silktempest's Full Review: Dance of Death by Iron Maiden
IRON MAIDEN was ready to prove its relevance back in 2003. After the Bruce Dickinson/Adrian Smith reunion they had released Brave New World, heads and shoulders above the Blaze Bailey years but falling short of the classic status.
Dance of Death frustrated some of those fans waiting eagerly for another Powerslave. But many people preferred a new incursion through the Progressive sonorities of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son than a predictably failed attempt to streamline the band's sonority.
After the golden years (1980-1988) IRON MAIDEN alternated subpar streamlined releases (No Prayer For The Dying, The X-Factor) with filler-prone Progressive albums (Fear of the Dark, Virtual XI). Irrespective of the singer in tow (Bruce Dickinson, Blaze Bailey) the band tried to overcompensate for their ageing performances with aggressive, then intricate, compositions. When they lacked a great singer (Bailey) both attempts were futile. With Dickinson onboard we had the lukewarm No Prayer... and the uneven - but sparsely wonderful - Fear....If we count Brave New World as a streamlined MAIDEN - next to Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time and Piece of Mind, that makes sense - thus Dance of Death is the next Progressive in line.
With DREAM THEATER producer Kevin Shirley onboard there's a palpable epic sense underpinning the proceedings. With Dickinson and 3 (!) guitarists IRON MAIDEN's sonic melting pot borders ubiquity. A tendency to overstretch compositions makes sense; epic production values, too. There is more then a fair share of filler. The band is not that successful in the streamlined numbers - generic and "too short" for their increasingly epic compositions. But given the adequate length, IRON MAIDEN shines in spots, as in Fear of the Dark. They have virtuosity and they played together for a long time; Steve Harris' commanding bass as efficient as ever, Nicko McBrain's robust drumming more prominent than a decade before and the rousing trio of guitarists - Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers - shares space and occasionally engenders a nice synergy.
There's some disparity between form and content here, as the band tries to incorporate as many influences from the second and third generation of their copycats. The bizarre sleeve - which seems contemporary due to 3D computer modelling but seems weird and artificial, not haunting - is an adequate translation of that fruitful contradiction.
Wildest Dreams kicks the door with McBrain echoing THE RAMONES' one-two-three-four call to arms. Surprise? Check out Iron Maiden, the debut's sleeve. This band was a Heavy Metal alternative to, but didn't live far enough from, Punk Rock back in 1977. This back-to-basics approach reminiscent of records such as No Prayer For The Dying usually meant a lacklustre performance for latter-day IRON MAIDEN - especially in what comes to straightforward Gers replacing the more accomplished and subtle Smith. Here, fortunately, the band plays in tandem, with no major imbalances, polishing the edges of Dickinson's ferocious moves. 3 guitars engender some rambunctious soloing but the most noticeable instrument is commander Harris' ever-reliable bass. Sometimes expectations are met even though innovation is not reached.
Intricate single Rainmaker is the next offering, in the best "lighter" vein of Dickinson/Smith partnerships (but Harris is also present). With melodic licks (nicely out of time) adorning a basic New Wave of British Heavy Metal lead guitar assault, the band tries to tie past and present in new, accomplished ways. With more room to breathe, Dickinson's prose starts to unfold their virtues. But the extended (beyond necessity) chorus robs momentum. Smith's shimmering solo recaps some of the bravest initial motifs. But eventually what follows is a by-the-book triple guitar assault, lacking subtlety. It sounds IRON MAIDEN aiming at...HELLOWEEN.
No More Lies is a more interesting spawn of this new IRON MAIDEN line-up, with Ancient melodies bouncing back from To Tame A Land, Alexander The Great, Genghis Khan and even Blaze Bailey's unusually satisfying The Clansman. Dickinson finally sounds like he had a solo career with texture and subtlety before MAIDEN's reunion - and after all, he unleashes the Air Raid Siren in a great, minimalist chorus, just screeching the song's title backed by muscular McBrain. What sounds like string sections (Shirley's layers of synths) are adequate for providing room for 3 guitarists to display their abilities, showing that new MAIDEN needs more room for more players, less synergy than parallel collaboration. Murray's wondrous restrained soloing overlaps with Harris' stronghold to carve another memorable MAIDEN melody, the high mark consolidated by Smith's quicksand solo. Finally, an addition to, not a mere reiteration of, MAIDEN' canon. No more HELLOWEEN. And there's more to the song than the soloing, with venomous Dickinson and McBrain returning for another massive showdown.
An aggressive row of Historical themes starts rearing their age-old heads with the epic Montsegur - a strong candidate for IRON MAIDEN's oddest song title ever. Relentless guitars and Dickinson with his penchant for epics, The Duellists comes to mind. It sounds good on paper. But this new MAIDEN needs room to breathe. Just unleashing the beast is no assurance that the outcome will sounds distinct from an amorphous mass of disparage sonic shots. On the verge of losing focus, MAIDEN carves a decent chorus, Dickinson manages to sound melodic and aggressive and not losing a single note (Sun & Steel and Quest for Fire come to mind) but most of the track is just an onslaught, a meat grinder reminiscent of one of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner's riffs, just played faster and less interestingly. Solos abound, to the delight of guitar shredders. Eventually Gers has the upper hand, with an interesting melodic motif that converges to the main riff and reverbs in Dickinson's golden throat. In parts the song sounds as IRON MAIDEN firing at all cylinders. Walking on a tightrope of aggression, what halts the proceedings towards a major statement. It remains an imbalanced minor gem. Live it may be polished.
The 8-plus minutes title track Dance of Death provides the aforementioned room for the band's untamed virtuosity to spread. With sustained tension provided by Murray and Smith's trading clear-dark licks and another exquisite minor notes' melody adorning Dickinson's narrative of obscure dark motifs, we are ready for the great step beyond, to something comparable to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Hallowed Be Thy Name or even Alexander the Great. 3 minutes on and a beautiful Scottish melody unfolds, with 3 guitars in tandem, following Harris' lead. One gets the impression that Bailey's interregnum has left some marks on MAIDEN's sonority. Another extended chorus robbing power from release...Another fine soloing, a mature IRON MAIDEN toying with what bands like RHAPSODY, STRATOVARIUS and GAMMA RAY did the last 15 years. But indulgence reigns. 5 minutes and another extended soloing follows, Smith duelling with Murray and Gers for the longest lick, the largest melody and the most textured of all approaches. What is texture for a Heavy Metal band momentarily deprived of aggression? A moment of complacency. 7 minutes on and if you think DREAM THEATER has extended-beyond-belief soloing, wait and see...Symphonic MAIDEN not always delivers the goods. It could have been great and it is just good, virtuous Progressive Heavy Metal. Dickinson still returns for another reflexive moment - showing that his solo career has found a place in MAIDEN once for all.
Gates of Tomorrow - another Progressive epic? No, more surprises. IRON MAIDEN gets closer to AC/DC, with minimalist, skeletal, insistent riffing courtesy of Gers. One of the most enthusiastic songs from the band in years only falls flat with Dickinson's subpar delivery. He sounds disinterested thru and thru, in his least inspiring A Real Live One days. Only in chorus he regains that spark that made him legend. Until there, the band had lost the AC/DC motif but kept the dynamics going on, to a marvellous quick solo with guitars united, not screaming above one another, a delight of melody (followed by intricate sparks). Less than 4 minutes, if only Bruce was more engaged...It could have been a huge hit!
Another unusual choice turned pattern for latter-day MAIDEN, New Frontier brings back the feeling of Somewhere in Time's indulgent technological epics. At least this is a 4-minutes song. But unfortunately this time MAIDEN bows down to their heirs STRATOVARIUS, HELLOWEEN, ANGRA etc - this is Power Metal by-the-books, with loads of instrumental prowess but lacking the flame of personality. The bouncing multidimensional solo reminds you of a German or Finnish band. 1 minute and a half lasting, the band ignites a powerful melodic motif more adequate for IRON MAIDEN - but the chorus returns carelessly. Fearless filler.
Another 8-plus minute historical epic arrives in the guise of Paschendale, predating A Matter of Life and Death's military motifs. But the dark tranquillity of the aforementioned counterparts is balanced by harsh aggression, a contemporary balance more akin to Melodic Metal than to New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The removing of the dynamic shackles, which plagued much of the post-1988 MAIDEN craftsmanship, was the outcome of this dialectic of past and present. 3 minutes on and Dickinson has travelled a lot across the wary wasteland. A nice old-school Murray solo ignites a sullen cavalcade of Harris-guitars amalgams. Half the song away and Paschendale sustains the grandiosity - another solo arrives, Gers harmonizing with Smith, the near past overlapped with the distant, glorious past and finally skyrocketing into a Progressive Metal present that Shirley should have loved to help give form to. ANGRA and STRATOVARIUS never had a martial drumming so tight, a singer so endearingly epic and aggressive, of course 3 guitars harmonizing. It's hard to match the renewed veterans. And there's a nice coda, summarizing the spoils of this sonic war. Even though it never coalesces into a monolithic whole, Paschendale is a latter-day MAIDEN classic, a rich tapestry that survives the test of time, unveiling all the solid versatility of the current band's line-up.
Face in Sand sounds like a Folk Viking ballad (!), at least before the arrival of another army of sullen guitars, resolute drums and bass and earnest Dickinson. This has become the standard MAIDEN approach in Dance of Death. What plagues the approach is repetition. The band plays tight, but not that memorable. The solos are solid, but undistinguished. Mid-pace compositions, apart from the occasional gem (Children of the Damned, Fear of the Dark) were this band's Achilles' heels in the past and, as they are reworking their past into new bottles, that vices find a vehicle and don't find a counterpoint. At least here, Face in Sand. Dickinson even resorts to Bailey's "woo" bailing to overcompensate for repetition.
Age of Innocence is subtler, more Progressive and Melodic than Face in Sand - that is, a more satisfying offspring, for our textured, complex, whimsical days. But once again the band delves in contemporaneous sonorities instead of negotiating their way through their heritage. IRON MAIDEN usually offered more than more of the same Melodic-Progressive Metal with rousing guitars and tormented vocals. The track is far too large and has a lukewarm chorus. It sounds merely correct where it could have been truly great. The coda recaps the initial spark but it's too late.
Journeyman - an autobiographic moment? The last Dance of Death track clocks at 6:40. Another tasteful string-sounding synthesizers adorn a vaguely Celtic melody from the deans of the British Heavy Metal. Before we get to the Sherwood Forest, MAIDEN displays loads of acoustic appetite - something to earn them "credibility" in conservative ears? Dickinson's solo career seems an obvious influence and SUEDE, an eerie fellow in string-drenchery affected Rock. Believe it or not, there is no Heavy Metal unleashing moment - just a rollicking ballad going on. This may be the most surprising moment of this new MAIDEN - but far from the most satisfying. Dickinson screams for vengeance behind the boosting lyrics. 2:43 lasting. Another tasteful soloing (synths, not guitars) more adequate for an ENYA record than to headbanging of any kind. This is ironic and revelatory - IRON MAIDEN polished their edges, incorporated some contemporary punch and eventually sounded like ANGRA's Lisbon. With 3 guitars.
Give the people what they want. I wanna rock! This may be beauty but I wonder where's the beast. See ya.
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