YES! after 4 years maiden is finally releasing new material this august! And El Dorado(from The Final Frontier album) is available for download from the official site.(thanks sid for the link!). With a classic "Run to the Hills" style hi-hat count, the masters of heavy metal announce their arrival. The intro riff is reminiscent of stuff from "Seventh Son.." and "Caught Somewhere in Time". Bruce "tells us a story" of "a cold winter's night" and "sailing for glory" once more (a la Dance of Death). Then the riff changes into a progressive style harmonic thing. Nice, guys, nice.
Mr.Nicko maintains his trademark drum style throughout the song. Then something strange happens, the chorus is s little pop-ish, which reminds me of some of the choruses from A Matter of Life and Death. And sadly, Bruce sounds a little nasal. BUT still phenomenal vocals for someone of his age man!\m/. I just love the post-chorus break, you can hear all 4 guitars here, which is phenomenal. Then comes the part of the song everyone waits for, the solos! I think Dave Murray and Adrian Smith play the solos, but i could be mistaken. But still, classic kick-ass maiden guitar solos.
Right after the solos, the song goes back to the intro riff and proceeds on the same lines as before.Although nothing new is actually done here, Maiden still manage to put out an old school epic. My only disappointment is the chorus, not punchy enough.
But Fuck! Iron Maiden still have it. People might call them formulaic or whatever, but hey, if KICK-ASS quality is a formula, give me formulaic over innovative any damn day.
My Rating : 8/10
Can't wait for the new album.
