It wouldn't have hurt "Frontier" to be a bit shorter.
Iron Maiden’s body of work is one of the greatest ever seen in the world of metal. From songs like “Number of the Beast” to “The Trooper”, the band’s anthems are always at or near the top of any metal fans’ list.
Since Bruce Dickinson came back into the lead singer fold back in 2000, the band has released four albums that has helped re-energize the fan base and make Maiden as big as they were in the early to mid 80’s- not bad for a band pushing past 50 years old on average. But the band’s 2006 effort “A Matter Of Life and Death”, seemed slow and prodding at times and I probably wouldn’t rank it among the band’s best.
But since that time, the band celebrated massive success with their 2008 tour and got everybody pumped up for their new album, “The Final Frontier”, with a big time tour this summer. But the big question remains, does “The Final Frontier” meet the same fate as the last album, or will it go down as one of the band’s epic masterpieces? The answer: it falls somewhere in between.
The 8 to 9 minute songs are still there, and twist and turn in a few different directions, but “The Final Frontier” may be more exciting at times than the previous album. Most have heard the searing first single “El Dorado”, which shows Dickinson’s vocals at some of their strongest- which ends up being the highlight of the album. Tracks like “The Alchemist” and “The Talisman” successfully rebound from slow intros to provide the punch that Maiden fans come to expect. The musicianship is still there, and proves that the band hasn’t phoned it in over the years.
However, some of the same issues that plagued “Life & Death” plague “Frontier”. Most of the best Maiden songs weren’t 9 and 11 minutes long, and songs like “Isle of Avalon” and the opening “Satellite 15” take too long to get off the ground, and by the time they do- the listener is lost or disinterested in those songs.
If this does become Iron Maiden’s “final” album, it will be a quality cap to the band’s illustrious career. Even though it’s better than “Life & Death”, “The Final Frontier” is a mixed bag that will probably require more than one listen to fully get into.
