Matthew Ritchie
It was previously noted by Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris that he thought Iron Maiden would only make fifteen studio albums. With a four year gap between The Final Frontier, Iron Maiden’s newest album, and the previous, A Matter of Life and Death, it seemed like the metal giants were set to conclude their journey through rock.
Which is why the fact that this album has a space theme to it is kind of odd, yet entirely makes sense. When you’ve done everything, the final frontier to experience would, naturally, be space., At the same time, seeing the Iron Maiden zombie, Evil Eddie, in alien form stabbing another alien astronaut through his helmet with a fork on top of a space station is pretty weird. But yet again, this is Iron Maiden, a band whose main thematic focus centres around things like battling on steeds, rocking hard, satan and mythological creatures.
“The Final Frontier” starts out on an unusual note for the band with propulsive hypnotic drums that seem like Iron Maiden are jumping on the Nine Inch Nails/Industrial rock band wagon sixteen years too late. After five minutes of dreck, the band kicks into a moderate tempo of classic metal riff-age and lyrics that describe a space man exploding in space and looking back on a fulfilling life.
Second track and lead single “El Dorado” is where the album really gets going. With a bass-heavy gallop that recreates the western frontier as a metal loving battle zone, Iron Maiden get into a classic metal groove.
The album continues along this format delivering steady rock in pure Iron Maiden fashion. But this is where the album’s fault lies.
If you aren’t into 80’s metal or any kind of classic hard rock you will be unimpressed by this record. The tones stay mostly the same on the instruments as the album switches back and forth between metal balladry and hard rock. The lyrics are all somewhat similarly themed.
However, there is almost universal consent in classic rock and heavy metal circles that this is classic Iron Maiden and will delight all fans of the U.K band.
If you’re a fan of the band and have followed their extensive career, this record is probably going to be awesome in your car stereo. But if you’re not familiar with their work at all, pick up one of their many studio or live albums to get a taste of the band.
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