I never knew it wasn't mastered and Bruce's vox were moslty first take, it makes me appreciate his vox on this album more.

After being slightly disappointed with Dance Of Death I had some higher hopes for this one. This turned out to be not only a great album, but I would guess that since it came out I've played this album more than any Maiden record that I own.

This record is I think is so far the pinnacle of Maiden's newer style. It is most definitely not a singles album and in this case that's a good thing. I think it's just about the most cohesive album they've made, it just begs to be listened to from beginning to end.

After the "reunion" with Bruce and Adrian, Iron Maiden have continued to increase their popularity. They are now one of the few classic metal bands that enjoy respect also in the mainstream music press, gaining fans widely outside the common metal communities. And with this new CD, the third studio effort since the "comeback", they seem to have become the biggest metal act around. It is rather strange though that the mainstream suddenly lend their ears to a band that has been around for 30 years, and have never backed away from the musical formula they have had since day one. They have always sounded like Iron Maiden, no matter what year it was, or no matter who was in the band. Some might say that this is more of a return to the 80's sound they had, but did they have these long progressive songs in the mid-80's? NO! I'd say that 'A Matter Of Life And Death' is more of a logical follow up to 'Brave New world' and 'Dance Of Death' than it is to let's say 'Piece Of Mind'. It's simply yet another Iron Maiden album. The lads have delivered one of their strongest albums. I have to agree with that. But there is nothing groundbreaking new with it, nor is it a nod back to their heydays. There are no "The Trooper" or "Run To The Hills" here, so the galloping favorites from back then are not present. And at first I had a hard time finding songs that I instantly grew familiar with. But as is the case with many timeless classics, repeated listens will let you digest it's content, and a wonderful world of stellar music opens up. I'm so glad to say that there are no bad tracks on this CD. All of the material sounds fresh on every listen. I also find myself changing favorites now and then, as new details are popping into my head. I like the flow of the album, and the overall feel. The boys have done an outstanding job with arrangements, and the "live" recording of the album have really captured the band at their best. There have been some things said about the lyrical content of it being darker than usual. But if you watch the DVD that comes with this Limited Edition, you will get a rundown of every single track on the CD, and the meaning behind them. What some people call satanic, is the lyrical author's idea of a fun twist of context. Besides, what is Iron Maiden without a little controversy, right? 'A Matter of Life and Death' is a contributor to a top 5 spot on my 2006 list of favorites. My only complaint is the cover art. Why on earth can't they use Derek Riggs again.
Killer tracks: All of them, but "The Greater Good of God" tops them all.

I found AMOLAD to be flat out amazing from the get go and it's just gotten better with age, unlike Dance Of Death. Everything is in place, everyone is on and they wrote some great, epic, songs that work on all levels. Sometimes I can almost convince myself this is my favorite album by them.

I liked AMOLAD from the git-go. Once again I was a geek, I threw my son in the car and took him to Walmart with me to buy a copy of the album on the first day of release (I believe I said something to the effect of "We got a tradition going now, dude!" haha), I dug it right off the bat. Like some of y'all have said already, it's not something you can just 'throw on' the stereo, it's the kind of album you have to be in the mood for.

I saw Maiden on their brief U.S. tour for this album in the Fall of 2006, when they were taking the unusual step of playing the AMOLAD album in its entirety. A controversial decision to be sure, I personally enjoyed the show but then I got in for nothing (because my reporter friend had gotten comp tickets and brought me along as his "plus one")... if I'd paid $65 for my ticket like the other peeps I doubt I would've been as forgiving. Although I gotta say, hearing the album live made it really "click" with me. When I first bought it I listened to it a few times, put it on the shelf. After seeing the show, I was prompted to give it more spins and really give it the attention it deserved.

My fave tracks would be "Benjamin Breeg," "For the Greater Good Of God," and "Brighter than a Thousand Suns."

By the way, I understand the title "A Matter of Life and Death" was inspired by a 1946 film of the same name starring David Niven:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038733/

According to the IMDB entry, it's about "A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court."

I came across it on Turner Classic Movies about a week ago, unfortunately it was just coming to an end so I saw very little of it.

Iron Maiden - Flight 666: The Original Sountrack

Manny asked me to do the review for this one, since he doesn't have it.


It looks like Iron Maiden have released yet another live album, but with Flight 666, this is the case and more. Flight 666 is the soundtrack to the documentary, Flight 666 made by Sam Dunn who made Metal - A headbanger's journey and Global Metal, both of which are GREAT documentaries. In the movie Flight 666, he has made a GREAT documentary of the first leg of Iron Maiden's somewhere back in time tour. This tour, based on the 1984 World Slavery tour give an excellent look into life on the road with Iron Maiden, only this time instead of tour buses they fly between gigs in a modified 757 flown by Capt Bruce Dickenson and the plane is called Ed Force One. A contest was held with the band's fan club to name the plane and the winning name was selected - obvously a take off (pun intended) of Air Force One. This is the soundtrack to this movie - if you haven't seen the movie, buy it or rent it. It is excellent. One interesting fact - the weekend before it was released, it aired on MTV's high def only channel, Paladium and the channel got its highest ratings in the history of the channel. On to the CD review:

The soundtrack is the set list of the first leg of the massive Somewhere Back In Time world tour. Each song is from a different city that Iron Maiden played on the tour. At first, I didn't like the fact the songs "drop" between tracks, but now it makes sense as each song is a memoir of the shows. The setlist is comprised of songs from the band's classic era in the mid to late 80's (with the exception of crowd favorite Fear Of The Dark). The set list/tack list is as follows:

Churchhill's speech
Aces High
Two Minutes To Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
The Number Of The Beast
Can I Play With Madness
The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Run To The Hills
Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden
Moonchild
The Clairvoyant
Hallowed Be Thy Name

And what a great set list is was!!!!! Yes, it includes the tracks the band always has to play, but great great live recording of songs not released with all three guitarist.

The CD shows what Iron Maiden still have at their age - energy. You can hear the energy on this CD. All of the live performances are amazing. Bruce's vocals are top notch. Steve and Nicko's playing is TIGHT. Adrian, Dave and Jannick sound GREAT! The three guitarist add a fuller sound to the tracks!

The mix is amazing - Kevin Shirley has done a great job mixing this album. Personally, I perfer the DTS 5.1 mix on the Blu Ray and that sounds even more amazing and the cowrd is much louder during the sing along parts that on the CD and makes you feel like you are at the show.

Song wise, Powerslave has the added keys to the chorus that were played during the first leg.

My personal favorite track from this CD is Rime Of The Ancient Mariner as I was at the gig that this recording is from. It is a GREAT personal memoir of a GREAT show.

How does this live album strack up against the others? Well, for me it is right after Live After Death (what a CLASSIC album!!!). The difference is that the performances are actually BETTER than live after death! The band sound awesome, fewer mistakes when playing (as the norm with Iron Maiden, this album is LIVE with out the studio overdubs) and Bruce's singing is even better than the classic, amazing platter of sizzling metal know as Live After Death.

If you don't have this CD, I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend the Blu Ray or 2 DVD version Flight 666 as they both contain the complete concert footage of all songs as a bonus.

Death On The Road-The first time I heard this I thought it was a lackluster performance but now I think that it might have been the MP3 Player and Speaker I had at the time. I listened to it a few nights ago and have changed my mind. It is a great live album and show Maiden at their best. Even Lord Of The Flies sounds better than the first time I heard this. However, and many a Maiden fans would probably flog me for this, I prefer Blaze singing that particular song. It think his deeper voice works better on that (Bruce's changing from a deeper voice on the verses to a higher voice on the pre chorus doesn't fit the song IMO). Not the best live album but a decent one none the less (though only good for the songs not found on other live albums-the usual live Maiden fare is better on other ones).

A Matter Of Life And Death-Like all Maiden albums I never found myself disliking this album however, it didn't grab me very much on the first few listens. The progressiveness of the album demands repeat listenings. While it is low on my rankings of Maiden albums I like it a lot better than the first time. I don't listen to this as often as other Maiden albums (I'll probably give it another spin here w/in the next few days) but when I do it's a great listen. My favorite songs are These Colors Don't Run, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, The Longest Day, and For the Greater Good of God. Benjamin Breeg is perhaps my favorite from the whole album mainly becuase something about it is different from your usual Maiden song (in a good way).

Flight 666-Great live album and I agree it is right after Live After Death in line of great Maiden live albums (I rank it equal to Rock In Rio). Maiden sounds more energized than ever, Bruce's voice sounds great, and they add new flare to old classics. This kind of makes me mad that I didn't get to see them during that tour (a 6 hour drive while working two jobs was not plausable at the time). I have yet to see a Bruce led Maiden and that one was one I was really hoping to see. I just hope that when I finally see a Bruce and Maiden performance they show the same energy they did during that tour.

Saw Meal - A Headbanger's Journey again last night (it was aired on Swedish national boradcasting), and it made me wanna see this docu too. Think I'll go out and buy it tomorrow.

Thank you, Joker for reviewing 'Flight 666'. That ends the Iron Maiden thread til their next release anyway. Thanks again for all the opinions on various albums and I look forward to all the future discography threads.

Just finished watching Flight 666. It was pretty cool. thats all I have to say haha. Great Thread Manny!

I recently did get Flight 666. Pretty good documentary. I was expecting some footage of what the guys do at home and all that other personal stuff, but realized it's a documentary about the tour. But, it's good, anyway.

AMOLAD is a very fine album. It definatley is a disc you have to 'listen to'... Background music it isn't. There is a lot of great material, but I find this album doesn't make into my disc player as much as 'Dance of Death' or 'Brave New World' for that matter....

When AMOLAD came out I played it a lot. I pre-ordered got the t-shirt and all, but perhaps it requires to much to 'listen to it' for me. You can't just 'hear it'....

'For the Greater Good of God', 'Reincarnation of Benjamin Bregg', 'The Legacy' are my favorites here. Progressive but they have a lot of melody. Yet each of those tunes are over what... 6 or 7 minutes each, not stuff you listen to on the way to the store and back, y'know...

The only other criticism I have is, can the next album start with a song that sounds DIFFERENT then the last three..... If you play 'Different World', 'Wildest Dreams' and 'the Wicker Man' there is a sameness to the songs. Yes I know Adrian wrote 'em and maybe that lends to there 'samey ness' in my ears.... 'Wicker' is definately the best of the three, with 'Different' bringing up the rear.....

Aces High doesn't sound like Eagles Dare or Somewhere in Time or even 'The Sign of The Cross'.....

Still love the mighty Maiden, except Rush I more cd's of Maiden then any other artist....

I just had to post this... Bruce's audition for Maiden, on tape. He's never sounded this good again imo, and I might just like this version more than the original.