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57 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Final Frontier (Mission Edition), August 18, 2010
This review is from: The Final Frontier (Mission Edition) (Audio CD)
This review is not about the album itself (I thought it was very good), but about the actual product. Most of music newspapers, magazines, sites, and so on reviewed the album already (with positive result), so, no point of rewriting them.
Before I start, the rumors have it that it might be the band's last album, so I expected an extra treatment. The metal case with a little window is pretty neat. Upon opening it, I expected 2 CDs, the album and the bonus DVD, like A Matter of Life and Death for example. There was only one CD. I thought that maybe it's all there then. No, just the album. For bonus you go to their site, it verifies that you have this CD inserted and then gives you access to perhaps the crapiest bonus material I have ever seen.
Final Frontier (The Director's Cut) has been available through YouTube for some time now, in better quality.
Final Frontier Mission Debrief has even worst quality than the first video.
Pictures, barely any, and they are not that good either, especially at such low resolution.
Game, something I don't care about.
Wallpaper. Really wanted that, to find a good wallpaper with the actual band is literally impossible. There are none. Absolute crap. Most of it is just snapshots from the video. There are few wallpapers that stand out from photography perspective, but none with the band itself.
The only reason to buy this edition over regular one is the reason such as 'why not? It's just $2 more'. Don't buy it expecting an actual Deluxe Edition, besides the metal case, which is pretty cool I admit, this version has nothing else to offer.
Also, I am sure that in a few months they will wrap up that bonus website leaving us with no bonus at all.
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32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's a grower...went from "meh" to "OH MY GOD" in about 5 listens!, August 17, 2010
This review is from: The Final Frontier (Mission Edition) (Audio CD)
I will be the first to admit that I did NOT like this album very much the first time I heard it. The songs are long, very progressive, and not as straight-up "metal" as classic Maiden. But let me tell you that this album grew on me with each listen, and now, after about 5 or 6 listens...it is AMAZING! There are just so many great melodies all over this album, and the guitar solos are the best in a long time.
Stylistically, I would say this album does sound like a natural progression of all the "reunion" era albums (Brave New World and later), but also with hints of Somewhere In Time/Seventh Son era Maiden, and even a bit of Chemical Wedding/Tyranny of Souls era Bruce Dickinson solo material (especially Satellite 15 and Coming Home). One of my favorite things about The Final Frontier is that it brings back some of the '80s era clean guitar tone that is instantly recognizable from songs like Alexander the Great, and Infinite Dreams, that we really haven't heard much of since then. Also, Maiden has really relegated the harmony lead guitars to the background since The X-Factor, but with this album they are back a bit more prominently.
You have to go into this album with an open mind. Maiden is no longer just a metal band. They are a progressive metal band. The days of Powerslave are long gone. The songs are longer, more complicated, and less instantly catchy. But if you are willing to accept all of that, and put in your time to listen to this album several times carefully (preferably at full blast), there is MUCH to love here!
Finally, I have to get this off my chest. Maiden is now more than ever a thinking man's band. They are and have always been a mix of British rock, metal, and prog. They do not fit neatly into the narrow niche that "metal" has become over the years. Yes, they are still heavy a lot of the time, but they are also doing rock and folk influenced parts, drawing on influences like The Who, Wishbone Ash, and UFO. I bet a lot of the people slagging this album have never listened to those bands. I think a lot of the backlash against their recent stuff is from narrow minded metal heads who just want everything to be heavy and fast, and can't appreciate slower, lighter, more thoughtful material. If you like to hang out in a wife beater, you probably will not like this album. If you think it's cool to pound a bunch of cheap canned beer and then crush the cans on your forehead, look elsewhere. But if you actually appreciate GREAT MUSIC, whether it is heavy or not, then Maiden is still one of the greatest bands in the world and you will probably love this album!
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31 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maiden's Mission, August 17, 2010
This review is from: The Final Frontier (Mission Edition) (Audio CD)
a track-by-track review.
1. "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" (Smith, Harris)
Contrary to what you might have been led to believe by the official video, this song is actually 8:40 minutes long, half of it being a very, very, very unusual intro for Iron Maiden -- 4:40 minutes of an eerie piece of futuristic, space-like, void-feeling material, slow-paced but at the same time emanating disturbing melodies before those known hard-rock chords can soar. From then on it's the same thing you hear on the band's official video.
2. "El Dorado" (Smith, Harris, Dickinson)
Not much to say. GOOD SONG BUT I'm just very glad that it's probably the worst song on the album.
3. "Mother of Mercy" (Smith, Harris)
Rather slow-paced, not a rapid, furious & heavy-rhythm'ed as I had thought it would be before listening to it. It's a tune I actually wouldn't picture Iron Maiden coming up with. It's very Maiden in its simplicity, but at the same time the melody itself is not usual in terms of what we've witnessed in the past 15 years. Which is, I must say, something that pervades the entire album, this tendency to venture into the unexplored.
4. "Coming Home" (Smith, Harris, Dickinson)
Wow, a balad. But this sounds very much like a Bruce Dickinson ballad, rather than an Iron Maiden one. Think "Tyranny of Souls" (the album), though (not "Accident of Birth"). Very catchy chorus, and a very nice melody throughout. I'm thinking the band will be playing this one live.
5. "The Alchemist" (Gers, Harris, Dickinson)
Truly, this has nothing to do with Bruce's homonymous song. Not quite unlike what's Maiden's done since 2000, however. This one's more forward than the previous tracks (Satellite 15 excepted), with a nice chorus too, mainly because of the guitar trio coming up with those harmonic combinations that completely fill out the background. There's also some modulation thrown in, which you don't see a lot in Maiden. I personally enjoy the guitar melody on the bridge and chorus for this song. Solo exclusively by Janick, followed by the 3 guitars. Falls back to the chorus and the song ends (very similar to the "Coming Home" approach).
6. "Isle of Avalon" (Smith, Harris)
If it weren't for the bass right in the beginning, you wouldn't guess this is a Maiden tune, even though it is somehow in synch with what the band's been doing since Kevin Shirley took up the production seat with the boys. Mysterious-like melody, but fast-paced intro, which holds on for a good 2 and a half minutes before it finally picks up at around 2:50, with an interesting vigor. It falls again to a certain mystery-ridden melody right after, before a short Dave Murray solo kicks in at around 3:40, followed by some solid rhythm-base session, and then by Adrian playing a little with what seem to be synthetizers (you may hear some Somewhere in Time-like material at this point, even though the song itself is far from that). You gotta think in terms of epic-like material, in the same line as Alexander the Great, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and Sign of the Cross. It's 9 minutes long, and it's one of those songs where you'll pay closer attention to the lyrics while some interesting tune plays in the background (and not the other way around). The chorus is very nice, however, and brings the melody forward.
7. "Starblind" (Smith, Harris, Dickinson)
I thought it would be another slow song, but then some distortion guitars kick in, gladly. The main part of the song (not the bridge or chorus) is a very solid crescendo, whih sounds very amazing to me, and they build just the right amount of expectation. Bridge's very good too, and you know you got something good on your hands. It's hard to correctly describe this song. It's not fast, but it's not exactly slow-paced either. It's a very interesting tune, really, with a few unexpected twist and turns, and sometimes some of its distortion guitar levels sound as though they had nothing but a Fender-like sound to it, as if they had only had said Fender amp to provide heaviness (this goes mainly for Adrian or Janick). Adrian seems to have used synthetizers for his soloes, however -- with some mean reverb on them. Bruce does very well here, singing a solid tune with variations, going from low to high-pitched notes in the same sentence. There's some modulation present here, too. All in all it's a good song, and you may feel hooked even though it's almost 8-minutes long.
8. "The Talisman" (Gers, Harris)
Beautiful beginning. The production and general feel very closely resemble what you hear in "The Legacy" (A Matter if Life and Death's last track). This actually perdures for 2:20 minutes until some power rhythm guitars kick in with more solid, heavy riffs making the bed where Bruce seems to comfortably lie in. Very forward tune, which I thought somewhat lacking at times, because it's a long album, and some of the tunes (like "Mother of Mercy" and "Coming Home" being put together, one after the other) sort of gives you the feeling that things are somewhat slow for a while. Also, much like "Dance of Death" and "A Matter of Life and Death", this album is filled with little, slow acoustic intros that tend to make you feel like there isn't much punch or drive to it. "The Talisman" can show a lot of raw power, however, which is always a good thing when it comes to Maiden. Nice vocal melodies at around 5 minutes into the song, with great soloes right after. They remind me some of the material on "Fear is the Key", probably because of the vibrato unit/tremolo bar being used. Good song.
9. "The Man Who Would Be King" (Dave Murray, Harris)
Again slow intro. But nice follow-up, with solid bass chords underlying the guitar melody -- which, to be honest, remind me a lot of "Out of the Silent Planet". The drums come in, in a crescendo, and then we got some heavy, forward-sounding riffs and Bruce's vocal lines (which now remind me somewhat of "The Thin Line Between Love and Hate"). All in all this is a tune of its own, truly. As you reach 4 minutes, you will be listening to some really (really!) different material. I'm betting you could never guess this to be Iron Maiden. Very unlike what's been done in 30 years of history. You'll understand what I mean when you listen to this. At around 6 minutes, when Bruce sings again, his vocal lines remind me of Dance of Death's "Wildest Dreams". This song's 8-and-a-half minutes long, and it does feel long (unlike other, longer Iron Maiden tunes, I must say).
10. "When the Wild Wind Blows"
Last -- and longest -- song on the album. As usual, a slow-paced intro, but gladly, off the top of my head, it doesn't remind me of any other Maiden song. It's as if it wants to, but it doesn't. Beautiful tune, really, and great change of pace at around 3:40. Adrian comes in with a solo at 4:46, followed by Dave, and both melodies are tremendously beautiful. This is possibly the song with most potential on the whole album, and I'm very pleased to say that even though it's 11:01 minutes long, ranking as the 3rd longest Iron Maiden song
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