album review : The Final Frontier (2010) – Iron Maiden

album : The Final Frontier

artist : Iron Maiden

genre : Heavy Metal

year : 2010

With utmost respect to one of the most widely heard and adored heavy metal band, I hereby impart that The Final Frontier is not anything more than ordinary. I am sure those of us who have admired Maiden for their epics do not care how they sound here but there is something called expectation that is synonymous to murder. The Final Frontier is diluted by portions that in a way lightens their touch to a genre the band has been ever expanding. Having just spilled that, I sense progressive material awaiting you.

The wait for the album seemed longer than it should have been mainly because there wasn’t any other major release as this one to ease out things. Opening the album with a Satellite 15… The Final Frontier, they take a good four and a half minutes to introduce the subject. But they know their thing well and while Bruce is singing The Final Frontier he does manage to take you (somewhere) back in time. At over eight minutes the title track is a message of the band’s arrival. Satellite 15 it is.

Track two is the single El Dorado that was out some months back. Not an earthquake material but nevertheless there had to be a teaser track that gave out the band’s next idea. Mother Of Mercy has a vocal intro and a classic Maiden start. Good on melody and soft on soul, song three manages to keep you within the reach. Mother Of Mercy and the next track Coming Home put across the feel good factor. There is lots more to follow.

The Alchemist is very much what you have heard before. If Maiden‘s in your blood then you might even mistaken it for a particular old song. Up next is my favorite from the album. Isle of Avalon has a dark mystery surrounding it and that is what I felt when I heard The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg. Even today they make nine minutes seem short. It has the best solo on the album.

The album could have done without Starblind and I mean it. The Talisman too does not do the trick for me. The tides haven’t turned yet as the last twenty minutes of the album are still remaining. The last two tracks namely The Man Who Would Be King and When The Wild Wind Blows restore the glory back and I cannot believe that Maiden‘s fifteenth studio album has already ended. The band did their part though, they made it as lengthy as they could.

I really hope The Final Frontier is not their last studio release as there is some fun even in waiting for their albums. Comparison is inevitable and so The Final Frontier is more of a laid-back effort by Iron Maiden but they are still standing strong and they still kick your ass.

Rating : 3/5

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