..:: audio-music dot info ::..


Main Page      The Desert Island      Copyright Notice
 Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


Iron Maiden: The Final Frontier

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: EMI Records
Released: 2010.08.13
Time:
 76:34
Category: Heavy Metal
Producer(s): Kevin Shirley, Steve Harris
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.ironmaiden.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Satellite 15... The Final Frontier (Smith/Harris) - 8:40
[2] El Dorado (Smith/Harris/Bruce Dickinson) - 6:49
[3] Mother of Mercy (Smith/Harris) - 5:20
[4] Coming Home (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) - 5:52
[5] The Alchemist (Gers/Harris/Dickinson) - 4:29
[6] Isle of Avalon (Smith/Harris) - 9:06
[7] Starblind (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) - 7:48
[8] The Talisman (Gers/Harris) - 9:03
[9] The Man Who Would Be King (Murray/Harris) - 8:28
[10] When the Wild Wind Blows (Harris) - 10:59

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Bruce Dickinson - Lead Vocals
Dave Murray - Guitar
Adrian Smith - Guitar
Janick Gers - Guitar
Steve Harris - Bass, Keyboards, Co-Producer
Nicko Mcbrain - Drums

Kevin Shirley - Producer, Mixing
Jared Kvitka - Engineer
Terry Manning - Studio Technician (Compass Point Studios)
Brent Spear - Studio Technician (The Cave)
James Mccullagh - Assistant (The Cave)
Philip Scholes - Ssl Duality Technician
Bob Ludwig - Mastering
Stuart Crouch - Art Direction, Design
Andrew Yap - Art Direction, Design
Anthony Dry - Art Direction, Design
Rob Wallis - Art Direction, Design
Melvyn Grant - Cover Illustration, Working Drawings, Sketches
John Mcmurtrie - Photography
Rod Smallwood - Management
Andy Taylor - Management

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2010 CD EMI - 6477722

Recorded between 1 January - 12 February 2010 at Compass Point Studios (Nassau, Bahamas) and between 17 February - 1 March 2010 at The Cave Studios (Malibu, California).



When Iron Maiden's classic lineup famously reunited in the year 2000, their first new album, the quite excellent Brave New World, neatly reconnected both musicians and fans with the band's heritage, while simultaneously promising a prosperous future still to come. However, their next two efforts didn't fare quite as well, and whether Maiden was choosing to repeat the same moves without as much imagination or consistency on 2003's Dance of Death, or becoming bogged down in tiresome prog rock excess on 2006's desultory A Matter of Life and Death, it seemed that neither playing it safe nor taking risks was a surefire recipe for success anymore. And so the heavy metal icons took an extra year - for them, a record-breaking four - to work on their fourth post-reunion opus, and 15th career studio album overall, 2010's The Final Frontier, which, like many of their original mid-'80s classics, was recorded at legendary Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, and aimed to reestablish an ideal balance of past and future, familiarity and freshness, complexity and immediacy. By and large, this is accomplished, and not just because of the futuristic themes spread across these songs, either - nor the science fiction imagery used throughout the album's artwork, including the latest metamorphosis of the band's inseparable mascot, Eddie, this time into a hulking, green alien predator. No, there really is an unquestionable freshness about the futuristic themes and novel sonics explored by the intriguing percussive warm-up, "Satellite 15," which leads straight into the anthemic, arena-friendly opening title track; the muscularly riffed "Mother of Mercy," which recalls Bruce Dickinson's better mid-'90s solo efforts; and the remarkable "Coming Home," which is easily Iron Maiden's most convincingly executed semi-ballad since Fear of the Dark's "Wasting Love," and probably better to boot. The album's first half is rounded out by the surprisingly complex and cerebral first single "El Dorado," which was clearly written with "2 Minutes to Midnight" as a template (but isn't that good), before finally striking out with the efficient but ultimately somewhat forgettable speedster "The Alchemist," yet, all in all, this is a very impressive start. Too bad The Final Frontier's second half doesn't hold up so well, being stacked in worrisome fashion with five straight, longish compositions ranging from eight to eleven minutes in length. Even by Maiden standards, this is a tall order for fans to cope with (again!), and, sure enough, top marks are only deserved by the evocative Arthurian fantasy "Isle of Avalon," which is first out of the gate and captures all of the majesty and power you'd expect of an Iron Maiden epic, despite being no "Hallowed Be Thy Name" or "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" - a "Paschendale," maybe. The remaining five-song monoliths produce only isolated moments of excellence and, amazingly, all begin in suspiciously similar fashion: via quietly plucked, déjà vu-inducing melodies framed by synthesizers before heading off on their individual, long-winded journeys. The "moments" include a strikingly aggressive riff sequence and reminisces of Somewhere in Time contained on "Starblind," and the vaguely psychedelic harmonies nestled somewhere deep within "The Man Who Would Be King," whereas "The Talisman" and Gaelic-inspired "When the Wild Wind Blows" merely recycle spare parts, for the most part, cherry-picked and reassembled from across the Maiden canon. This late dip in quality at the mercy of the band's more-is-more philosophy definitely leaves one pining for the days when heavier, punchier, and just plain shorter songs held equal appeal for Steve Harris and company; but, in good ways and bad ways, by hook or by crook, The Final Frontier still brings Iron Maiden closer to their aesthetic legacy and triumphant year 2000 rebirth than its two predecessors. And, at this stage in their career, Iron Maiden knows that nothing is more important than giving fans - of all stripes - what they want and expect. Why mess with a winning team, after all? [The Final Frontier's special - aka "Mission" - Edition was delivered with bonus content in a deluxe package outfitted to resemble a spaceship porthole.]

Eduardo Rivadavia - All Music Guide



Völlig unbeirrt von allem, was sonst so im Heavy-Metal-Universum passiert, ziehen die Szene-Könige Iron Maiden ihr Ding durch und servieren ihren Fans auf The Final Frontier in erster Linie das, was man von ihnen erwartet. Doch bei genauerem Hinhören enthält das Album auch einige ungewöhnliche Elemente.

Vom seltsam blass klingenden Intro von "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" sollte sich niemand abschrecken lassen, denn der Rest der CD ist so gut produziert wie schon lange keine Maiden-Platte mehr. Die Klangtüftler Steve Harris und Kevin Shirley haben der 15. Studioscheibe der Eisernen Jungfrauen einen angenehm düsteren Touch verpasst, der sich hervorragend mit der betont epischen Ausrichtung der meisten Songs ergänzt. Komplexe Kompositionen wie der Titelsong, "Isle Of Avalon", "The Talisman", "Starblind" und vor allem das abschließende "When The Wild Wind Blows" kommen streckenweise noch progressiver daher als das bereits alles andere als simple Material auf A Matter Of Life And Death, während das ruhige "Coming Home" und das kompakte "The Alchemist" mit einer intensiven Atmosphäre überzeugen. "El Dorado" und "Mother Of Mercy" klingen zwar etwas unscheinbar, und ganz große Überhits sucht man auf dem Album vergeblich, als Gesamtwerk ist The Final Frontier aber auf jeden Fall im guten Bereich angesiedelt und wird keinen Maiden-Fan enttäuschen.

Michael Rensen - Amazon.de



The Final Frontier is the fifteenth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 13 August 2010 in Germany, Austria and Finland, 17 August in North America, 18 August in Japan, and 16 August worldwide. At 76 minutes and 34 seconds, it is the band's longest to date and their first since A Matter of Life and Death in 2006; that gap of four years is the longest between studio albums of Iron Maiden's recording career, although, as of October 2014, the band have not issued any new material since. Melvyn Grant, a long-time contributor to the band's artwork, created the cover art.

The album received largely favourable reviews from critics and peaked at No. 1 in 28 countries. This included the United Kingdom, where it became the band's fourth release to top the UK Albums Chart following 1982's The Number of the Beast, 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and 1992's Fear of the Dark. On top of this, The Final Frontier also charted at No. 4 in the United States, marking their highest placement on the Billboard 200, in addition to gaining the band their first Grammy award in the Best Metal Performance category for the song "El Dorado", released as a free download on 8 June 2010.

EMI released the album in most of the world, while in the United States and Canada it was released jointly by Universal Music Enterprises and Sony Music Entertainment – the successor to the Sanctuary Records/Columbia Records joint venture that had previously controlled the Iron Maiden catalogue in North America.
The Final Frontier received generally favourable reviews, with a current score of 71 on the aggregate review site Metacritic. Classic Rock praised it as "densely layered and substantial," as well as "beautifully paced and disarmingly complex" and "a fresh take on a sound that has admirably withstood three decades of fashions and fads." Kerrang! called it "a record that'll still bowl you over in a decade's time" and MusicRadar stated that "Iron Maiden have created a work full of hypnotic excitement, unconventional structure and dizzying vision...the group have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams." Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles called it "a thrilling and deeply satisfying glimpse into a brave new future for the people’s metal band," while the BBC praised the album as "a remarkable achievement," complimenting the band for "no compromises, just complexities and challenges and more moments of brilliance than perhaps even they thought they still had left in them."

Many reviewers, such as Metal Hammer, deemed it "a demanding album, but one that most Maiden fans are going to absolutely adore." The Quietus commented that "The Final Frontier takes time, it takes effort, but it's overwhelmingly brilliant. They haven’t just served up the easy option – that would have been boring for us and, more importantly you feel, boring for them." PopMatters considered the record "in some ways... the most ambitious album Iron Maiden has ever made, a 76-minute opus."

Many critics commented on where The Final Frontier rates in comparison to the band's past releases, with Consequence of Sound deeming the album "easily the best from the six-piece since 2000’s Brave New World." AllMusic agreed with this, stating that "The Final Frontier still brings Iron Maiden closer to their aesthetic legacy and triumphant year 2000 rebirth than its two predecessors." Blabbermouth.net, on the other hand, praised it as "better than Brave New World," explaining that "this is the reason Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith rejoined the band, the fulfillment of a decade of promise, and arguably the first time that Steve Harris's post-Fear of the Dark cinematic vision has been backed up with consistently strong songwriting, spot-on production, and a fire-in-the-belly performance from the whole band."

The Guardian, however, were more critical of the release, commenting that "with four songs alone clocking in at 40 minutes, The Final Frontier becomes less an exercise in experimentation than old-fashioned endurance, and the hushed-intro-bombastic-chorus dynamic begins to grate a little." Drowned in Sound agreed, commenting that "standards sink fast after ["The Alchemist"], and don't rise again for another half an hour," although going on to add that "the epic 11-minute closer, 'When the Wild Wind Blows' ... shows the subtlety and craftsmanship of the four songs that preceded it, but adds an emotional depth that they seemed to lack."

The album was ranked No. 1, No. 3, and No. 7 respectively in Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and Revolver's lists of the best albums of 2010.

Wikipedia.org
 

 L y r i c s


Currently no Lyrics available!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!