Here's my song-by-song:
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The style is nothing that should surprise anyone who has been paying any attention at all to Iron Maiden for the last 15 years. But I think the melodies and the hooks and the atmospheres are just so perfect for my ears; in a week's time, I have become more intimately familiar with this set of songs than I have in 4, 7, or 10 years with their previous albums. I could easily recite the tracklisting and hum a bit from every song if required to.
So let's go song-by-song, a tradition inspired by very few bands besides Iron Maiden. I even give -out-of-10 ratings, where 10/10 is reserved for "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and "The Thin Line Between Love and Hate".
Satellite 15... The Final Frontier: Two songs mashed into one track. Even though it's a single lyrical concept (a man dying alone in space, echoing Armageddon's brilliant "Crossing the Rubicon"), it's really odd they didn't make them two separate tracks. Just more of Maiden's awesome "you're gonna listen to this the way we want you to" arrogance, perhaps. Anyone referring to "Satellite 15..." as an "intro" doesn't know how to listen to music. It's entirely its own piece of music, and it's actually longer than "The Final Frontier" part. It definitely takes an experimental view of what a "song" is, almost the point where it's hard to believe that it was composed by Iron Maiden. The squalling guitars, pulsing bass, double-kick drums and fragmented atmosphere are things we've never really heard from Maiden. "The Final Frontier" is then entirely conventional, but a good song, and it gets all the repeating-chorus complaints out of the way right up front, because there is no such repetition to be found in the next 68 minutes. 8/10 for "Satellite 15" and 7/10 for "The Final Frontier"
El Dorado: I listened to it twice in YouTube form before the album came out and thought it was ok, but beyond digging the "Barracuda" riff, couldn't really figure it out. Liked it a little more when I saw it live, but from the first time hearing it in the context of the album, I loved it. It has a great retro groove, and a slight sliminess that fits very appropriately with its message about con men. 8/10
Mother of Mercy: A dark but driving "soldier of war" song that should have been on 'A Matter of Life and Death', and it would have been one of the best songs of that album. The sliding, strident chorus is unique and brilliant. The best "compact" song that Iron Maiden has done in a decade or more. 9/10
Coming Home: A nice uplifting soaring ballad. I bet they wish they had it in time for the 'Flight 666' DVD to play in the background of all the flying-airplane shots. It probably won't replace Helloween's "Goin' Home" or Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "This Christmas Day" as my go-to "coming home" songs though. 7/10
The Alchemist: This album's version of "The Pilgrim", "New Frontier", "The Fallen Angel". Yes, it's direct and nice to rock along with, and although that makes it stick out like a sore thumb on this album, it doesn't do anything to make a long-term impression on my brain. 6/10
Isle of Avalon: The beginning of the truly "epic" half of the album, and this is the biggest and most complex of the epics, covering broad shifts in tempo and atmosphere. The melodies and atmosphere throughout are just gorgeous. 9/10
Starblind: A driving, jerky main riff and an winding 15-note figure for the verse vocal melody are what make this song stand out, and the nearly 8 minutes pass in no time. 8/10
The Talisman: "Rime of the Ancient Mariner Pt. II"? This is probably the most conventional of the "epics" making up the second half of this album, but it's constructed so perfectly, and the melodies are so excellent, it's easily one of the best. 9/10
The Man Who Would Be King: One of the most 'The X Factor'/'Virtual IX' songs on the album. It doesn't have an overtly "epic" feel, so the eight-and-a-half minute length serves mostly to induce a melancholic feeling, and give a very unusual psychedelic solo section room to breathe. 8/10
Where the Wild Wind Blows: A master-class in restrained, confident songwriting from Steve Harris. In the 11-minute running time, there isn't a single moment that sticks out and says "look at me!" There are only a half dozen or so different bits, and none of them break any ground. But they all come together so perfectly, the tempos and the melodies matching exactly with the waiting tension evoked by Dickinson's low-key delivery of the lyrics, that the 11 minutes are just long enough to give us some empathy for the protagonists of the story. 9/10
(Well, maybe in Megadeth's case, they have been on a bit of an increase in quality lately, from what I hear from others). Though, you know what I mean.
