Bad quality on the audio... You can tell that the speed of tape is sped up a bit. It's still cool to hear Bruce sing this song.

This also might be of interest to some people:



Lionheart, Dennis Stratton's melodic rock/AOR band that he formed after leaving Maiden and before he joined Praying Mantis in 1990. Great song, and you gotta love that video.

I love Maiden. I have to admit though I haven't listened to any of the newer albums. I "gave up" on them after "The X Factor". It wasn't a bad album, but listening to realllllly long songs that seemed to drone on and on kinda soured me. Besides, there was ALWAYS more metal to discover and I took that approach. When Bruce returned, I picked up the record but never put it on. Still havent. Heard some new stuff here and there, but never quite caught me to the point of excitement. "Piece of Mind" through "7th Son" are still in constant play here for me.

I don't know if it's really considered a "comeback" album (it was for Bruce and Adrian, anyway) but Brave New World is one of the best comeback albums EVER!

Just to chime in and say - Brave New World was awesome when it came out. Still a great album but I probably overplayed it a little bit so it's lost some of it's impact.

That said my absolute favourites as far as Maiden goes are the first two. I love the gritty, streetwise quality in Paul's voice. Amazing stuff altogether and Paul was also not that bad of singer. Could go melodic if he wanted to.

I am a die hard Iron Maiden fan...... I like all their albums, but my personal favourite is Piece of Mind - which according to me is the best album by any band any era!

Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier
Released August 17, 2010

Track listing

No. Title Music Length
1. "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" Adrian Smith, Steve Harris 8:41
2. "El Dorado" Smith, Harris, Bruce Dickinson 6:48
3. "Mother of Mercy" Smith, Harris 5:20
4. "Coming Home" Smith, Harris, Dickinson 5:52
5. "The Alchemist" Janick 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" Dave Murray, Harris 8:28
10. "When the Wild Wind Blows" Harris 10:59
Total length:
76:34

Aside from the 90's, since The Number Of The Beats was released, it's always been a big deal when Iron Maiden released a new album. In the 21st century, it's an even bigger deal since the band only puts out new albums every 3 or 4 years. When word leaked that the band had gathered in Paris to start writing the new album, expectation where high. Those expectations grew even more when it was announced that Iron Maiden had gone into the studio to record. And they exciting grew even more when word got out that they were recording the album at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas - they very same studio that Iron Maiden's monster 80's albums Piece Of Mind, Powerslave and Somewhere In Time were recorded.



As everyone knows, I am a HUGE Iron Maiden fan and I was very excited to hear the news about the new album! I also got to read Kevin Shirley's studio diaries and got a cool glimpse into the making of the album from the producer's viewpoint. Kevin records all of the basic tracks for the songs at once - the band plays together in the studio with Bruce in a vocal isolation booth. He then pieces the best performances together to make the best songs. After all the basic tracks are record, the over dubs are done and then it's on to the mixing. For this album, the mixing and final vocals where done at Kevin's home studio.

Prior to the album release, Iron Maiden released "El Dorado" as the lead off single as a free download on their website. This would be the track that they would perform live on the first leg of "The Final Frontier World Tour" to kick off in the USA and then on to Europe for festival and a few one off dates. The song is great and the tracks works incredibly well live! It is a great, punchy number!!! Even in the US, with some fickle fans that just want to hear "The Trooper" for the 1,000th time live, it went over well!

Then the video for the title track was released. A cool, sci-fi themed video about a star pilot looking for an ancient artifact being chased by Eddie. They even show Eddie's transformation into the Alien/Predator shown on the album cover. Great video, which I am sure will ignored by MTV's VMA's..... The song itself is a straight forward track which will make a great opener on the second leg of the tour.

When the album was finally released, it started to sell quickly - hitting number one in many countries. It was the highest charting Iron Maiden album in the US ever, debuting at # 4. And it is an excellent album!!!!

Satellite 15....The Final Frontier kicks off the album and is actually two songs. The Satellite 15 serves as the intro - a very different intro than Maiden has ever done before. This part of the song was actually recorded as a demo by Adrian and Bruce's vocals where later added. Adrian though the band would record the song as a whole, but Steve liked it and kept it as the intro. Very cool intro and I can see it being used as the show intro on the next leg of tour, then the band kicking in to 'The Final Frontier'.

'Mother Of Mercy' starts with a slower intro then kicks into high gear. Cool song with Bruce just nailing the high notes!!!

'Coming Home' is the album's semi-ballad. Cool song that if played back in the 80's would have the entire arena breaking out their lighters! Very cool Bruce track!

'The Alchemist' is the first Jannick song on the album after the Adrian/Steve/Bruce tracks. This one is an awesome, short, fast rocker that could easily fit on 'Powerslave' or 'Fear Of The Dark'. Heck, if this one was on 'No Prayer For The Dying', it would be the stand out track!

The album changes pace on the second half of the album and moves into the longer, more progressive songs. The first is 'Isle Of Avalon' which starts as a typical post-reunion Iron Maiden epic (which means it will be a good one!) It then moves into unexpected territory during the musical bridge - an awesome, progressive, almost 70's Rush-y (the band Rush) place and it just amazing!!!!

Next is another Adrian song, "Star Blind" - very, very cool track that picks up the tempo and the metal. Once again, the musical interlude goes into an almost jazzy, bluesy place.

Another Jannick song is next - "The Talisman", which starts with a slow intro, setting the tone of a story of people seeing sail on the high seas. The song then kicks into high gear and is an amazing song!

Davey's contribution is next, a track called "The Man Who Would Be King". This is another track that goes into places you don't expect. After the slow intro, it then moves into a faster into that sounds like something off 'Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son'. The songs sound like very familiar Maiden at this point until it moves to unexpected areas again with the choruses and solos.

Steve's epic, "When The Wild Wind Blows" is the album closer. A monster, 11 minute track that is based on a graphic novel by Raymond Burroughs called "When The Wind Blows". The lyrics tell the parts of the graphic novel, an older couple faced with the world being nuked, so they build a shelter. Then the lyrics diverge from the source material and end with a shocking ending. If you haven't heard the song or read the lyrics, I won't spoil it for you. Musically, this is a progressive piece and one of the best that Steve has ever written.

One thing that everyone loves to nit pick about with Iron Maiden is the production. Kevin Shirley has been the band's producer since Bruce and Adrian came back. Everyone seems to be more critical of his Maiden production than anything else he has ever done. Personally, I like his production - it sounds like Maiden and I think he does a good job of capturing the Iron Maiden sound. With 'The Final Frontier' he seems to have stepped it up a notch and really captured that classic Maiden sound. I am sure recording at Compass Point helped, but especially the latter songs really have the 80's Maiden sound, but with the advances that have happened in studio technology since the 80's. Kevin did a great job on this one.

So, how do I rate this one? It will be a top 5 Maiden album for me. This is one of the best they have ever done. With bands that have been around a while, I prefer to wait a year and live with the album to see where I can place it. I know it will be top 5 for sure, maybe even sneak into the number 3 slot (For me, #1 - Piece Of Mind, Number 2 - AMOLAD). I have listened to the new once surrounded by a listen to the 80's classic and it stand up right next to those albums! This is a must buy for any Maiden fan!

Thank you for updating this thread

I'm still on the fence with this album. While I enjoyed it immediately better than A Matter of Life and Death, it's allot to digest in one sitting. Clocking in at over 80 minutes, I start to tune out around the 45 minute mark. It was suggested to me to start at track 6 'The Isle of Avalon' and let it play through and that did seem to make things move a little better.

It was also suggested that Iron Maiden has moved away from their hard rock/heavy metal roots and morphed into more of a prog-rock band. I guess I can see that too.

Time will tell with me on how this album sits in Maiden's discography. There aren't any bad songs or songs I want to skip, but it's just too long of a journey from Point A to Point B for me. I think it will be an album that I'll need to be in the right frame of mind to listen to it and not the first pick when I need a Maiden fix.

THE FINAL FRONTIER may have been a bit of a tough listen at first (mostly due to its length) but once it had a chance to sink in I dug it. It's not quite as dark & gloomy as DANCE OF DEATH or A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, which are both decent enough albums in their own right, but they're the kinda thing I have to be "in the mood" to listen to.

Fave tracks: "Mother of Mercy," "El Dorado" and the title track (minus the annoying "Satellite 15" intro).

Decent album but like most have said, once the "newness" wears off I wonder how much spin time it'll get in the future.

If they'd removed the first four songs it would've been in my top ten Maiden albums. The Alchemist is killer, and the epics are simply massive. The first four tracks don't sit that well with me I'm afraid...

I liked Final Frontier but I do feel its a bit long

I love the intro, it's the rest of the song I find kinda dull.

But seriously, it's a really good album. I'm still not overly thrilled with the production, but it's much improved from the previous release. It is kind of an unwieldy release with all the long tracks, but less so than AMOLAD.

I created an edited down version for my own personal amusement...

1. Satellite 15 (just the intro, then go immediately into El Dorado)
2. El Dorado
3. Mother Of Mercy
4. Isle Of Avalon
5. Starblind
6. The Talisman (with the 2:20 intro chopped off)
7. The Man Who Would Be King
8. When The Wind Blows

That particular edit is right around 60 minutes, if you drop the last track it flows even better at a trim 49 minutes. But that's just me goofing around on the computer...

If I could write much i'd have wanted to say what you did Joker, great review. I love this album and love this stage of their career.

This album is tied with Powerslave as my favourite Maiden albums. Aside from El Dorado & Final Frontier, the rest of the album is excellent. Those two tracks aren't actually that bad, they're just lacking spirit.

I just purchased the album last night and I have only spun it once so far, but I did enjoy it and I think it is an excellent album, they have morphed into a prog band as detuned stated, a bit of a endurance test due to the length of the album but I did enjoy it.

It will take me alot of spins before I know how well it will hold up.

After jamming this for a while now i realised I didn't have a hard time sitting through it at all. It is definitely in my top 3 with POM and PS. I noticed there were no bacground vox from the band at all, a first for them me thinks.

FF is for me Final Album which i really don't like. i can't eevn start to listen other song and i'mo over.
only 1st song is for me acceptable.