost nine minutes!
A Gers/Harris song is out next. “The Pilgrim” is a fast rocker, but the chorus is a bit strange, the weakest chorus on the album. The rest of the song is wicked! A Fear Of The Dark era kind of song. Especially on the part after the second to last chorus, sounds a bit like “Fear Is The Key”. The song has a typical outro, repeat chorus two times, and repeat the intro, which is strange ‘cause it is the only two times you hear it, and it is to happy compared to the rest of the song.
The fifth track out of this massive album is “The Longest Day”. Galloping Harris intro, nice tunes from the axe men, and a dark voice of Dickinson sets a great mood, takes us right back to “To Tame A Land”, a journey that is worth taking. The most entertaining track so far on the album. The pre-chorus is actually far better than the chorus, but together this works out great. After 4:50 a dark instrumental section enters, and an amazing lead, followed by a harmony that will be sung over stadiums later this year.
The legacy from “Wasting Love” continues with track six, “Out Of The Shadows”. Great intro on this song, and well sung by Dickinson, resembles more “Tears Of The Dragon” than “Wasting Love”, but has a Maiden feel to it. The instrumental section on this track is pure greatness! After 3:30 comes the best part of the entire song, a bit Zeppelin style over it, and Steve plays wonderful on his bass.
The first single of the album “The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg” is next. The intro has a “Heaven Can Wait” touch combined with actually the Somewhere In Time sound. The main riff! Blows everything else away! The song demands quite few listenings, and if you do that you will probably rate this as one of the best Maiden songs. The main riff is so hard and heavy, and Dickinsons voice over it is a match made in heaven! First time listeners will find the solo section in the middle a bit odd, but this Progressive Metal will haunt you, a song that you can’t get out of your head! The chorus is also perfect; audience can easily follow Dickinson here.
”For The Greater Good Of God” - huge expectation to this Harris epic. Then again, he has created some of the best songs in Metal history, and this will probably follow that trail. Galloping bass, thundering drums, lots of tempo changes, it’s all here for 9.24 minutes! The instrumental section is what you expect from Iron Maiden, amazing lead guitars, dark and heavy Progressive riffs, hymn-a-longs with guitars, it is all there in a wonderful mix of Maiden madness! You can’t help but wondering, where could Maiden go from here?
”Lord Of Light”, dark soft intro like “Fear Of The Dark”, about 1:10 in the song a couple of guitar tricks which reminds of Tool, and then BANG, a fast rocker indeed. With a great chorus, “Lord Of Light” is a very special, yet standard Maiden track. It jumps back and forth from hard and heavy to soft and “sleepy”, and then comes a dark progressive instrumental part followed by the standard Maiden catchy instrumental part. Embarrassing ending though. Eddie’s boys know what they’re doing, and they do it extremely well!
Final track off the album is “The Legacy”. The intro is very Jethro Tull mixed with both AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, the chords from the electric boosted guitar sends chills through your spine, and when the song after 3:09 finally starts (doesn’t matter, cause the building is pure genius) it is all about Zeppelin! A perfect album closer! Doesn’t sound like anything Maiden have done earlier, except from B-sides during No Prayer For The Dying. The chorus is also magnificent! After 5:30 it is time to bang your head to a wonderful instrumental section, this part you will probably recognize from dozens of other maiden instrumental parts, but again the wholeness of the song is very exciting. A song written by Janick Gers and Steve Harris, and it has to be the best song mr Gers has co-written. If Iron Maiden decide to quit now, this would be the perfect song to accompany them leaving.
All in all, A Matter Of Life And Death is one of the very best Iron Maiden albums ever, way up there with Powerslave and Seventh Son. This is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated albums this year, and it surely does not disappoint in any way. During several interviews, Bruce Dickinson has expressed his wish to perform the entire album during their 2006 World Tour, and pray to God they will – that would guarantee another tour as memorable as the World Slavery Tour back in Iron Maidens golden years. Of course they will have to do a couple of classics as “The Number Of The Beast”, “Iron Maiden” and “The Trooper” as well, though after this massive performance nobody would feel like they missed out on something.
This IS Iron Maiden at their best!
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