Iron Maiden: The 'New Coke' Effect

What do we make of a reunion when it lasts longer than the original? That's an interesting question, since it plays with our perception of time, and when we cement our expectations. It's easy to become convinced the original has to be better, simply because it was first and set the stage. Or perhaps because things that burn bright and burn out must have been hotter than something that lasts. A philosophical morass, eh?

When I got into Iron Maiden, they had already reunited with Bruce Dickinson. I was too young to have experienced the band's 'classic' era as it was happening, and seeing the video for "The Wicker Man" was the first true experience I had with their music. It shouldn't be any coincidence, then, that the reunion era of Iron Maiden is the one that is the definitive version for me. All of my expectations of the band's music were set during that period, and since it has now stretched on twice as long as the 'classic' period, something in that reality makes it feel to me like this is the true Iron Maiden, and what came before was them finding their voice.

In a way, the reunion era of Iron Maiden falls into that category of music that is hard to understand; the ardent fans seem to hate it, yet the band continues to grow in popularity. It's the same phenomenon where bands like Nickelback are (or at least were) very popular, yet you could hardly find anyone willing to say they were ever a fan. I've heard many, many people criticize the reunion era relentlessly, yet Iron Maiden is bigger than ever.

Today, I want to look at the six albums they have put out in this stretch, order my thoughts about them, and then compare the 'classic' and reunion periods of the band.

Of the six albums we're talking about today, four of them are personal classics for me, and then things go into a bit of decline. I will freely admit that while there is still much I love about "The Book Of Souls" and "Senjutsu", they are both evidence of Iron Maiden's worst tendency; not knowing when to say 'when'. Neither album needs to be a double album, and not that many songs need scene-setting introductions. When everything is trying to be epic, nothing really feels epic. The number of ten-minute tracks is too much, even for someone who wants to be an apologist for this version of the band.

That leaves us with the 'core four' albums. "Brave New World" is the most acclaimed of them, but I slot it in at #4. It sounds the best of them, and the band delivers plenty of great work, but it does suffer from 'Maiden syndrome', with too many choruses made up of repetitions of one line. Hearing "your time will come", or "we're blood brothers" more than twenty times during the course of a song is not great songwriting, and no matter how much I want to pump my fists when they come on the first time, it gets tiring very fast.

"A Matter Of Life And Death" is #3, and it suffers from the same issue. There are far too many repetitions of "how long on this longest day", and "brighter than a thousand suns" for my liking, but the album wins out for its diversity. "Different World" is the best almost pop song since "Can I Play With Madness" (and makes me wonder why they don't use backing vocals more often), the pacing is broken up with the beautiful ballad "Out Of The Shadows", and perhaps the two heaviest riffs of their entire catalog appear on this record. The band was clearly experimenting, but they were doing so on the metal side, not the prog side. That often gets overlooked.

Depending on the day, I can't decide whether I like "Dance Of Death" or "The Final Frontier" more. Both albums have bad reputations, and I can see why people are put off by them. They are long, dense records, but I think buried beneath that is the best melody writing the band has ever done. Whether it's "Face In The Sand" or "Coming Home", these records have more opportunities for sing-along songs than the 80s albums, and those are heightened by the increased drama of the albums' scope. "No More Lies" is the one time the repeating chorus feels right, and what more can be said about "Paschendale" being one of their best songs ever? Even when the second half of "The Final Frontier" stretches out to an uncomfortable degree, those songs keep coming back to classic sounding Iron Maiden hooks.

Other than their length, the main criticism these albums get is their production. Yes, the albums sound raw compared to what modern metal is, but that's actually the Iron Maiden sound. If you put one of these albums on back-to-back with the 80s stuff, they don't sound much different at all. It isn't the ultra-saturated wall of sound the big-name producers will create, but that sound is an illusion anyway. Iron Maiden sounds the same on record as they do live. That means if you're criticizing the sound of the records too much, you're actually saying you don't like the sound of the band. It doesn't make sense when you put it that way, does it? I certainly appreciate not being crushed by volume that doesn't accentuate the songs.

Everything from the past is not as great as we remember. Everything from "The Number Of The Beast" through "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" gets talked about as if they are perfect records. They're most definitely not. They were great for the time, but songwriting in metal has evolved over time. Think about "The Trooper" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name". Neither song has a true chorus, which is something we would criticize the band endlessly for if they did it today. They're classics, though. Why? Because they came out at a time when we expected less from metal bands, perhaps.

Listen to any of those records, and you'll hear the lulls. "Invaders", "Children Of The Damned", "Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter"... I could go on. The albums had their classics, absolutely, but they also had plenty of songs that were clearly not at that level. There's nothing wrong with admitting that.

To my ears, the reunion era of the band has less of those lulls than the 80s did. Between their decades of experience, and Bruce's development as a songwriter with his masterful solo albums "Accident Of Birth" and "The Chemical Wedding", they became better melody writers. I am a melody guy, not a riff guy, so the slower tempos have never bothered me. Iron Maiden's second act has always spoken more to me than their first, because it sounds to me like they realized they can write songs well enough to not need to speed through them and rely on pure energy. For me, that's far more impressive and interesting than seeing how many bpm you can gallop at.

The one thing you'll never hear me say, though, is that "Dance Of Death" doesn't have one of the worst covers of all time. I might defend a lot, but not that. Maybe that's where all the hate comes from....