(Rated this album with 4 out of 10) Reviewed by
Dave R Goetz
from Rockford, IL United States
Excuse me, I felt like quoting "Can I Play with Madness?". When I heard that Bruce and Adrian were back in the picture, I was happy but at the same time sad, because they have put out some amazing material. (Check out Dickinson's solo stuff and Smith's c.d. Welcome to the World.) But I was going to give the new classic Maiden a chance. After all, I heard "Wicker Man" on the radio and liked it a lot. But you know, I noticed that the chorus was a bit redundant. "No big deal.", I thought. Boy, was I in for a surprise! First of all, the production is horrible. Second, some of the songs are extremely long. If the song is long 'cause of a cool instrumental journey (Powerslave, To Tame a Land, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Seventh Son, Alexander, you get my point) then I'm all for it. But some of these songs are long and don't build up to anything. That "Nomad" song? What was that? It just had annoying keyboards that didn't lead to anything special. There's also Janick's playing. 'Nuff said about that. There's the absence of the trademark harmonies. They've been replaced by annoying keyboards that make this c.d. sound like Celtic metal - that's NOT a good thing. Also, a lot of the songs sound as if they were outtakes of the X-Factor. One last thing. If you listen, you can here that annoying moronic guitar strumming that was common in the X-Factor. (Listen to the end of "Out of the Silent Planet" and you'll know what I mean.) I feel guilty bashing my all-time favorite band; I know that I'm being brutal. I just get mad at the fans who blindly give high ratings out of their ignorance. Have you ever met a Kiss fan?
