I live-tweeted my thoughts on Thursday, and then put an edited version into my newsletter. Here it is:
Start with this: I don't like the cover art. It looks like a video game package, or a bootleg T-shirt.Opening with an eight-minute not-fast song — the title track — was a bad idea. You need to get the listener's heart pumping right out of the gate. Why do so many bands fuck this up lately? (The drumming is really great, though.)
Track 2, "Stratego." And now we're galloping. This should have been the opener. There's an unfortunate "eyes/surprise" rhyme, and the synths are more prominent than I expected, but there are some excellent air-raid-siren moments. Bruce Dickinson really is an incredible singer.
Track 3, "The Writing on the Wall." I like the main country-metal riff, but things get kinda pirate-metal in the middle, which I'm not so into.
Track 4, "Lost in a Lost World." Starts off slow (and doesn't even sound like Dickinson singing), but gets rippin' after two minutes or so (of 9 1/2). Very heavy, bass prominent in the mix in a really good way.
Track 5, "Days of Future Past." The slow intro is a fake-out; at just 4:04, this is the shortest song on the record, and it rips. Big riff, operatic chorus, more excellent drumming.
Track 6 (last track on Disc 1), "The Time Machine." Oof, Dickinson just sang the words "impish whim." A lot of keyboards on this song, and more pirate-metal/sea-chantey riffing, plus a heavy breakdown/noisy guitar solo that feels super pasted-in. Not really feeling this.
Track 7 (first track on Disc 2), "Darkest Hour." Begins and ends with waves and seagulls. I think it's about Churchill or something. Slow, heavy, mournful, operatic...could be a leftover from A Matter Of Life And Death, honestly. (AMoLaD is my favorite 21st century Maiden album, so I'm OK with this.)
Track 8, "Death of the Celts." This is the shortest of the next 3 songs and it's 10:20. *Lots* of synth, and the verses are long and singsongy. Here come the guitar solos; will everybody get one? There's certainly time. (Turns out the answer is, yes, everyone will get at least one guitar solo.)
Track 9, "The Parchment": the main chugging riff almost reminds me of recent, proggy-heavy Opeth. The lyrics are ignorable; this song exists to justify the five minutes of guitar wank in the middle and at the (faster) end, and I'm fine with that.
Track 10, "Hell On Earth." The jokes write themselves, especially when you realize you're only halfway through the three-minute bass-and-synth intro. Very dynamic (dramatic quiet parts, REALLY LOUD PARTS), but honestly I kinda...wish it was an instrumental?
Conclusion: It's a 21st century Iron Maiden album — too long (82 minutes), 100% the product of their own musical comfort zone, but these fuckers can really play, and when they want to be they're still pretty amazing. 7/10, will probably never play front to back again.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 3 September 2021 22:54 (two years ago) link