New Iron Maiden album
 

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




I'll bet £10 million on Different Worlds being the first single .... looking foward to this one!

Sounds great. Can't wait. :D

Opening tracks and shortest track as well... yeah, most likely.
Any words on the release date of the single?

Mmmm, Nicko.

Crap, now I should say something relevant.

I'm just recently getting into Maiden. But yeah, this should be good.

He looks like a troll. With a really flat nose... :)

God. I love his flat nose.

I have a drummer thing. So I love Nicko, and all his troll-ness. And his big hands.

Okay. I love him too, but mostly because of his drumming. :)

The song names sound like they have potential. For guitars Iron Maiden are great but I just can't get into Dickenson's voice much, he sounds too medevil which is a weird way to descibe a singing voice but thats how he comes across. Hope the album is good for all those getting it, my mate loves them so I'll inform him on the release and titles of the songs.

The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg is infact gonna be the first single, which means I lose £10 million :( It's due out mid- August

Well, questionable probably, but definitely looks better than Dance of Death.

This just in: lyrics from the new album (got it from some other forum):

It's on www.ironmaiden.com. It's just the chorus but it's authentic!

1. Different World (Smith/Harris) 4.17
We live in Different World
We live in Different World
We live in Different World
We live in Different World

2. These Colours Don't Run (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 6.52

Cause these colours don't run!
Cause these colours don't run!
Cause these colours don't run!
Cause these colours don't run!
Cause these colours don't run!
Cause these colours don't run!

3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 8.44

It's brighter than a thousand suns
It's brighter than a thousand suns
It's brighter than a thousand suns
It's brighter than a thousand suns


4. The Pilgrim (Gers/Harris) 5.07

The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim

5. The Longest Day (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.48

This is the longest day.
This is the longest day.
This is the longest day.
This is the longest day.
This is the longest day.
This is the longest day.

6. Out Of the Shadows (Dickinson/Harris) 5.36

Out of the Shadows
Out of the Shadows
Out of the Shadows
Out of the Shadows
Out of the Shadows
Out of the Shadows

7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (Murray/Harris) 7.21

Benjamin Breeg
Breeg
Breeg
Breeg
Breeg
Breeg
Breeg
Breeg
Breeg
Breeg

8. For The Greater Good of God (Harris) 9.24

For the greater good of God
For the greater good of God

9. Lord Of Light (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.23

Lord Of The Light
Lord Of The Light
Lord Of The Light
Lord Of The Lighttttttttttttttttt!

10. The Legacy (Gers/Harris) 9.20

The Legacyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy y!

I am not impressed by this song and I'm a huge Maiden fan. That song has one cool riff and that's about it.

Maiden's HUGE!!!

and this new albums Rocks!!

\m/

So anyone got this? I just finished listening to it through for the first time,and while it may not throw up any incredible surprises, it does seem for the most part pretty strong. There's some bits that I'm not too sure about: the opening song Different Worlds didn't grab my attention all that much, and I'm still not too keen on The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg, but it's starting to grow on me a little bit. It's really hard for me to listen to this album in an unbiased way though, seeing as Dance Of Death is my favourite Maiden album that I own, and so at the moment I'm just comparing the two. What does anyone else think of it?

I've listened the album a couple of times now and it definitely still has to grow on me. When I listen the whole album it's still all sort of a blur, not really a song that stands out a lot, although I very much liked Brighter Than A Thousand Suns ever since the first listen. But I haven't had the time to listen to the album with all my attention yet either.

I will see Maiden live in 2 months from now, by that time I certainly have a better opinion about the album :).

Without a doubt this album is a grower some very strong songs on there,i wouldint say its there best album IMO there best was seventh son but its a good album and ill go see them in december when they play here....i think i read somewehere that there goin to play the whole album live i think i was bruce that said it

Awesome album, much better than Dance Of Death although nothing on here quite reaches the heights of Paschendale. Much less patchy than recent efforts and full of classic songs The Longest Day, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns and For The Greater Love Of God are early favourites.

Their best album since Bruce returned to the band. The guitars are awesome (as they always are) and the production is much better than before. For the Greater Good Of God is a classic. I just love the way they have changed over the years. More progressive and the music has so many layers in it. Love the album, love the band.
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And I thought my BJ concert in OKC was bad with 8 freaking HAND songs, Maiden is about to top that by playing the entire freaking new album (which isn't that great) for my show in Detroit. Sigh.

Memo to artists: if your album hasn't released a 'classic' status, do not play it in its entirety. Especially if you have > 5 albums.

^ And I, on the other hand, would die to see this show live, especially with all those fresh new songs in the setlist!

Never mind that I only have two (count them) IM albums by now, Powerslave and the new one and that I have never seen the band live. Powerslave has great nostalgia value for me as I loved listening to it back in the 80s, and when I got it on CD about two years ago, I found that it still holds up remarkably well. I then got the new album, when people started raving about the progressiveness of it. "Should be right up my alley", I thought, and indeed it was, I can't stop listening to it! The textures are awesome and just to hear The Legacy live would be such a thrill.

I've meant to get some of the other classic albums from the 80s for a long time now but this new effort has finally made me resolute in getting them, lol.

AMOLAD has already gone platinum in Finland and for a good reason if you ask me :)

That's the spirit :-) Up the Irons
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I'd also consider Brave New World, one of the more recent albums, it has some excellent stuff on there. Having said that Piece Of Mind is a must as is Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son and Number Of The Beast. I'd avoid No Prayer For The Dying and Fear Of The Dark though, I can see why Bruce left after those two albums, he sounds pretty tired on them and songs in the main are quite weak. I'd also consider Chemical Wedding which is a brilliant Dickinson solo album featuring Adrian Smith on guitar. It was his last album before they both re-joined Maiden and you can see why they wanted them back after this classic metal album.

ion maiden suck and bj rule!

Your mom sucks and Pamela Anderson rules.

Once again you bring the awesome weight of your intelligence to the debate. Iron has an 'r' in it by the way.

Iron Maiden rule and bj's rule especially off Pamela Anderson.

Sorry for the late reply, but yeah, I will surely get the albums you mentioned first up there, especially SSOASS, plus a whole lot from Bruce himself as I just can't get enough of his voice these days...and yes, Chemical Wedding is high on my wishlist due to the rave reviews I've heard about it :) Oh, and I did expand my Maiden collection with Somewhere in Time yesterday -not as strong a record as I had hoped, but still very listenable indeed. I certainly think AMOLAD is a much stronger album, though ;)

I'm a happy bunny now because I am going to see them in concert next month after all, managed to still get a ticket for one of the three practically sold-out concerts held in Maiden-crazy Finland, lol. I'll be there rocking with 12 000+ other people so it should be a great experience!