Iron Maiden - Dance of death

[Rottuated]

I'd give it a 9/10.

I can hear that there are some rehashed riffs, but I think it's a step up from Brave New World. I loved Brave New World, and I like Dance of Death a lot. Chances are, if you liked Brave New World, you will like Dance of Death. The cover art sucks, but the music is great.

It takes a few listens before you can learn to like it.

 

[Tool]

I love it, it's great. I think I like it just a bit more than BNW, since I listened to it more since I got it than I did when I got BNW. [and I got BNW about a month before this one] Still both of them are great. Best songs on DoD are: No More Lies, title Track, Paschandale, and Age of Innocence.

 

[Hammer of Might]

My views...

I love the album, although I still loath the cover! It was definitely a record that took its time to mature in my mind, and my view of it changed a lot for a while.

I'm still not sure whether I like it MORE than Brave new World, because that was the first Maiden album I heard, and have an on going love affiar with it, so to speak!

I think what is interesting with this new release is that Harris seems to have taken much less of a dominating role in the writing, which to be honest I think has breathed some fresh life into their sound.

Don't get me wrong - Harris has been the single-handed creator of many of Maiden's greatest tracks, but he does tend to write quite generically. Smith in particular (with Paschendale being the obvious example) has really impressed me with this album in terms of composition, and for me he is one of the most exciting aspects of this new album.

I think the reason why this album took a while for me to establish my opinions on it is the sheer variety - there are classic sing-along moments like Rainmaker, and epic anthems like Paschendale, as well as some great head-down heavy metal at it's best!

It has managed to take a step in a slightly different direction without losing the sound and feel that I love about Iron Maiden, and that alone is a mark of it's success. Thank you Maiden for many more hours of metal heaven!

9/10

Here's to many more releases in the future!

\m/

 

[Troops]

I won't bother going to each track individually as enough people have done that already, here and elsewhere.

To be honest, I do really like it, it's stronger than Brave New World right through and probably is the best Maiden release since Seventh Son way back in '88.

I feel the three guitar attack has matured, as has the song writing to some extent. It certainly seems to have the most diverse song-writing partnerships for as long as I can remember.

My only gripe would have to be that strings are used too much, but they still aren't over-used as much as the wah-wah peddle by Metallica on the Black Album!

 

[RoCkMaN]

Its a nice album.
I did almost puke when I saw the cover though...


THe songs are pretty good although I do think the production leaves something to be desired...

I enjoy the album alot... Album of the year?... Not quite.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I listen to it a whole lot more than Killers or Piece Of Mind, I'll tell you that.

 

[Griffin-]

here's a review I wrote a week ago

Iron Maiden – Dance of Death, 2003

And the long expected as well as succeeded album is finally in the stores. For the ‘Brave New World’-fans, this is another bliss for the ears! For the diehard eighties-Maiden fans, it’s a worthy album, but most likely no more than that.

The album sounds modern and catchy, an excellent ‘Brave New World’ follow-up, you’ll probably hear a lot of resemblances. A shame of the cover though, it’s horrible. Anyway, the record starts with ‘Wildest Dreams’, a song recognisable for the people who heard this song for the first time live this summer of 2003 festivals. It’s so catchy, the people who saw Maiden twice this year will be able to sing along the second time, if not the first. It’s not exceptional, it’s just plain first-rate Iron Maiden. The second song, ‘Rainmaker’, sounds melodic, like all the other songs. The lyrics are too shallow in my opinion, nor is this an album you’ll put anything aside for, to simply listen. It’s most likely an album you’ll listen to while doing other things. However, you won’t be irritated by the fact some songs are very poor, because all of them have turned out excellent. The fifth track, ‘Dance of Death’, points out something more than a Brave New World-follow up, it’s song full of strength, and the first couple of minutes are moving in special. It flows into powerful and emotional parts, and round and about 3:00 it move towards the climax. If your curious about this album, make sure you get this song. I’d also like to point out ‘Journeyman’ in special, for the reason that this song is the only song that has more value to me. It’s not the lyrics, nor personal meanings behind it, but it’s plainly a touching ballad.

From my view, this is a ‘cosy’ album, it sounds warm, melodious and easy. See it like a fantastic book to read, but no remarkable storyline. Therefore this album amuses me to a great extend, but will certainly not be in my top 10 album-list of all time, just like I still enjoy Brave New World, but no more, nor less.

Tracklist:

1 Wildest Dreams
2 Rainmaker
3 No More Lies
4 Montségur
5 Dance of Death
6 Gates of Tomorrow
7 New Frontier
8 Paschendale
9 Face in the Sand
10 Age of Innocece
11 Journeyman


Rating 7/10

Griffin

 

[MaKaZe]

i dont like it... maiden don't have any more powerful songs, all of them sound like the ones we already heard...